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A profile photo of Dr. Gregor B Steinbrügge

Dr. Gregor B Steinbrügge

Research Scientist

Gregor.B.Steinbruegge@jpl.nasa.gov

About

Bio

As a geodesist and geophysicist, I study the interior structure of bodies, including Mercury,

Venus, and the icy satellites of Jupiter, and in particular their response to tidal deformations.

I currently serve as the investigation scientist of the REASON (Radar for Europa Assessment

and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface) instrument as well as a Co-Chair of the Europa Clipper

Geodesy Focus Group. I am a Co-I on Europa Clipper, a member of the science team selected

by NASA for the VenSAR instrument, Co-I on the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter, and affiliated

with the Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) on the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE).

Education

Technische Universität Berlin, Institute for Geodesy and Geoinformation Science 2014 - 2018, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Freie Universität Berlin 2005 - 2013, Diplom (equivalent to Master of Science)

Major in Physics, Minor in Aerospace Engineering

Topic Area(s)

  • Planetary Science  | Planetary Interiors

Search Keyword(s)

  • Geophysics  
  • Radar sounding  
  • Geodesy  
  • Icy Satellites  

Experience

Professional Experience

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, since September 2021

Stanford University, Department of Geophysics, November 2019 - August 2021, Postdoctoral Researcher

Participation in Flight Projects

BELA (BepiColombo) Co-I 2023 – present

BELA ”Rotation, Tides, Shape” Working Group Co-Chair 20204 – present

VenSAR (EnVision) Science Team Member 2022 – present

Europa Clipper Geodesy Focus Group Co-Chair 2020 – 2024

Europa Clipper interior thematic working group Member 2018 – present

REASON (Europa Clipper) Investigation Scientist 2021 – present

REASON (Europa Clipper) Professional Affiliate 2018 – present

REASON (Europa Clipper) science data system Member 2018 – 2021

REASON (Europa Clipper) altimetry working group Lead 2020 – 2021

GALA (Juice) Co-I 2018 – present

Research Community Service

Reviewer

Icarus, JGR Planets, Advances in Space Research, Acta Astronautica, Journal of Applied Re-

mote Sensing, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, Geomorphology, Earth Planets

and Space, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Geology

Convener

Convener EGU 2020, Session Planetary Dynamics: Shape, Gravity, Orbit, Tides, and Rotation

from Observations and Models

Co-convener EGU 2019, Planetary Dynamics: Shape, Gravity, Orbit, Tides, and Rotation from

Observations and Models

Achievements

Awards & Recognitions

  • JPL Team Award | Europa Clipper Strategic Science Planning (2023)

Publications

  • R. Pappalardo et al. and 89 colleagues (incl. G. Steinbrügge), ”Science

Overview of the Europa Clipper Mission”. Space Science Reviews Vol. 220.

Iss. 40. 10.1007/s11214-024-01070-5

  • A. Romero-Wolf, G. Steinbrügge, J. Castillo-Rogez, C.J. Cochrane, T.A. Nord-

heim, K.L. Mitchell, N.S. Wolfenbarger, D.M. Schroeder, S. Peters, ”Feasibility

of Passive Sounding of Uranian Moons Using Uranian Kilometric Radiation”.

Earth and Space Science Vol. 11, Iss. 2. 10.1029/2023EA003013

  • G. Steinbrügge, H. Hussmann, G. Tobie, J. Castillo-Rogez, V. Layney, A. Stark,

Tidal Deformation and Tidal Evolution of Ganymede, in Ganymede, Ed. M.

Vollwerk, M. McGrath, X. Jia, T. Spohn. University of Cambridge Press, doi:

10.1017/9781108966474

  • H. Hussmann, G. Schubert, G. Steinbrügge, F. Sohl, J. Kimura, Internal Struc-

ture of Ganymede, in Ganymede, Ed. M. Vollwerk, M. McGrath, X. Jia, T.

Spohn. University of Cambridge Press, doi: 10.1017/9781108966474

  • A. Stark, R-M. Baland, T. Van Hoolst, N. Rambaux, G. Steinbrügge, The

Rotation of Ganymede, in Ganymede, Ed. M. Vollwerk, M. McGrath, X. Jia, T.

Spohn. University of Cambridge Press, doi: 10.1017/9781108966474

  • S.M. Howell, C.J. Bierson, K. Kalousov, E. Leonard, G. Steinbrügge, N.

Wolfenbarger, ”Jupiters ocean worlds: Dynamic ices and the search for life”. In

”Ices in the Solar-System”, ed. R.J. Soare, J.-P. Williams, C.J. Ahrens, F.E.G.

