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Dr.
Ralph L. McNutt, Jr.
MESSENGER Project Scientist
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory |
Dr. McNutt is the chief scientist in the Space Department
at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory,
which he joined in 1992. As project scientist for the MESSENGER
mission, he serves as the principal investigator's "right-hand
man" in making sure that the spacecraft, mission design
and experiment plan answer all six of the major science questions
the project will investigate at the innermost planet. He
will participate in analysis of Mercury’s surface composition
using data from MESSENGER’s X-Ray Spectrometer and
Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer instruments.
Dr. McNutt is also a co-investigator on NASA’s New
Horizons (Pluto-Kuiper Belt) mission, a team member of the
Cassini Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer investigation and a
science team member of two Voyager investigations. He has
been involved in a range of space physics research projects
and mission studies, including studies of the magnetospheres
of the outer planets, the interaction of the solar wind with
the interstellar medium, solar neutrinos, and solar probe
and interstellar probe missions for the future.
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