Paul Withers, PhD

I am working with Professor Michael Mendillo on studies of the martian upper atmosphere and ionosphere. We are trying to better understand how incident solar flux, the neutral atmosphere, magnetic fields, and the ionosphere interact. This has implication for the aeronomy of the martian atmosphere and the escape of volatiles from Mars.

I am also interested in the general analysis of accelerometer data from planetary spacecraft. I worked with my PhD advisor, Professor Steve Bougher, on mission support and data analysis for Accelerometer Instruments onboard Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey. I have developed software to reconstruct the atmospheric entries of spacecraft and have used it to prepare for the atmospheric entries of Beagle 2 (failure), Spirit (success), Opportunity (success), and Huygens (success). This work is in collaboration with Professor John Zarnecki of the Open University, Great Britain. I also hold a visiting research scientist position at the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute of the Open University.

I defended my PhD dissertation in March 2003. The dissertation is available online, as are a long CV, a 3 page CV, a 2 page CV, a 1 page CV, and a crude version of my lengthy resume. Its main purpose is for me to cut and paste from it to generate targeted resumes quickly, hence its lack of formatting.

With BU since: 2003

Resources:
Link to SPICAM data for MDAP 2007 reviewers.
Software for analyzing the atmospheric entries of spacecraft.
Results and software for the atmospheric entries of Spirit and Opportunity.
Rapid data products from the ODY ACC experiment generated in support of MRO aerobraking (January 2006).
Preliminary data products from the ODY ACC experiment (December 2007).

Current Projects:
Martian Upper Atmosphere and Ionosphere
Atmospheric Structure Profiles from Planetary Entry Accelerometers

Previous Projects:
Ridges in the Martian Northern Plains
Simple Extremal Climate Models
Age of lunar crater Giordano Bruno
Simple Asteroid Shape Models

Employment History:
Worked with Professor Steve Bougher at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory as a graduate research assistant, 1998 - 2003
Worked with John Zarnecki and Beagle 2 group at the Open University in Britain as consultant, summer 2001
Worked with Greg Neumann and MOLA group at Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center as part of GSSP program, summer 2000

Involvement in Scientific Community and Professional Service:
Member of American Geophysical Union's Planetary Sciences Section since 2000
Member of American Astronomical Society's Division of Planetary Sciences since 2000
Member of UK Planetary Forum since 2001
Winner of NASA's Deep Space 2 Mars Microprobes naming competition, 1999
Received University of Arizona's Kuiper Memorial Award, 2002
Author of publicly available programs to study atmospheric entries of spacecraft, 2002
Invited presentations at Imperial College (2001), Boston University (2003, 2004), Tufts University (2004, 2004), Boston Museum of Science (2004), MIT (2005), European Planetary Science Congress (2006), University College London (2007), University of Cologne (2007), Armagh Observatory (2008)
Community Discussion Forum Moderator for Solar System Exploration Decadal Survey
Member of Education and Public Outreach Community Panel for Solar System Exploration Decadal Survey
Reviewer for Advances in Space Research, Annales Geophysicae, Icarus, Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets, Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Mars, Meteoritics and Planetary Science, Planetary and Space Science, and Science.
Reviewer for PDS volume MERIMU_0001, MGS Radio Science dataset, MRO Accelerometer dataset, ESA/PDS Huygens Science Archive, and ESA/PDS Rosetta Science Archive.
Review panel member, NASA's Mars Data Analysis Program (twice), NASA's Venus Express Participating Scientist Program, NASA's Planetary Atmospheres Program, NASA's Mars Fundamental Research Program, NASA's Planetary Instrument Definition and Development Program, NSF's Astronomy and Astrophysics program (twice). External reviewer for NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Participating Scientist Program, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Participating Scientist Program, NASA's Living With a Star Targeted Research and Technology Program, NASA's Mars Fundamental Research Program.
Convener with Mike Smith of The Martian Atmosphere in Late 2003 to Early 2004: Observations, Predictions, and Analyses, Spring AGU, 2005. Convener with Michael Mendillo of Comparative Aeronomy on Earth and Mars workshop, NSF/CEDAR Meeting, 2004.

Spacecraft involvement:
Mars Odyssey Accelerometer Instrument (Co-I with ACC Participating Scientist)
Huygens / Surface Science Package
Huygens / ACC sub-system of Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument
Spirit
Opportunity
Beagle 2
Mars 2001 Odyssey
Mars Climate Orbiter (until it blew up...)
Mars Global Surveyor / Accelerometer
Mars Global Surveyor / Laser Altimeter

Teaching Experience:
Taught AS101 Introduction to the Solar System to 18 Boston University students during Summer Session 1, 2006.
AS101 teaching materials.
AS101 student evaluations

Teaching Assistant for Jonathan Lunine's NATS 102 class, University of Arizona, fall 2000.
Teaching Assistant for John Lewis's NATS 101 class, University of Arizona, fall 1999.

