Category Archives: Uncategorized

Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2023

It was amazing to see everyone in person again this year at LPSC 2023. It was the first time I had been to a conference in person since the pandemic. Even though people wore masks and everything appeared to be relatively safe, still a number of people came down with a COVID infection. (To my knowledge, must cases were mild. Although I didn’t hear about anything serious, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t.)

I put a lot of work into two poster presentations of my own and contributed to others as well. Fieldwork in Hawaii yielded some pretty impressive results from an experiment that I designed, built and tested. Here’s a link to the abstract and some cool 360 degree panospheres inside the lava tubes at Mauna Loa!

Ultraviolet-Induced Fluorescence (UVIF) Imaging Experiment Results

Work on mapping fluvial systems on Alba Mons has progressed well and is probably coming to a close. I presented results from that study and preliminary results from Amphitrites Patera. Here’s a link to our abstract and a nice write up on PSI’s website.

Perspective view of a hill shade topographic model of Alba Mons, Mars looking from the northeast. A map of interpolated drainage density is projected. The darker the blue color, the higher the concentration of mapped valley networks. Hopefully publishing these results soon…

NASA Expeditions:Combining UVIF and AR

Augmented reality could help scientists find microscopic signs of life in the most extreme environments.

Meet Dr. Stephen Scheidt and Dr. Zachary Morse, two scientists putting new field work technology to the test inside Hawaii’s lava caves. pic.twitter.com/hKOpvo2wRN
— NASA Astrobiology: Exploring Life in the Universe (@NASAAstrobio) November 7, 2022

RISE2 Field Campaign Kilbourne Hole, NM 2022

Kilbourne Hole is not a round crater. Its irregular shape could mean that it formed from a series of volcanic steam explosions centered at different locations. This week we’ll use laser ranging tech + other tools to scour ancient layers of ash for evidence. pic.twitter.com/R3VAkE9Q89
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) April 21, 2022

KNaCK combines three different data streams to make detailed maps in real time. Here's how a drone landing looks in all three views: pic.twitter.com/NszzD11quR
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) April 24, 2022

Good morning from Potrillo Volcanic Field! Today team RISE2 is tackling science and exploration objectives at 3 different worksites. Before heading home this morning, these teammates acted as stand-in lunar explorers & made a trip around the crater rim for a science gear handoff. pic.twitter.com/TK1MJpVKOD
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) April 24, 2022

Update: made it through the cattle traffic! Here's part of the team getting ready for a UAV flight at the north rim of the crater. The data they collect will help us to understand the big picture at this worksite. pic.twitter.com/xWKiOda4IW
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) April 21, 2022

RISE2 Field Campaign to Kilbourne Hole, NM 2021

It’s a face-off! Who will laugh first? In this battle of the scientists, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle team lead Stephen Scheidt holds a dGPS camera, and Chemistry/Mineralogy team lead Cherie Achilles holds a spectrometer. pic.twitter.com/zcpjKpMRGO
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) February 2, 2022

It’s not always easy to get a sense of size and distance from aerial or orbital images, but this photo has humans for scale. Can you find Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle pilot-in-command Stephen Scheidt and visual observer Ben Harte? pic.twitter.com/gHmN70SzC9
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) February 2, 2022

https://twitter.com/NASAExpeditions/status/1488229790561841156?s=20&t=OZ0If0X1UAfLbOgm37J9XA

https://twitter.com/NASAExpeditions/status/1488241041731985408?s=20&t=OZ0If0X1UAfLbOgm37J9XA

Future Moon and Mars crews will need to react quickly + accurately to geologic clues during the limited time they’ll have on extraterrestrial surfaces. On this trip, we’ll work towards combining lots of different data streams to make them easier to interpret in real time. pic.twitter.com/9X7BfX2n5x
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) January 31, 2022

Field Campaign in Iceland 2021

Sunset science. Our Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle Team needed to wait until late in the day (or start early in the morning) to do their mapping, to avoid peak visiting hours in Askja Caldera. pic.twitter.com/1YfOhO9M0e
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) December 9, 2021

Back at camp, UAV Team Lead Stephen Scheidt made sure our charging station ran smoothly, so all of our electronic field instruments were powered up and ready to go when we needed them. pic.twitter.com/JM3Xvhi69f
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) December 7, 2021

The UAV Team also continued long-term investigations of Mars-like processes happening on the ground in Iceland. They're monitoring migrating gravel ripples and nearby rocks shaped by wind abrasion. These observations help us understand how the surface of Mars is changing, too. pic.twitter.com/y5DbNrsSyq
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) December 7, 2021

https://twitter.com/NASAExpeditions/status/1467974709274886144?s=20&t=OZ0If0X1UAfLbOgm37J9XA

Tough trucks – and expert guidance from our field leads – helped us stay safe through challenging driving conditions on the way to our field site. pic.twitter.com/8yBhKefxhZ
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) December 6, 2021

Capturing Aerial Images from UAVs in Iceland 2019

Here’s some UAV footage from last year. Spectacular and informative! An overhead look gives us a similar point of view to our Mars orbiters looking at similar features on the red planet, helps us map the properties of the lava, and contextualizes other data we've gathered. pic.twitter.com/B1l9AWLSKd
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) September 12, 2019

Team Topography uses Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to map the volcanic landscape. The team is observing how a new volcanic vent cools and erodes to better understand ancient features on the Moon and Mars. pic.twitter.com/IfaRjh9Q04
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) September 10, 2019

We’re the Goddard Instrument Field Team. We were in Iceland studying volcanic processes to discover what volcanic landscapes might be like on other planets and to figure out what specialized equipment we should bring when we explore our solar system. Here's a week in our lives. pic.twitter.com/WSmRquXLOu
— NASA Expeditions (@NASAExpeditions) September 9, 2019

Science, Art and Engineering

: UPDATE: This made my day.