Butcher, M. Ramy El-Maarry. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/B978-0-323-99324-1.00003-1

  • C. Gerekos, G. Steinbrügge, I.C. Jebaraj, A.Casillas, E. Donini, B. Snchez-

Cano, M. Lester, J. Magdaleni, S.T. Peters, A. Romero-Wolf, D.D. Blanken-

ship, ”Observation of solar radio burst events from Mars orbit with the Shallow

Radar instrument”, Astronomy & Astrophysics. Vol. 683. doi: 10.1051/0004-

6361/202347900

  • T. van Hoolst and 56 colleagues (incl. G. Steinbrügge), ”Geophysical charac-

terization of the interiors of Ganymede, Callisto and Europa by ESAs JUpiter ICy

moons Explorer”. Space Science Reviews Vol. 220 Iss. 54. doi: 10.1007/s11214-

024-01085-y

  • D. Blankenship and 108 colleagues (incl. G. Steinbrügge), ”Radar for Europa

Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REASON)”. Space Science

Reviews Vol. 220 Iss. 51. doi: 10.1007/s11214-024-01072-3

I. Dauber and 59 colleagues (incl. G. Steinbrügge), ”Planned geological inves-

tigations of the Europa Clipper Mission”, Vol. 220, Iss. 18. doi:10.1007/s11214-

023-01036-z

  • R. Culberg, D. Schroeder, G. Steinbrügge, Double Ridge Formation Over

Shallow Water Sills, Nature Communications, Vol. 13, Article 2007,

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-29458-3

  • C. Grima, N.E. Putzig, B.A. Campbell, M. Perry, S.P.S. Gulick, R.C. Miller, A.T.

Russell, K.M. Scanlan, G. Steinbrügge, D.A. Young, S.D. Kempf, G. Ng, D.

Buhl, D.D. Blankenship, Investigating the Martian Surface at Decametric Scale:

Population, Distribution, and Dimension of Heterogeneity from Radar Statistics,

The Planetary Science Journal, Vol 3 (10), doi:10.3847/PSJ/ac9277

  • H. Xiao, A. Stark, F. Schmidt, J. Hao, G. Steinbrügge, N.L. Wagner, S. Su,

Y. Cheng, J. Oberst, Spatio-temporal level variations of the Martian Seasonal

North Polar Cap from co-registration of MOLA profiles. Journal of Geophysical

Research: Planets, 127, e2021JE007158, 10.1029/2021JE007158

  • J.R.C. Voigt, C.W. Hamilton, G. Steinbrügge, A. H¨oskuldsson, I. Jns-

dottir, T. Thordarson, Linking lava morphologies to effusion rates for the

20142015 Holuhraun lava flow field, Iceland. Geology Vol. 50 (1), pp. 7175,

doi:10.1130/G49251.1

  • J. Oberst and 18 colleagues (incl. G. Steinbrügge), Planetary polar explorer –

the case for a next-generation remote sensing mission to low Mars orbit, Experi-

mental Astronomy, Iss. 54, pp. 695711, doi:10.1007/s10686-021-09820-x

  • H. Xiao, A. Stark, G. Steinbr¨ugge, R. Thor, F. Schmidt, J. Oberst, Prospects

for mapping temporal height variations of the seasonal CO2 snow/ice caps at the

Martian poles by co-registration of MOLA profiles, Planetary and Space Science,

Vol.214, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2022.105446

  • K. Enya and 59 colleagues (incl. G. Steinbrügge), The Ganymede Laser Al-

timeter (GALA) for the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE): Mission, science,

and instrumentation of its receiver modules, Advances in space research Vol. 59,

Iss. 5, doi:10.1016/j.asr.2021.11.036

  • G. Steinbrügge, M.S. Haynes, D.M. Schroeder, K.M. Scanlan, A. Stark, D.A.

Young, C. Grima, S. Kempf, G. Ng, D. Buhl, J.R.C. Voigt, T. Roatch, D.D.

Blankenship, Altimetry Measurements from Planetary Radar Sounders and Ap-

plication to SHARAD on Mars, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote

Sensing, GRS.2021.3134638

  • J.R.C. Voigt, C.W. Hamilton, G. Steinbrügge, S.P. Scheidt, Surface Rough-

ness Characterization of the 2014-2015 Holuhraun Lava Flow-Field in Iceland:

Implications for Facies Mapping and Remote Sensing, Journal of Volcanology, in

press

  • J.R.C. Voigt, C.W. Hamilton, G. Steinbrügge, A. Höskuldsson, I. Jonsdottir,

T. Thordarson, Linking Lava Morphologies to Effusion Rates for the 2014-2015

Holuhraun Lava Flow-Field, Iceland, Geology, doi:10.1130/G49251.1

A.G. Marusiak, S. Vance, M.P. Panning, M. Behounkova, P.K. Byrne, G.

