Edgard Rivera-Valentín

Dr. Edgard Rivera-Valentín is a planetary scientist whose work focuses on applications for planetary protection policies and planetary defense strategies. They study surface processes with implications for planetary habitability and use ground- and space-based radar observations to characterize asteroids and planetary surfaces. Their research interests include brines as an ecological system on Mars and across the solar system as well as the formation and evolution of subsurface icy reservoirs. Dr. Rivera-Valentín is a Science Investigation Team member on the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission, the planetary defense lead for the OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Apophis Explorer) mission, and a Science Team member on the Mini-RF radar instrument onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. They are also a member of the Arecibo Observatory’s planetary radar science group and collaborate with the Goldstone Solar System Radar group. Much of their science community service work focuses on projects that help to progress the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the field.