Aki Roberge Explained

Aki Roberge
Birth Place:Kyoto, Japan
Citizenship:USA
Workplaces:Carnegie Institution for Science, NASA
Alma Mater:Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University
Thesis Title:Ultraviolet spectroscopy of circumstellar disks
Thesis Year:2003
Doctoral Advisor:Paul D. Feldman
Academic Advisors:Jim Elliot, Alycia J. Weinberger
Known For:Debris disks, LUVOIR

Dr Aki Roberge (born 1973) is a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where she is currently the Associate Director for Technology and Strategy.[1] Her research focuses on observational studies of debris disks[2] [3] [4] [5] and planet formation around nearby young stars,[6] [7] with an aim to be able to characterize planets around other stars,[8] perhaps even to find signs of life on them. She is particularly known for her research on the debris disk around Beta Pictoris.[9] [10]

Early life and education

Born in Kyoto, Japan,[11] to an American potter[12] and a Japanese Chemical engineer,[13] Roberge grew up in a rural community in Vermont and was exposed to science in high school. She earned a bachelor's degree in Physics with a minor in Planetary science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996 with Jim Elliot (discoverer of the rings of Uranus) and a PhD in Astrophysics from Johns Hopkins University in 2002. Her thesis work, conducted under the guidance of Hopkins Professor Paul D. Feldman, was titled "Ultraviolet spectroscopy of circumstellar disks".[14] She went on to conduct postdoctoral research at the Carnegie Institution for Science with Alycia J. Weinberger before taking a position at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in 2005.

NASA work

Her early work at NASA continued to focus on debris disks, in particular Beta Pictoris, for which she is a recognized expert.[15] Her work was crucial in demonstrating its extreme carbon-rich nature, and later in studying the carbon monoxide gas clouds indicating swarms of colliding comets in the young system.[16] [17] [18]

In 2013 she served as one of the members of the study that produced a 30-year roadmap for NASA astrophysics.[19] Her work has included substantial contributions to mission concept development, in particular being deeply involved in developing future space missions for exoplanet detection,[20] including the starshade approach to blocking starlight.[21]

LUVOIR

From 2016 to 2019 she served as the Study Scientist for the Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) mission concept, a multi-wavelength space telescope design developed by NASA as one of four large astrophysics space mission concepts[22] studied in preparation for the National Academy of Sciences 2020 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey.[23] [24] A primary aim of LUVOIR is to enable the investigation of a wide range of exoplanets,[25] specifically to be able to discern those that might be habitable[26] or even inhabited.[27] [28] Under Roberge's leadership LUVOIR was also designed[29] with broader capabilities to build on and surpass those of the Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope, and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, enabling groundbreaking studies of the early universe, galaxy formation and evolution, star and planet formation, and Solar System bodies. This concept was compelling enough that, in 2021, a mission aligned with these goals was selected as the top priority large space mission for NASA to build across the following decades.[30]

From 2020 to 2021 Roberge was the Deputy Program Scientist for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, during which time she worked on a team to document the connection between Roman's coronagraph and LUVOIR needs.[31] Since 2022 she has been the Associate Director for Technology and Strategy in Astrophysics at Goddard.

