Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is unique in our solar system. Below Titan's thick organic haze layer, rivers of methane carve channels into an icy bedrock and flow into large hydrocarbons seas. Across the landscape, water ice mountains and extensive organic sand dune fields are simultaneously alien and reminiscent of Earth. Titan’s lake mottled surface and thick, organic rich atmosphere may be an ideal setting for life as we do not know it and there is certainly much yet to be learned about our own home from the study of Titan. In this free virtual lecture, Dr. Sarah M. Hörst will share how NASA’s Dragonfly mission will explore the surface of Titan using a dual quadcopter and reveal the answers to many questions we have about Titan.
Moderating our discussion will be Kenneth E. Hibbard, Mission/Project Systems Engineer for the Dragonfly Mission.
Sarah Hörst is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University where she specializes in atmospheric chemistry. Her research focuses on understanding the formation and composition of planetary atmospheric hazes, especially the complex organic chemistry occurring in the atmosphere of Titan.
Hörst received a B.S. in Planetary Science and B.S. in Literature from the California Institute of Technology in 2004. She started her research career studying Europa and Titan while at Caltech, then worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory after graduation, analyzing images of Saturn from the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) on the Cassini spacecraft. She went on to graduate school at the University of Arizona, where she studied the chemistry occurring in Titan’s atmosphere at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. After finishing her PhD in 2011, she was an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at University of Colorado-Boulder.
She is part of the Science & Engineering team for the Dragonfly mission to Titan.
Kenneth Hibbard is currently principal professional staff at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and the Mission/Project Systems Engineer for the Dragonfly New Frontiers mission to Titan. Mr. Hibbard received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, and his M.S. in Systems Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University. He has worked at APL for ~20 years, and at the Goddard Space Flight Center for 8 years prior, specializing in project systems engineering and the design, development, and implementation of robotic space missions. He has served on numerous flight missions including ACE, SOHO, Swift, MESSENGER, and New Horizons and has led the formulation of various NASA proposals and concepts, including Europa Clipper, the Titan Mare Explorer (TiME), and the Io Volcano Observer (IVO). Mr. Hibbard has previously supported radioisotope power system development efforts led by NASA GRC, various hypersonic and entry, descent, and landing (EDL) technology development efforts for both NASA and DoD, acted as the Deputy Program Development Manager at APL for Civil Space, and supervised APL’s Space Systems Engineering Group.
Event DateTuesday, August 19, 2025Start Time: 1:00pm EDTEnd Time: 2:00pm EDT
Hopkins at HomeLivestream
ContactOffice of Alumni RelationsJoe LetourneauLifelong Learning(800) JHU-JHU1hopkinsathome@jhu.edu
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