My main function: analyze geospatial data on the computer. The data show images looking down at Earth and Mars and are interesting to look at: lava flows, sand dunes, river channels, mountains. These are valuable to science, but the patterns and abstractness have artistic value. Many people recognize this and celebrate this by contributing to The Art of Planetary Science Exhibition in Tucson, AZ. There were many submissions from almost a hundred artists, and I’m happy to be one this year in 2018. I carved a HiRISE DTM, my first completed 3D carve of topography. I’m happy with the way it turned out!

Description of Piece: A place on Mars in miniature Fissure and Channel Southeast of Olympus Mons. Carved by a homemade computer numerical control (CNC) milling machine; surface tone painted by hand. Image data were provided by The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera in orbit around Mars, which were processed into a digital terrain model by the HiRISE Science Team.

: The location of the data is from a location (square mark) east of Olympus Mons, Mars.

: Perspective digital rendering of the HiRISE visible image data showing the fissure and channels.

: Perspective digital rendering of the HiRISE DTM data.

: This is the table top of my CNC machine. On the right is a practice carve, aka, attempt No. 1.

: Carving in progress. You can’t see the spindle and milling bit because of the dust shoe. A 4″ hose is connected to a blower, pulling dust off the piece as it carves.

: This is the completed carve after roughing (1/4″ square end mill, 1500 mmpm, 3 mm doc) and finishing (1/16″ ball end mill, 1500 mmpm, 0.254 doc, 0.33 mm stepover). I would definitely do it differently next time as I made many mistakes. Even though a machine is doing the carving, there are still plenty of “artistic” choice to make.

: Because of the scale of the model, topography is subtle. The large cut in the middle is actually about 500 meters wide. On the model, it’s only about 1.5 cm.

: Finished it with a black border, a typical view when viewing satellite data on a computer. Hand painted the surface. Ready for this weekend’s exhibition.

: Just another view. I was experimenting with the piece upside down. (The bottom is North.)

RIS4E Field Campaign Aden Volcanic Field, NM 2017

Fly-by lava texture! This image and zoomed inset from the UAV (100 m altitude, speed 90 kph) gives a spatial resolution of 1.3 cm per pixel. pic.twitter.com/lE7oXF557O
— Stephen Scheidt (@sscheidt77) June 12, 2017

After launch, team members keep their eyes on the fixed wing plane as it acquires images of the lava tube. #reportingris4e pic.twitter.com/05arSYtkM8
— RISE2 Science and Exploration (@RIS4E_SSERVI) June 12, 2017

Collaborated with the @RIS4E_SSERVI team to bring aerial images like this for a view of volcanoes in New Mexico. #reportingris4e pic.twitter.com/neaU4JElei
— Stephen Scheidt (@sscheidt77) June 12, 2017

Iceland Field Campaign 2016

I have to admit: Flying an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) such as the Trimble UX5-HP is a lot easier than flying a kite over lava flows. We covered several square kilometers in no time with this bird! There were two location: the south of Iceland (the Laki lava flow) and in the north of Iceland (the Holuhraun lava flow). We worked with a great group of students in the field participating in the Keck Geology Consortium. They helped us run our mobile UAV airport! I’ll post more details about our field work and the student projects soon. For now, here are a few images of us doing our volcanological mapping. The data will result in orthoimage data at 1-4 cm per pixel, and digital terrain models at 10 cm per pixel!

: This is a taste of the data we’re creating at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. On the left is an orthoimage of a series of cones along a fissure in the Laki lava flow. On the right is a colorized digital terrain model (DTM) of the same area. No scale; map oriented north.

: Setting up for launch near the Holuhraun lava flow

: Ground control; our mobile UAV port.

: Stepping through launch preparations with Dr. Christopher Hamilton.

: Removing the pitot tube cover just before launch.

: Somewhere out there is an expensive bird that we’re tracking.

: Going through post-flight checklist.

: It took several flights to cover the area surrounding the vent of the Holuhraun lava flow with the UX5-HP.

Video Goes Live on NASA Hyperwall

PI Tim Glotch discussing the scales at which we observe the Solar System on the NASA Hyperwall. #AGU15 pic.twitter.com/DGPTzwGeos

— RIS4E Science (@RIS4E_SSERVI) December 18, 2015

Check out the full video I created using the image and digital terrain model collected using a kite aerial photography (KAP) system.

Stephen P. Scheidt

Earth and Planetary Geology | Surface Processes | Remote Sensing