Amy Simon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Amy A. Simon
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Amy Simon in 2023
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| Born | October 1971 Union, New Jersey, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Florida Institute of Technology New Mexico State University |
| Children | 1 son |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Planetary atmospheres Robotic exploration |
| Institutions | Cornell University Goddard Space Flight Center |
Amy Simon is an American planetary scientist who works at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She helps with many important missions that explore our Solar System.
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What Did She Study?
Amy Simon grew up in Union Township, Union County, New Jersey. She went to Union High School. She earned her first degree in Space Sciences from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1993. Later, she got her advanced degree in astronomy from New Mexico State University in 1998. After finishing her studies, she worked as a research scientist at Cornell University.
What Does She Do?
Amy Simon is a Senior Scientist in the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She joined NASA in 2001. For a few years, she led the Planetary Systems Laboratory and later became an Associate Division Director.
Her main job is to study the atmospheres of giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn. She looks at what they are made of, how they move, and what their clouds are like. She mostly uses information from spacecraft. As of 2023, she has written over 160 scientific papers about her discoveries.
Her Amazing Discoveries
Amy Simon has made many exciting discoveries about planets.
Jupiter's Secrets
She was the first to study in detail how Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot changes its shape. She also found several new types of waves in Jupiter's atmosphere. She used images from spacecraft like Voyager 2, Cassini-Huygens, the Hubble Space Telescope, and New Horizons to make these discoveries.
Beyond Jupiter
Besides Jupiter, she has also studied Saturn's atmosphere, including the strange hexagon shape at its north pole. She was part of a team that used the Kepler space telescope to observe Neptune. They were able to detect tiny wobbles in the light reflected off Neptune, which came from the Sun. This was the first time anyone had seen solar wobbles from another planet!
Working on Space Missions
Amy Simon is involved in many NASA missions that use robots to explore planets.
- She helped with the Cassini-Huygens mission, which studied Saturn.
- She is a deputy scientist for the OVIRS instrument on the OSIRIS-REx mission. This mission collected a sample from the asteroid Bennu.
- She also works on the Landsat 9 mission and is a deputy leader for the L'Ralph instrument on the Lucy spacecraft. The Lucy mission will visit several asteroids.
Since 2014, she has led the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program. Her team used the Hubble Space Telescope to find a new Great Dark Spot on Neptune. Her work with the OSIRIS-REx mission led to finding water-rich minerals on the surface of asteroid Bennu. For this, she received a special award from NASA.
Planning Future Journeys
Amy Simon also helps plan future missions to explore planets. She was part of a group that advised NASA on future space science plans. She has helped lead studies for big missions, like those to Enceladus (a moon of Saturn) and to the "Ice Giants," Uranus and Neptune. She was also the main scientist for a proposed mission to Saturn called SPRITE.
She is a member of several important science groups, including the American Geophysical Union and the American Astronomical Society.
Awards and Recognitions
Amy Simon has received many awards for her important work:
- American Astronomical Society, Division for Planetary Sciences Claudia J. Alexander Prize - 2023
- Meritorious Senior Professional Presidential Rank Awards - 2022
- NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal – 2020
- John C. Lindsay Memorial Award for Space Science - 2020
- NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal – 2019
- NASA Silver Achievement Medal (OVIRS Team) – 2017
- NASA Group Achievement Award (OSIRIS-REx Team) – 2017
- Robert H. Goddard Science Achievement Award (Hubble OPAL Team) – 2016
- Robert H. Goddard Engineering Achievement Award (OVIRS Team)
- NASA Exceptional Service Medal – 2016
- Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Engineering (OVIRS Team) – 2014
- NASA Exceptional Service Medal – 2014
An asteroid, 84994 Amysimon, was named in her honor! It was discovered in 2003. The official announcement was made in 2014.
