Scientist
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California, United States
Chris is an applied physicist with expertise in the physics fundamentals of X-ray spectroscopy and its application to geo-chemical in situ planetary exploration. While at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Canada, Chris conducted beamline research, with international participants, in the PIXE Group, to support analysis of data returned from the Curiosity Rover’s alpha-particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS).
Upon arrival at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Chris led the elemental calibration effort for NASA’s Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL). He also served as science and engineering liaison during PIXL’s critical integration and testing phase of development. Chris now serves the Mars 2020 mission as Operations Manager for the PIXL team and leads a research group dedicated to refining analysis techniques used to process PIXL data. For exceptional achievements made as both science-engineering liaison and science operations manager, Chris is the twice recipient of JPL’s prestigious Voyager Award.
Chris is also a co-developer of PIXL’s open source XRF Quantification software, PIQUANT, that is used by the PIXL team to process PIXL data. Chris has been a part of three New Technology Releases filed at JPL for his involvement in the development of both PIQUANT and PIXL’s data visualization (PIXLISE) software.
As a resident subject matter expert in X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy at JPL, Chris participates in several instrument concept development projects that may be proposed for future missions. Technologies include pyroelectric X-ray sources, a hybrid PIXL-SHERLOC instrument for the Mars Sample Return (MSR) effort, and high-resolution spectroscopy instrumentation for outer moon in situ chemical analysis.
Disclosure information not submitted.
Methods and Reference Materials used to Calibrate PIXL, the Mars 2020 In Situ XRF Spectrometer
Wednesday, July 26, 2023
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM US CST