4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 183-301
Senior Research Scientist
Born and raised in southern India, Dr. Murthy Gudipati went to several schools in rural villages and urban colleges before receiving M.Sc. (1981) at the University of Hyderabad, India, and Ph.D. (1987) at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. After a 3-year post-doctoral collaboration with Prof. Josef Michl (at Austin, Texas), he joined University of Cologne, Germany in 1990, where he was awarded Habilitation in Physical Chemistry (tenure) in late 1998. In 2007, Dr. Gudipati joined NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he studies the evolution of ices in the universe.
1998: Habilitation in Physical Chemistry
1995 – 1998: German Science Foundation “Habilitation Fellow”.
1990 – 1994: Research Associate – Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Cologne, Germany.
1986 – 1989: Post-Doctoral Affiliation – University of Texas at Austin
1981 – 1986: Ph.D. (Chemistry, 1987) – Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
I am actively involved in Europa Clipper Mission as a Co-I and Investigation Scientist. Most recently I was involved in Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko. I have been working on putting a cryogenic comet sample return mission concept to bring deeper parts of a comet’s nucleus, which could hold the secrets of our early solar system. In-situ instrumentation for solar system missions is another area of work that I enjoy, maturing the technology readiness level (RTL) of laboratory instrumentation to space instrumentation.
Visiting Positions
Dr. Murthy Gudipati is presently the Chair, Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) since July 2019. Prior services include: Member of the Working Group for Laboratory Astrophysics (WGLA) of American Astronomical Society (AAS) - representing Laboratory Research for Planetary Sciences. Murthy served as the Editor-in-Chief of Earth, Moon, and Planets between 2009 and 2020.
Murthy is convinced that education is the only way to help change the world and that the first few years (K-6) are the most important formative years. He enjoys visiting local K-6 schools occasionally and talking to the children about science. Anyone interested in having him visit their school could contact him directly.
Books published: Dr. Murthy Gudipati and Dr. Julie Castillo-Rogez (Eds): The Science of Solar System Ices (2013) - Springer, USA.
Dr. Gudipati has given several interviews aimed at the early career researchers. Most of these interviews are available publicly on the internet. A few of those links are given below.
Currently my research focus is to understand evolution of ice and organic (and mineral) matter under radiation environments such as on Europa’s surface. Another research focus is to understand cometary nucleus from its origin in prestellar interstellar ice grains to its evolution through Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), Jupiter family comets (JFCs), to potential late heavy bombardment by comets and asteroids on early Earth delivering water and organics and triggering origin of life. I am equally interested in understanding chemical processes that occur in Earth’s ice environment (clouds and surface). I am interested in Earth, Moon, Mars, Outer Solar System, and small body (comets in particular) missions. I am a PI on several NASA funded projects.
I am actively involved in Europa Clipper Mission as a Co-I and Investigation Scientist. Most recently I was involved in Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko. I have been working on putting a cryogenic comet sample return mission concept to bring deeper parts of a comet’s nucleus, which could hold the secrets of our early solar system. In-situ instrumentation for solar system missions is another area of work that I enjoy, maturing the technology readiness level (RTL) of laboratory instrumentation to space instrumentation.
Most recently, I and my coworkers have established laboratory simulations of exoplanet (from Earth-like to hot-Jupiter) atmospheric chemistry under simultaneous ultraviolet environment and successfully conducted first simulations up to a temperature of ~1800 K. They have shown that two simple molecules predominant in the stellar environments (H2 and CO) lead to the formation of a variety of key atmospheric molecules such as CO2, H2O, CH4, and some organic aerosol particles as well.
My overarching research goal is to understand “The Chemical Evolution in the Universe leading to the Origin of Life on Earth” - through laboratory simulations, mission observations and instrumentation. Origin of life through comet impacts, astrobiology, biosignatures, and habitability in the solar systems is another significant interest I pursue.
