
Dr. Gregor B Steinbrügge
Research Scientist
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)
Search Keyword(s)
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