Choblet, M.M. Daswani, K. Hughson, B. Journaux, A.H. Lobo, B.E. Schmidt,

K.P.Sladkova, K.M. Soderlund, W.Z. Song, A. Soucek, G. Steinbrügge, A.F.

Thompson, S. Wang, Exploration of Icy Ocean Worlds using Geophysical Ap-

proaches, The Planetary Science Journal, Vol 2, Iss 150, doi:10.3847/psj/ac1272

  • C. Bierson & G. Steinbrügge, Tidal heating did not dry out Io and Europa,

The Planetary Science Journal, Vol. 2 Iss. 89, doi:10.3847/psj/abf48d

K.M. Scanlan, D.A. Young, G. Steinbrügge, S.K. Kempf, C. Grima, D.D.

Blankenship, Delay Doppler SAR Focusing and Quantitative Quality Control of

the Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REA-

SON) Sounding Data Product, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth

Observations and Remote Sensing, doi:10.1109/jstars.2021.3072276

  • A.I. Ermakov, R.S.Park, J. Roa, J.C. Castillo-Rogez, J.T. Keane, F. Nimmo,

E.S. Kite, C. Sotin, T. J.W. Lazio, G. Steinbrügge S.M. Howell, B.G. Bills,

D.J. Hemingway, V. Viswanathan, G. Tobie, V. Lainey, A Recipe for Geophys-

ical Exploration of Enceladus, The Planetary Science Journal Vol2. Iss. 157,

doi:10.3847/PSJ/ac06d2

  • J.N.H. Abrahams, F. Nimmo, T.Becker, R. Gladstone, K. Retherford, G.

Steinbrügge, E. Mazarico, Improved determination of Europa’s long-wavelength

topography using stellar occultations, Earth and Space Science, Vol. 8, Iss. 7,

10.1029/2020EA001586

  • N. Thomas and 45 colleagues (incl. G. Steinbrügge), The BepiColombo Laser

Altimeter, Space Science Reviews, Vol. 217, doi:10.1007/s11214-021-00794-y

  • A. Genova and 17 colleagues (incl. G. Steinbr¨uggee), Geodesy, Geophysics and

Fundamental Physics Investigations of the BepiColombo mission, Space Science

Reviews, Vol. 217 , doi:10.1007/s11214-021-00808-9

  • R.N. Thor, R. Kallenbach, U.R. Christensen, P. Gläser, A. Stark, G.

Steinbrügge, J. Oberst, Determination of the lunar body tide from global laser

altimetry data, Journal of Geodesy, Vol. 95, Iss. 4, doi:10.1007/s00190-020-

01455-8

  • H. Xiao, A. Stark, G. Steinbrügge, H. Hussmann, J. Oberst, Processing of

Laser Altimeter Time-of-Flight Measurements to Geodetic Coordinates, Journal

of Geodesy, Vol. 95 Iss. 2, doi:10.1007/s00190-020-01467-4

S. Vance, B. Journaux, M. Hesse, G. Steinbrügge, The Salty Secrets of Icy

Ocean Worlds, JGR Planets Vol. 121 (Comment) doi:10.1029/2020JE006736

  • G. Steinbrügge, M. Dumberry, A. Rivoldini, G. Schubert, H. Cao, D.M.

Schroeder, K.M. Soderlund, Challenges on Mercury’s interior structure posed by

the new measurements of its obliquity and tides, Geophysical Research Letters,

Vol. 48 Iss. 3, doi:10.1029/2020GL089895

  • G. Steinbrügge, J.R.C. Voigt, N.S. Wolfenbarger, C.W. Hamilton, K.M. Soder-

lund, Brine Migration and Impact-Induced Cryovolcanism on Europa, Geophys-

ical Research Letters Vol. 47, 10.1029/2020GL090797

  • G. Gerekos, C. Grima, G. Steinbrügge, Sanchari Thakur, K.M. Scanlan, D.A.

Young, L. Bruzzone, D.D. Blankenship, Martian roughness analogues of Europan

terrains for radar sounder investigations, Icarus, 10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114197

  • G. Steinbrügge, J.R.C. Voigt, D.M. Schroeder, A. Stark, M.S. Haynes, K.M.