Some of the recent highlights of the “Ice Spectroscopy Lab – ISL”, the “Titan Organic Aerosol and Surface Chemistry – TOAST lab”, and the “Exoplanet Atmospheric Simulation Lab”, which I founded at JPL and presently lead are as follows:
20. Refractory and Semi-Volatile Organics at the Surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: Insights from the VIRTIS/ROSETTA Imaging Spectrometer; Quirico, E. et al. Icarus 272 (2016) 32-47.
21. Exposed water ice on the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko; G. Filacchione et al. Nature 529 (2016) 368–372; doi:10.1038/nature16190
22. New experimental capability to investigate the hypervelocity micrometeoroid bombardment of cryogenic surfaces; Andrew O. Nelson, Richard Dee, Murthy S. Gudipati, Mihály Horányi, David James, Sascha Kempf, Tobin Munsat, Zoltán Sternovsky, and Zach Ulibarri. Rev. Sci. Inst. 87 (2016) 024502.
23. Simulation of Titan's atmospheric photochemistry: Formation of non-volatile residue from polar nitrile ices. I. Couturier-Tamburelli, N. Piétri, M. S. Gudipati; Astronomy and Astrophysics A&A 578, A111 (2015); DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201425518
24. 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: The Organic-rich surface of a Kuiper Belt comet as seen by VIRTIS/Rosetta; Rosetta VIRTIS team Science 347 (28 January 2015) aaa0628
25. Direct Detection of Complex Organic Products in Electron-Irradiated Astrophysical and Cometary Ice Analogs using Two-Step Laser Ablation and Ionization Mass Spectrometry; Bryana L. Henderson and Murthy S. Gudipati Astrophysical Journal 800 (2015) 66 (17pp); DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/800/1/66
26. Mixing of the Immiscible: Hydrocarbons in Water Ice Near the Ice Crystallization Temperature; Antti Lignell and Murthy S. Gudipati Journal of Physical Chemistry 119 (2015) 2607-13, DOI: 10.1021/jp509513s)
27. Plume Composition and Evolution in Multicomponent Ices Using Resonant Two-Step Laser Ablation and Ionization Mass Spectrometry; Bryana L. Henderson and Murthy S. Gudipati, Journal of Physical Chemistry A 118 (2014) 5454-5463; DOI: 10.1021/jp503111k
28. Spectroscopic studies of non-volatile residue formed by photochemistry of solid C4N2: a model of condensed aerosol formation on Titan; Isabelle Couturier-Tamburelli; Murthy Gudipati; Nathalie Piétri; Antti Lignell; Ronen Jacovi Icarus 234 (2014) 81-90.
29. Laboratory Determination of the Infrared Band Strengths of Pyrene Frozen in Water Ice: Implications for the Composition of Interstellar Ices E. E. Hardegree-Ullman, M. S. Gudipati, A. C. A. Boogert, H. Lignell, L. J. Allamandola, K. R. Stapelfeldt, M. Werner The Astrophysical Journal 784 (2014) 172 (11 pp)
30. Novel Two-Step Laser Ablation and Ionization Mass Spectrometry (2S-LAIMS) of Actor-Spectator Ice Layers: Probing Chemical Composition of D2O Ice Beneath a H2O Ice Layer; Rui Yang, Murthy S. Gudipati J. Chem. Phys. 140 (2014) 104202 (7pp).
31. Photochemical Activity of Titan's Low-Altitude Condensed Haze; Murthy S. Gudipati, Ronen Jacovi, Isabelle Couturier-Tamburelli, Antti Lignell, Mark Allen Nature Communications 4 (2013) 1648; DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2649/ncomms2649;
32. In-situ Probing of Radiation-Induced Processing of Organics in Astrophysical Ice Analogs – Novel Laser Desorption Laser Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectroscopic Studies; Murthy S. Gudipati and Rui Yang Astrophysical Journal Letters 746 (2012) L24.
33. Survival Depth of Organics in Ices under Low-energy Electron Radiation; Irene Li Barnett, Antti Lignell, and Murthy S. Gudipati; Astrophysical Journal 747 (2012) 13 (11pp)