Dr. John F. Cooper

Chief Scientist, Sun Solar System Connection (S³C) Active Archive

Space Physics Data Facility (612.4), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771

EDUCATION: B.S. (Physics) 1972, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia
M.S. (Physics) 1977 and Ph.D. (Physics) 1983, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

EXPERIENCE: Dr. Cooper has research interests in convergent science themes related to space physics for NASA.s Sun-Solar System Connections, Solar System Exploration, and astrobiology programs. These main interests focus on space environment interactions, particularly those of potential astrobiological interest, with solar system bodies within giant planet magnetospheres and with Kuiper Belt and other icy bodies within the heliospheric environment. He has been involved in research on energetic particle and related experiment data from the first missions to Saturn and Uranus, respectively Pioneer 11 in 1979 and Voyager 2 in 1986, the S81-1 and CRRES satellites in the Earth.s magnetosphere, and the Galileo Orbiter mission in the Jovian system. He is currently affiliated with the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) team for ongoing Cassini Orbiter investigations of Saturn.s magnetosphere and its interactions with moons and rings. He has been Principal Investigator on several recent NASA research projects relating to analysis of Galileo Orbiter energetic particle data and to modeling of moon-magnetosphere interactions and atmospheric formation for the Galilean moons. Dr. Cooper has been Co-Investigator on high capability planetary instrument development teams for active radio sounding and neutral atom imaging intended for application to the Prometheus program, while also collaborating on similar applications with the planetary x-ray spectroscopy group at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center. He was a member of the Science Definition Team for the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) and currently participates in the Europa subgroup for NASA.s Outer Planets Assessment Group. He was chairman and lead author on a published 2002 study sponsored by the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) on science objectives and mission priorities for exploration of Europa. He is currently lead guest editor for special issues of Icarus and Astrobiology on topics relating to space environment interactions with solar system bodies.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Cooper, J. F., R. E. Johnson, B. H. Mauk, H. B. Garrett, and N. Gehrels, Energetic Ion and Electron Irradiation of the Icy Galilean Satellites, Icarus, 49, 133-159, 2001.

Cooper, J. F., et al., Europa exploration: Science and mission priorities, in The Future of Solar System Exploration, 2003 - 2013, Community Contributions to the NRC Solar System Exploration Decadal Survey, ASP Conf. Ser. 272, M. Sykes (ed.), pp. 217-252, Astron. Soc. Pacific, San Fran., CA, 2002.

Cooper, J. F., E. R. Christian, J. D. Richardson, and C. Wang, Proton irradiation of Centaur, Kuiper Belt, and Oort Cloud Objects at Plasma to Cosmic Ray Energy, Earth Moon Plan., 92(1-4), 261-277, 2003.

Elsner, R. F., B. D. Ramsey, J. H. Waite, Jr., R, Rehak, R. E. Johnson, J. F. Cooper, and D. A. Swartz, X-ray probes of magnetospheric interactions with Jupiter.s auroral zones, the Galilean satellites, and the Io plasma torus, Icarus, in press, 2005.

Greeley, R., et al., including J. F. Cooper, Report of the NASA Science Definition Team for the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO), Feb. 13, 2004.

Shematovich, V. I., R. E. Johnson, J. F. Cooper, and M. C. Wong, Surface-bounded atmosphere of Europa, Icarus, 173(2), 480-498, 2005.

Strazzulla, G., J. F. Cooper, E. R. Christian, and R. E. Johnson, Ion irradiation of TNOs: from the fluxes measured in space to the laboratory experiments, Comptes Rendus Physique, 4, 791-801, 2003.