NEO-MAPP Role:
Naomi Murdoch is a faculty researcher at the Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO) with a PhD in Physics and Planetary Science. She is the principal investigator of the WheelCams onboard the CNES/DLR MMX rover that will land on the Martian moon Phobos in 2027, has a leadership role in the ESA Hera mission to asteroid Didymos, and is a member of the NASA DART, InSight and Mars 2020 / Perseverance science teams.
Her research activities span a number of fields including planetary science, granular physics, seismology, atmospheric turbulence and acoustics. However, a large part of her research is focussed on understanding the physical properties of planetary bodies, and how their surfaces respond to external forcing (such as spacecraft interactions), especially in the low-gravity environment found at the surface of asteroids. She has an asteroid (Asteroid 8463 Naomimurdoch) named after her in recognition of her contributions to small-body science.