Andrew Rivkin

Dr. Andrew Rivkin is a planetary astronomer whose research centers on the study of asteroids for scientific and planetary defense purposes. As investigation lead for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) — NASA’s first planetary defense test mission — he ensures the DART team takes and analyzes the right data to meet NASA mission requirements. His scientific research has focused on asteroids with detectable water or organic materials in their infrared reflectance spectrum. This pursuit has led to studies of asteroids from 1996 FG3, a near-Earth asteroid on which clay minerals have been found, to 24 Themis, an asteroid in the outer belt on which water ice has been discovered — a first among asteroids. He is also interested in the dwarf planet Ceres and other large objects like Ceres and Themis.