Science & Technology

William B. McKinnon and Paul Byrne, both in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, played important roles in developing a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. It identifies scientific priorities and funding recommendations to maximize the advancement of planetary science in the next decade.

Led by physicist Alex Meshik in Arts & Sciences, Washington University scientists designed and built the device that NASA is using to extract gases from a lunar sample from the Apollo 17 mission.

Alian Wang, research professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences, received a three-year $570,828 award from NASA for planetary research.

Henric Krawczynski and Johanna Nagy, in the Department of Physics in Arts & Sciences, received a two-year $459,050 award from NASA to test an array of quantum sensors on a one-day balloon flight to launch from New Mexico in 2023.

X-ray telescopes observe the most extreme and hottest objects in the universe. Physicists in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis are playing key roles in the first dedicated X-ray polarimetry missions, including one that launched this month.

Michael Nowak, research professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, was awarded grants totaling $75,000 from NASA for various projects. He also received funding from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

Kevin D. McKeegan, a scientist whose analyses of meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials from space has improved understanding of the processes and chronology of the early solar system, will deliver a free public talk in November as part of the Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture, sponsored by the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences.

Strange ‘eggshell planets’ are among the rich variety of exoplanets possible, according to a study from Washington University in St. Louis. These rocky worlds have an ultra-thin outer brittle layer and little to no topography. Such worlds are unlikely to have plate tectonics, raising questions as to their habitability. The research led by planetary geologist Paul Byrne in Arts & Sciences offers concrete ways that other scientists could identify such eggshell planets.

Nan Liu, research assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, is first author of a new study in The Astrophysical Journal Letters that analyzes a diverse set of presolar grains with the goal of realizing their true stellar origins.

A lunar probe launched by the Chinese space agency recently brought back the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years. Now an international team of scientists, including Bradley Jolliff in Arts & Sciences, has determined the age of these moon rocks at close to 1.97 billion years old.