The following Master Thesis Projects are carried out at the Freie Universität in the Postberg Planetary Sciences working group (AG Postberg).
Please email to the individual contact person named below each project.
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The following Master Thesis Projects are partly carried out at the DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin AdlershofPlease contact Dr. Katharina Otto (Katharina.Otto@dlr.de)
Jets in focus
Help us design a camera system for a mission to Enceladus.We aim to design a camera that can image active Enceladus jets in sufficient details to inform a new perspective on physics behind jet eruptions, Enceladus inner workings and its habitability. To be able to select optical design and sensor, we need a model of ~100 active jets that is realistic in material distribution and light scattering properties. You will develop and work with a computer model of jets to render different observational geometries that will be potentially imaged by the camera. Potential extensions: spectral imaging, filter selection, observational planning strategies.
Contact: Anya Portyankina (ganna.portyankina@dlr.de)
Polar climates on MarsFor many years Planet Four (P4) project investigates activity in the Martian polar regions with the help of citizen scientists. Citizen scientist are volunteers on https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/mschwamb/planet-four who help us mark seasonal fans and blotches in images taken by HiRISE camera over most recent 10 Martian years. We are looking for an enthusiastic student to analyze Planet Four
data to estimate year-to-year changes in seasonal activity using P4 data. Potential extensions: HiRISE image co-registration, correlation to dust storms, atmospheric modeling.
Contact: Anya Portyankina (ganna.portyankina@dlr.de)
Are there visible changes on icy satellites?
Surfaces of icy satellites in Jupiter and Saturn systems are some of the youngest in the Solar System. For example, given the existence of active jets, hinting to active internal processes, it is realistic to expect recent surface changes on Enceladus. Cassini had imaged Enceladus multiple times between 2005 and 2017 and provides possible change detection opportunity. Even if no changes detected, this information serves as input to models estimating resurfacing rates from endogenic processes and global heat fluxes on Enceladus. Potential extensions: Machine learning, similar considerations can be applied to Europa, Ganymede, and – while not icy - Io.
Contact: Anya Portyankina (ganna.portyankina@dlr.de)
MLbasedOutlierDetectionofAltimetermeasurements
Implementationofalgorithmsforoutlierdetectioninlaseraltimetry.ThesealgorithmsshallbebasedonMLtechniquesusingMESSENGERMLAdatasets.TheprojectssupportstheBELAdataacquisitionfortheBepiColombomission.
Contact: Hauke Hussmann (hauke.hussmann@dlr.de)
Mercury'sSurfaceRoughness
Basedondata-setsfromtheMESSENGERmission,thesurfaceroughnessofMercuryonvariousspatialscalesshallbedeterminedandcorrelatedwith geophysicalandsurfaceprocesses.BothlaseraltimetryandDTMdatashallbeusedfortheanalysis.TheprojectssupportsthepreparationoftheBELA experimentonBepiColombo.
Contact: Hauke Hussmann (hauke.hussmann@dlr.de)
TidaldeformationofMercury
BasedonsimulationsthetidaldeformationofMercury'ssurfaceshallbeinvestigated.ProspectsforthedetectionwithBELAusingaltimetrycrossoversin simulatedmissionscenariosofBepiColomboshallbeevaluated.
Contact: Hauke Hussmann (hauke.hussmann@dlr.de)
Mercury'sAlbedo
ThealbedoofMercuryinthenearinfraredshallbeanalysedbasedonMESSENGERdata.Correlationswithgeologicalfeaturesand/ortopographyshallbe searchedfor.TheprojectssupportsthepreparationoftheBELAexperimentonBepiColombo.
Contact: Hauke Hussmann (hauke.hussmann@dlr.de)
Stereo-imagingonEnceladus
ForafuturemissiontoSaturn'smoonEnceladus,theprospectsforstereo-derivedtopographyshallbeevaluated.Basedontheplannedtrajectory,stereo conditionsandopportunitiesshallbeinvestigatedandoptimzedforDTMgeneration.ProspectsfordeterminingthelibrationofEnceladusshallbeassessed.
Contact: Hauke Hussmann (hauke.hussmann@dlr.de)
EnceladusOrbits
Generally,orbitsaroundSaturn'smoonEnceladusareunstableduetoSaturn'sstronggravitationalperturbations.Specificorbitsremainstableatleastonthe orderofdaystoweeks.MissionscenariosforfutureEnceladusmissionsshallbeoptimizedwithrespecttotrajectorystabilityandusageofadditional propellant(delta-v).
Contact: Hauke Hussmann (hauke.hussmann@dlr.de)
Europa'sTidalDistortion
TidaldeformationandtidaldissipationforJupiter'smoonEuropashallbecalculated.Computationaltoolsareavailableandshallbeappliedtodifferent interiorstructuremodels.Thetidaldistortionshallbecalculatedfordifferentexcitationfrequencies.
Contact: Hauke Hussmann (hauke.hussmann@dlr.de)