Scanlan, C.W. Hamilton, D.A. Young, H. Hussmann, C. Grima, D.D. Blanken-

ship, The surface roughness of Europa derived from Galileo stereo images, Icarus

Vol. 343, doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113669

  • R.N. Thor, R. Kallenbach, U.R. Christensen, A. Stark, G. Steinbrügge, A. Di

Ruscio, P. Cappuccio, L. Iess, H. Hussmann and J. Oberst, Prospects for mea-

suring Mercury’s tidal Love number h2 with the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter,

Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 633, doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/201936517

  • G. Steinbrügge, T. Steinke, R. Thor, A. Stark, H. Hussmann, Measuring

Ganymedes librations with laser altimetry, Geosciences Vol. 9, Iss. 7, doi:

10.3390/geosciences9070320

  • H. Hussmann and 39 colleagues (incl. G. Steinbrügge), The Ganymede laser

altimeter (GALA): key objectives, instrument design, and performance, CEAS

Space Journal, Vol 11, 381390, doi: 10.1007/s12567-019-00282-8

  • H. Araki, K. Ishibashi, N. Namiki, H. Noda, M. Kobayashi, K. Enya, M. Ozaki,

T. Mizuno, Y. Saito, K. Touhara, S. Oshigami, S. Kashima, J. Kimura, S.

Kobayashi, G. Steinbrügge, A. Stark, C. Althaus, S. Del Togno, K. Linge-

nauber, H. Hussmann, Performance Model Simulation of Ganymede Laser Al-

timeter (GALA) for the JUICE Mission, Transactions of the Japan Society for

Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Aerospace Technology Japan. Vol. 17, 150-154,

doi: 10.2322/tastj.17.150

  • J. Kimura, H. Hussmann, S. Kamata, K. Matsumoto, J. Oberst, G.

Steinbrügge, A. Stark, K. Gwinner, S. Oshigami, N. Namiki, K. Lingenauber,

K. Enya, K. Kuramoto, S. Sasaki, Science Objectives of the Ganymede Laser

Altimeter (GALA) for the JUICE Mission, Transactions of the Japan Society for

Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Aerospace Technology Japan. Vol. 17, 234-243,

doi: 10.2322/tastj.17.234

  • K.M. Scanlan, C. Grima, G. Steinbrügge, S.D. Kempf, D. A.Young, D.D.

Blankenship, Geometric determination of ionospheric total electron content from

dual frequency, radar sounding measurements, Planetary and Space Science

(2019),Vol. 178, 104696, doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2019.07.010

  • G. Steinbrügge, D.M. Schroeder, M.S. Haynes, H. Hussmann, C. Grima and

D.D. Blankenship, Assessing the potential for measuring Europa’s tidal Love num-

ber h2 using radar sounder and topographic imager data, Earth and Planetary

Science Letters. Vol. 482, 334-341, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.11.028

A. Stark, J. Oberst, F. Preusker, S. Burmeister, G. Steinbrügge, H. Hussmann,

The reference frames of Mercury after the MESSENGER mission, Journal of

Geodesy (2018) 92:949961, doi 10.1007/s00190-018-1157-8

  • G. Steinbrügge, A. Stark, H. Hussmann, J. Oberst, The performance of the

BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA) prior launch and prospects for Mercury

orbit operations, Planetary and Space Science 159 (2018) 84-92.

doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2018.04.017

  • G. Steinbrügge, S. Padovan, H. Hussmann, T. Steinke, A. Stark, J. Oberst, Vis-

coelastic Tides of Mercury and the Determination of its Inner Core Size, Journal

of Geophysical Research: Planets, 123, 27602772.

doi: 10.1029/2018JE005569

  • H. Hussmann, J. Oberst, A. Stark, G. Steinbrügge, The BepiColombo Laser

Altimeter (BELA): An instrument for geodetic investigations of Mercury, Chapter

in Planetary Remote Sensing and Mapping, Editors: Bo Wu, Kaichang Di, Jürgen

Oberst, Irina Karachevtseva, ISBN: 9780429000515

  • H. Hussmann, D. Shoji, G. Steinbrügge, A. Stark and F. Sohl, Constraints

on dissipation in the deep interiors of Ganymede and, Europa from tidal phase-

lags, Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy. Vol. 126, pp. 131-144, doi:

10.1007/s10569-016-9721-0

  • G. Steinbrügge, A. Stark, H. Hussmann, F. Sohl and J. Oberst, Measuring

tidal deformations by laser altimetry, A performance model for the Ganymede

Laser Altimeter, Planetary and Space Science. Vol. 117, pp. 184-191, doi:

10.1016/j.pss.2015.06.013

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