Asteroids and Aliens?
A California Institute of Technology (Caltech) post doctoral researcher at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) I am currently investigating how best to change the path of an asteroid on collision course with our planet. More precisely, I am working on making asteroid deflection as safe as possible by understanding where exactly the asteroid is going, once we have manipulated its orbit. No worries, nobody is planning to send your favorite actor to space any time soon. Instead, the scientific community proposes to conduct a deflection test run, such as DART in order to make sure we are prepared to protect the Earth from an asteroid impact, should that become necessary. During my previous post doctoral research at the Institute for Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation (IMCCE) for the European led NEOShield project. Apart from Near Earth objects, I am working on extra solar planets in double star systems. An Earth with two suns may sound like science fiction, but exoplanets are known to exist in such configurations. Following up on results in my doctoral thesis with the Astro Dynamics Group (ADG) of the University of Vienna my collaborators and me are trying to answer the following question: Where can one find habitable Earth-like planets in double star systems? Does any of the above sound interesting to you? You may find more detailed information on my research page.