Amy Simon is an American

planetary scientist Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of their ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

, involved in several missions of the Solar System Exploration Program.

Education

Simon is from

Union Township, Union County, New Jersey Union Township is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. In the 18th century, the area that is now Union was then called Connecticut Farms. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township population was 59,728, the highest rec ...

, where she attended Union High School.Parkinson, Claire L.; Millar, Pamela S.; and Thaller, Michelle (editors
''Women of Goddard: Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics''

July 2011, p. 111 Accessed September 13, 2018 "Amy Simon-Miller Union High School, Union, New Jersey" She earned a bachelor's degree in Space Sciences from

Florida Institute of Technology The Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech or FIT) is a private research university in Melbourne, Florida. The university comprises four academic colleges: Engineering & Science, Aeronautics, Psychology & Liberal Arts, and Business. Appr ...

in 1993 and was inducted into

Sigma Pi Sigma Sigma Pi Sigma (), founded at Davidson College on December 11, 1921, is the oldest and only American honor society for physics and astronomy. It is an organization within the Society of Physics Students and the American Institute of Physics and ...

. She completed her doctoral studies in astronomy at the

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

in 1998. Upon graduation she became a postdoctoral research scientist at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

Career

Simon is a Senior Scientist in the Solar System Exploration Division at

, having joined NASA as a civil servant in 2001. She served as the Chief of the Planetary Systems Laboratory from 2008 to 2010 and the Associate Division Director from 2010 to 2013. Her scientific research involves the study of the composition, dynamics, and cloud structure in jovian planet atmospheres, primarily from spacecraft observations, and as of 2018 she has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications.

Works

Her contributions include the first detailed study of the changing shape of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

Great Red Spot The Great Red Spot is a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm that is the largest in the Solar System. Located 22 degrees south of Jupiter's equator, it produces wind-speeds up to 432 ...

, as well as the discoveries of several types of waves in the

atmosphere of Jupiter The atmosphere of Jupiter is the largest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System. It is mostly made of molecular hydrogen and helium in roughly Sun#Composition, solar proportions; other chemical compounds are present only in small amounts and in ...

. Her analysis of ''

Voyager 2 ''Voyager 2'' is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. As a part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, ''Voyager 1'', on a ...

'', '' Cassini-Huygens'',

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versa ...

and ''

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research ...

'' images led to the discovery of several new classes of Jupiter atmospheric waves. Beyond Jupiter, she has studied atmospheric chemistry and dynamics on

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

, including the north polar hexagon. She was also part of a team that observed

Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...

using the

Kepler space telescope The Kepler space telescope is a disused space telescope launched by NASA in 2009 to discover Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. Named after astronomer Johannes Kepler, the spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orb ...

, detecting solar oscillations in light reflected off a planet for the first time. Simon is involved in multiple robotic

planetary missions. She was a co-investigator on the '' Cassini-Huygens'' Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) and is the deputy instrument scientist for the

OSIRIS-REx OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) is a NASA asteroid-study and sample-return mission. The mission's primary goal is to obtain a sample of at least from 101955 Bennu, a carbonac ...

Visible and IR Spectrometer (OVIRS), as well as for the

Landsat 9 Landsat 9 is an Earth observation satellite launched on 27 September 2021 from Space Launch Complex-3E at Vandenberg Space Force Base on an Atlas V 401 launch vehicle. NASA is in charge of building, launching, and testing the satellite, while ...

Thermal Infrared Sensor-2 instrument and the deputy principal investigator for the ''

Lucy Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Luci ...

'' spacecraft L'Ralph instrument. She is

principal investigator In many countries, the term principal investigator (PI) refers to the holder of an independent grant and the lead researcher for the grant project, usually in the sciences, such as a laboratory study or a clinical trial. The phrase is also often us ...

of the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program. Her team discovered a new

Great Dark Spot The Great Dark Spot (also known as GDS-89, for Great Dark Spot, 1989) was one of a series of dark spots on Neptune similar in appearance to Jupiter's Great Red Spot. In 1989, GDS-89 was the first Great Dark Spot on Neptune to be observed by NASA's ...

with Hubble and have published more than 12 manuscripts from OPAL data. Her work with OSIRIS-REX led to the discovery of hydrated minerals on the surface of

Bennu Bennu is an ancient Egyptian deity linked with the Sun, creation, and rebirth. He may have been the original inspiration for the phoenix legends that developed in Greek mythology. Roles According to Egyptian mythology, Bennu was a self-create ...

and earned a NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal.

Explorations

Simon also plans future planetary exploration missions. She served on the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

' Space Studies Board 2013

Planetary Science Decadal Survey The Planetary Science Decadal Survey is a publication of the United States National Research Council produced for NASA and other United States Government Agencies such as the National Science Foundation.National Academy of Sciences, National Acade ...

. She has co-led several mission studies for NASA including Flagship class missions to

Enceladus Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn (19th largest in the Solar System). It is about in diameter, about a tenth of that of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most refl ...

and to the Ice Giants,

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars (mythology), Mars), grandfather ...

and

. She was principal investigator for the proposed New Frontiers class Saturn probe mission, SPRITE. Simon is a member of the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's act ...

, the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

, and the

Division for Planetary Sciences Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

Honors and awards

* Meritorious Senior Professional

Presidential Rank Awards The Presidential Rank Awards program is an individual award program granted by the United States government to career Senior Executive Service (SES) members and Senior Career Employees within the OPM-allocated Senior-Level (SL) or Scientific-Profes ...

- 2022 *

NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal The NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal is awarded to US government employees only for notably outstanding leadership which affects technical or administrative programs of NASA. The leadership award may be given for an act of leadership, for sustain ...

– 2020 * John C. Lindsay Memorial Award for Space Science - 2020 *

NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal The NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (abbreviated ESAM) was established by NASA on September 15, 1961, when the original ESM was divided into three separate awards. Under the current guidelines, the ESAM is awarded for unusually sign ...

– 2019 * NASA Silver Achievement Medal (OVIRS Team) – 2017 * NASA Group Achievement Award (OSIRIS-REx Team) – 2017 * Robert H. Goddard Science Achievement Award (Hubble OPAL Team) – 2016 * Robert H. Goddard Engineering Achievement Award (OVIRS Team) *

NASA Exceptional Service Medal The NASA Exceptional Service Medal is an award granted to U.S. government employees for significant sustained performance characterized by unusual initiative or creative ability that clearly demonstrates substantial improvement in engineering, ae ...

– 2016 * Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Engineering (OVIRS Team) – 2014 *

– 2014 * Asteroid 84994 Amysimon, discovered by the

Catalina Sky Survey Catalina Sky Survey (CSS; obs. code: 703) is an astronomical survey to discover comets and asteroids. It is conducted at the Steward Observatory's Catalina Station, located near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. CSS focuses on the search ...

in 2003, was named in her honor. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 14 May 2014 ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Amy Date of birth missing (living people) Living people Planetary scientists Florida Institute of Technology alumni New Mexico State University alumni People from Union Township, Union County, New Jersey Union High School (New Jersey) alumni American women scientists Women planetary scientists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women