Mike Chaffin

I do science and develop missions to unravel the history of climate change on Mars and Venus. 🏳️‍🌈 he/him

[Mike Chaffin @planetarymike]

Delighted, overwhelmed, and so, so proud of my colleague and former PhD student Andréa Hughes, who has been selected as a L'oréal USA Women in Science Awardee!! 🎉🎉🎉 Can't wait to see where your career takes you next!

https://t.co/dzkxWdFA0n

[NASA Solar System @NASASolarSystem]

Congrats, MAVEN, on a whole decade of exploring!
For the last 10 years, @NASAMars' MAVEN spacecraft has orbited the Red Planet, gathering data about its upper atmosphere. Here are the top 10 findings: https://t.co/kHWqcJnXKG

[Mike Chaffin @planetarymike]

Please reach out to me or co-lead @planetaryemc2 with any questions or thoughts.

I'm really proud of this work and excited to share it with the scientific community and the world. Get hyped for a decade of new Venus missions!

[Mike Chaffin @planetarymike]

Venus was once like Earth, but it couldn't hold its water. Last week in @Nature, we found that an overlooked molecule (HCO+) plays a critical role in drying out the planet, with lessons for Venus volcanism and possible past oceans.

[Mike Chaffin @planetarymike]

If you're interested in the full scientific paper, you can read it here: https://t.co/AgT2qRvlzP

(Newcomers to Venus might want to start with the Methods section, where we had to move most of the introductory material due to space constraints.)

[Catsuka @catsuka]

Note: "Scavengers Reign" has been canceled by HBO/Max. Netflix is considering picking up the series for a second season. But decision won't be made until after season 1's debut (on Netflix, May 31, US/UK).
You know what to do.
https://t.co/vm69FR5HES

[nature @Nature]

Nature research paper: Venus water loss is dominated by HCO+ dissociative recombination https://t.co/MzO2vqq2XJ

[Springer Nature @SpringerNature]

A new possible explanation for how present-day Venus is almost devoid of water, which may resolve longstanding discrepancies in previous theories, is described in a modelling study in Nature. The proposed mechanism has been overlooked for 50+ years: https://t.co/COkuwIcgZq

[Mike Chaffin @planetarymike]

@planetaryemc2 It was a virtual talk, but that didn’t stop me!

[Mike Chaffin @planetarymike]

gave a talk today

[News from Science @NewsfromScience]

A newly identified water-loss mechanism means Venus may have had an ocean more recently. https://t.co/lXIrslVcAY

[Mike Chaffin @planetarymike]

@melandisphd If you've got any left, I'll take one!

[Mike Chaffin @planetarymike]

Like seeing a deep ocean shark through the window of a submersible, this image captures the view of the Hope mission UV spectrometer as the spacecraft flew by Phobos, a moon of Mars. We inhabit a strange and beautiful universe 🌌

[Hope Mars Mission @HopeMarsMission]

The solar system is filled with interplanetary hydrogen, which scatters sunlight in the UV. This false-color EMUS image shows total reflected sunlight in red and hydrogen in blue, revealing the nightside silhouette of Deimos against the hydrogen glow in the sky.

#HopeProbe