About Us

Learn more about the research group and what we do

Image credit: NASA

Info

We are an inter-university research group focussed on utilising radar data from past, present and future planetary missions.

The group covers a range of research areas from planetary surface mapping to the creation of algorithms for change detection.

We study various planetary bodies, with our main focusses being on Venus and the Moon.

The main area studied on the Moon is the characterisation of subsurface ice around the South Pole. The search will be achieved by in-house developed software at Royal Holloway as part of a collaboration between the UK Space Agency and the ISRO in India.

In regards to Venus, the range of topics studied is much more varied. Mapping is a primary output of the group, with the southern region of Lada Terra and also areas around the Beta-Atla-Themis (BAT) triangle being studied in greater detail. Change detection algorithms are being developed for use when data is returned from future missions.

Our Group

Meet the group!

Further contact details are avaliable on the 'Contact Us' page.

Professor Richard Ghail

Royal Holloway, University of London

A professor in Planetary and Engineering Geology, with pricniple areas of research covering tectonic processes away from plate boundaries on continental areas of Earth, particularly the London Basin, and on Venus where the lack of erosion means that the processes are more clearly discernible. He has more than 25 years of experience working with SAR data and its applications and part of the Space Science and Exploration Bilateral Programme with the UK Government and the ISRO.

Dr Philippa J Mason

Imperial College London

An Earth and planetary geologist at Imperial College London who specialises in utilising satellite imagery to study geological structures. A member of the NASA VenSAR Science team for the planned ESA EnVision mission, and also a member of the ESA Science Study Team.

Connor Hoad

Royal Holloway, University of London

A second year Planetary Science PhD student at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Early Careers representative for Europlanet Society's Ireland & UK hub. Diverse range of Earth and Planetary science interests, with ongoing research currently focused on the mapping of tesserae in Phoebe Regio, Venus, utilising SAR imagery.

Poppy McVann

Royal Holloway, University of London

An astrophysicist and current research assistant to Richard Ghail, developing a radar processing toolbox as part of the UK Government's Space Science and Bilateral Programme in collaboration with the UKSA and ISRO. As part of her PhD, she is searching for subsurface ice on the Lunar South Pole and is planning on creating an enhanced topographical map of Venus. She also designed and maintains the website for the group.

Gerard Gallardo i Peres

Imperial College London

A radar scientist and aerospace engineer at Imperial College London and a remote sensing engineer at isardSAT. His PhD work, co-funded by the European Space Agency, focuses on designing an end-to-end algortihm for intermission SAR change detection on Venus, as well as simulating future VenSAR and VISAR SAR imagery.