Carolyn Ernst

Dr. Carolyn Ernst’s research focuses on the surface evolution of planets, satellites, and small bodies using laboratory experiments, spacecraft data, and numerical models. She is an expert at using stereophotoclinometry techniques to construct shape models of irregularly shaped bodies from spacecraft images. She has designed and conducted impact experiments at the NASA Ames Vertical Gun Range and the APL Planetary Impact Laboratory. Dr. Ernst is the science lead of the Small Body Mapping Tool (SBMT, a 3D visualization tool for irregularly shaped bodies) and vice chair of NASA’s Mercury Exploration Assessment Group. Asteroid 11008 Ernst is named in her honor. 

Dr. Ernst has extensive mission and instrument experience. She was instrument scientist for the DRACO imager on DART and is investigation scientist for the Europa Imaging System (EIS) on Europa Clipper, instrument scientist for DragonCam and co-investigator on Dragonfly, co-investigator of the gamma ray and neutron spectrometer (MEGANE) on JAXA’s MMX mission, participating scientist and Optical Navigation Camera (ONC) co-investigator on JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission, and associate of the OSIRIS-REx/-APEX science teams. Previously, she was deputy instrument scientist for the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) on MESSENGER, participating scientist on Cassini, and associate of the New Horizons and Deep Impact science teams.