References

  1. Web site: Aki Roberge's Home Page . 2022-09-01 . asd.gsfc.nasa.gov.
  2. Web site: NASA Goddard's Aki Roberge Explains about Beta Pictoris . 2022-09-01 . EurekAlert! . en.
  3. What's Cooler Than One Comet? A Storm of Them . 2022-09-01 . Time . en.
  4. News: March 6, 2014 . A Chaotic Planet-Forming Disk . 2022-09-01 . Sky & Telescope . en-US.
  5. Aki Roberge . Alycia J. Weinberger . Seth Redfield . Paul D. Feldman . amp . June 20, 2005 . Rapid Dissipation of Primordial Gas from the AU Microscopii Debris Disk . The Astrophysical Journal . 626 . 2 . L105–L108 . astro-ph/0505302 . 2005ApJ...626L.105R . 10.1086/431899 . 367734.
  6. Web site: Exoplanets and the Search for Life - An Exploration in Four Lectures - Speakers from NASA & Yale University . 2022-08-28 . PSW Science . en.
  7. News: February 16, 2018 . Astronomers expect to find many more Earth-like planets . Financial Times . 2022-09-01.
  8. September 1, 2016 . 20 Big Questions about the Future of Humanity . . 315 . 3 . 85–86 . 10.1038/scientificamerican0916-28. 27924887 .
  9. Roberge . A. . Feldman . P. D. . Lagrange . A. M. . Vidal-Madjar . A. . Ferlet . R. . Jolly . A. . Lemaire . J. L. . Rostas . F. . August 1, 2000 . High-Resolution HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE STIS Spectra of C I and CO in the β Pictoris Circumstellar Disk . The Astrophysical Journal . en . 538 . 2 . 904 . 10.1086/309157 . astro-ph/0003446 . 2000ApJ...538..904R . 73592760 .
  10. Roberge . Aki . Feldman . Paul D. . Weinberger . Alycia J. . Deleuil . Magali . Bouret . Jean-Claude . June 8, 2006 . Stabilization of the disk around β Pictoris by extremely carbon-rich gas . Nature . en . 441 . 7094 . 724–726 . 10.1038/nature04832 . 16760971 . astro-ph/0604412 . 2006Natur.441..724R . 118990440 .
  11. Web site: Imagine the Universe! . 2022-09-01 . imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov.
  12. Web site: Ask an Astrobiologist . 2022-09-02 . astrobiology.nasa.gov . en-EN.
  13. Web site: NASA Astrobiology . 2022-09-01 . astrobiology.nasa.gov . en-EN.
  14. . Roberge . Aki . 2003 . Ultraviolet spectroscopy of circumstellar disks .
  15. Web site: Billings . Lee . Hundreds of Comets Seen Orbiting Distant Solar System . 2022-09-17 . Scientific American . en.
  16. Web site: Reddy . Francis . March 7, 2014 . ALMA Reveals Unexpected Gas Clump in Debris Disc Around Beta Pictoris . 2022-09-17 . SciTechDaily . en-us.
  17. Web site: March 6, 2014 . ALMA sees wreckage of comet collisions in nearby solar system . 2022-09-17 . ALMA Press Releases.
  18. Web site: Subodh Varma. March 7, 2014 . A cosmic whodunit unfolds as ALMA investigates mysterious gas blob – Times of India . 2022-09-17 . The Times of India . en.
  19. Web site: Hall . Shannon . January 17, 2014 . Enduring Quests and Daring Visions: NASA Lays Out a Roadmap for Astrophysics . 2022-09-01 . Universe Today . en-US.
  20. Web site: Kaufman . Marc . March 15, 2017 . A Vision That Could Supercharge NASA . 2022-09-01 . Many Worlds . en-US.
  21. Wright . Chris . To Study the Next Earth, NASA May Need to Throw Some Shade . en-US . Wired . 2022-09-01 . 1059-1028.
  22. News: November 3, 2021 . Astronomers Dream Big, Consider Four Future Space Telescopes . 2022-09-01 . Sky & Telescope . en-US.
  23. Web site: Foust . Jeff . January 21, 2019 . Selecting the next great space observatory . September 20, 2020 . The Space Review.
  24. Web site: March 23, 2021 . Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 (Astro2020) . May 24, 2021 . National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
  25. Web site: Bartels . Meghan . March 2, 2020 . Meet LUVOIR, which might become one of NASA's next big space telescopes . 2022-09-02 . Space.com . en.
  26. Wright . Chris . The Gaia Mission Keeps Unlocking Secrets of the Galaxy . en-US . Wired . 2022-09-02 . 1059-1028.
  27. Web site: New Space Telescopes Race For A New View Of The Cosmos . 2022-09-02 . Science Friday . en-US.
  28. Web site: Gasparini . Allison . Our Sun Could Someday Reveal the Surfaces of Alien Earths . 2022-09-02 . Scientific American . en.
  29. Web site: Kaufman . Marc . March 15, 2017 . A Vision That Could Supercharge NASA . 2022-09-02 . Many Worlds . en-US.
  30. Witze . Alexandra . November 4, 2021 . US astronomy's 10-year plan is super-ambitious . Nature . 599 . 7884 . 192–193 . 10.1038/d41586-021-03027-y . 34737412 . 2021Natur.599..192W . 243761658 . free .
  31. Mennesson . B. . Juanola-Parramon . R. . Nemati . B. . Ruane . G. . Bailey . V. . Bolcar . M. . Martin . S. . Zimmerman . N. . Stark . C. . Pueyo . L. . Benford . D. . Cady . E. . Crill . B. . Douglas . E. . Gaudi . B. . 2020 . Paving the Way to Future Missions: the Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Technology Demonstration . 221112127 .

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