Joseph Westlake Graduate Student B.S. in Physics, University of Michigan (2006) Planetary Science   Office:   Phone:   Email: jwestlak@gmail.com

Research

Currently I am working on The Great Escape (TGE) mission at the Southwest Research Institute. This mission is in phase a development and pending selection will study the atmospheric evolution of Mars. I am helping construct the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS), specifically the fast analog to digital analysis and conversion hardware and software. I am also involved in the Hot Plasma Composition Analyzer (HPCA) instrument for TGE. Recently I have studied the upper atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan as well. My work with professor J. Hunter Waite has focused on the orbiter Cassini's INMS instrument. We have been studying upper atmospheric processes at Titan specifically this ion-neutral chemistry occurring at high altitudes.