Recent Papers:
Solar flare effects upon the ionospheres of Earth and Mars (2008) Mendillo and Withers, in "Radio Sounding and Plasma Physics" (eds. Song, Foster, Mendillo, and Bilitza), American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings, 974, 58-70.
2.9M PDF

The P/Halley stream: meteor showers on Earth, Venus, and Mars (2008) Christou, Vaubaillon, and Withers Earth, Moon, and Planets, 102, 125-131.
261K PDF

Interplanetary Space Weather and its Planetary Connection (2007) Crosby, Bothmer, Facius, Griessmeier, Moussas, Panasyuk, Romanova, and Withers, Space Weather, 6, S01003, doi:10.1029/2007SW000361.
406K PDF

The dust trail complex of comet 79P/du Toit-Hartley and meteor outbursts at Mars (2007) Christou, Vaubaillon, and Withers, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 471, 321-329.
495K PDF

A technique to determine the mean molecular mass of a planetary atmosphere using pressure and temperature measurements made by an entry probe: Demonstration using Huygens data (2007) Withers, Planetary and Space Science, 55, 1959-1963
209K PDF

Recent Presentations:
Can Equatorial Spread-F occur on other planets? (2008) Mendillo, Niehof, Garcia, Prested, McGregor, Viall, Moore, Withers, Martinis, and Stephan, 12th International Symposium on Equatorial Aeronomy, 18-24 May 2008, Crete, Greece.
Abstract 43K PDF
Presentation not available, not lead author

The structure of the Mars ionosphere (2008) Paetzold, Tellmann, Peter, Mendillo, Withers, Hausler, Hinson, and Tyler, EGU meeting, Abstract EGU2008-A-06804
Abstract 7K PDF
Presentation not available, not lead author

Morphology of meteoric plasma layers in the ionosphere of Mars as observed by the Mars Global Surveyor Radio Science Experiment (2008) Withers, Mendillo, Hinson, and Cahoy, EGU meeting, Abstract EGU2008-A-02893
Abstract 7K PDF
Presentation not yet available

Present and future observations of a meteor shower in the martian atmosphere (2008) Christou, Vaubaillon and Withers, UK National Astronomy Meeting, Abstract P15/112
Abstract 2K text
Presentation not available, not lead author

Comparison of atmospheric observations and predictions for the atmospheric entries of Spirit and Opportunity (2008) Withers, Barnes, Justus, Justh, Kass, Montabone and Rafkin, 39th LPSC, Abstract #2175
Abstract 41K PDF
Presentation 936K PDF

The structure of the Mars ionosphere (2007) Paetzold, Withers, Tellmann, Mendillo, Peter, Hausler, Hinson, and Tyler, Fall AGU, Abstract P32A-01
Abstract 4K HTML
Presentation not available, not lead author

New theoretical tools for studying ionospheric electrodynamics (2007) Withers, Fall AGU, Abstract SA51A-0237
Abstract 4K HTML
Presentation 703K PDF

The structure of the ionosphere of Mars as observed by the Mars Express Radio Science Experiment (2007) Paetzold, Tellmann, Peter, Hausler, Hinson, Tyler, Mendillo, and Withers, European Mars Science and Exploration Conference: Mars Express and ExoMars, November 12-16, 2007, ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, Abstract #1120009
Abstract 15K PDF
Presentation not available, not lead author

A multi-instrument ExoMars study of meteoroid effects on the martian environment (2007) Christou, Griffiths, McAuliffe, Koschny, Paetzold, Oberst, Trigo-Rodriguez, Vaubaillon, Withers and Chappelow, European Mars Science and Exploration Conference: Mars Express and ExoMars, November 12-16, 2007, ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, Abstract #1119183
Abstract 25K PDF
Presentation not available, not lead author

Comparison of ionospheric observations and dynamical predictions of meteor showers at Mars (2007) Withers, Mendillo, Paetzold, Tellmann, Christou, and Vaubaillon, DPS, Abstract #59.08
Abstract 1K txt
Presentation 250K PDF

Annual and outburst meteor activity in the atmospheres of Venus and Mars (2007) Christou, Vaubaillon, and Withers, Meteoroids 2007, June 11-15, 2007, Barcelona, Spain
Abstract 722K PDF
Presentation not available, not lead author

Simultaneous radio sounding of the ionospheres of Earth and Mars during a solar flare (2007) Mendillo and Withers, Symposium in honor of Professor Bodo Reinisch's 70th birthday, University of Massachusetts - Lowell, 29 April 2007
Abstract not required
Presentation 1.4M PDF

Simulations of the Mars Ionosphere during a Solar Flare (2007) Withers, Wroten, Mendillo, and Chamberlin, Spring AGU, Abstract SA31B-05
Abstract 4K HTML
Presentation 495K PDF

Modeling the effects of solar flares on the ionosphere of Mars (2007) Withers, Wroten, Mendillo, Chamberlin, and Woods, EGU meeting, Abstract EGU2007-A-05089
Abstract 30K PDF
Presentation 288K PDF

New observations of the topside ionosphere at Mars (2007) Withers, Paetzold, Mendillo, Tellman, Hausler, Hinson, and Tyler, EGU meeting, Abstract EGU2007-A-09435
Abstract 30K PDF
Presentation 3.0M PDF

Correlation between third layer formation in the Martian ionosphere and meteor streams at Mars (2007) Paetzold, Withers, Tellman, Mendillo, Hausler, Hinson, and Tyler, EGU meeting, Abstract EGU2007-A-09454
Abstract 30K PDF
Presentation not available, not lead author

Have a look at some more of my papers, projects, presentations, proposals, and piffle.