4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 183-301
Principal 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 Vice 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.
Dr. Murthy Gudipati and Dr. Julie Castillo-Rogez (Eds): The Science of Solar System Ices (2013) - Springer, USA.
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: