Armin Kleinboehl

Dr Armin Kleinböhl is a planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He is also the Deputy Principal Investigator of the Mars Climate Sounder instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been operating on Mars for over 16 years and established the longest time series of global atmospheric measurements on Mars to date. Since 2008, he has provided landing support for all landings on Mars conducted by NASA and his scientific work focusing on the structure and dynamics of the atmospheres of Mars and Venus led him to author or co-authored more than 100 scientific publications.

Dr Armin is also the Participating Scientist in Residence for the Japanese Akatsuki Venus Climate Orbiter mission, which leads him to spend several months of the year in Japan. His work also includes managing the “Cloudspotting on Mars” citizen science project with more than 8,000 registered volunteers, which allows members of the public to contribute to planetary science by analysing real data from a spacecraft in Mars’ orbit.

During his visit, Dr Armin will be hosting after-dinner stargazing sessions with a focus on Mars and Venus, which will be prominent in the evening sky and will share stories about planetary science and exploration.