To do things right, first you need love, then, technique. -Antoni Gaudi

Lu Pan/潘路

Biography

Google Scholar || ORCID || Email me || CV

My name is Lu Pan [潘路：潘（PAN）is my surname, and 路 (LU) literally means the road in Chinese]. I am a planetary scientist interested in the geologic and climatic evolution of planets. I was born in the city of Wuhan, China.

My primary interest is to use remote sensing datasets to understand the chemical and physical processes that shape the surfaces of planetary bodies, and the resulting planetary evolution through time. In particular, I aim at combining the mineralogic and morphologic information to improve our view of the interior as well as the surface environments of our red planet -Mars. In addition, I am trying to improve the techniques to document and resolve geological processes using remote sensing, in particular, through spectroscopy. To disentangle how light interacts with solid materials in the solar system and beyond, we may have a better chance to illuminate the paths during the search for habitable environments elsewhere.

I have been involved in the Mars InSight lander and Mars Science Laboratory missions as an external science collaborator on the mission. I also participated in the landing site selection and characterization of Perserverance rover Mars 2020 and the Rosalind Franklin rover in the ExoMars mission.

When I'm not looking at images of planets, I enjoy playing volleyball 🏐 and hiking ⛰. I'm also a big fan of coffee ☕☕☕ and tropical fruits 🍍🍍🍍.

CV

Education experience

• 2008-2012 Peking University, BSc. Geology.
• 2012-2017 California Institute of Technology, PhD. Planetary Science.

Work experience

• 2017-2019 Marie Curie Fellow at University of Lyon
• 2019-2021 Carlsberg postdoc fellow at University of Copenhagen

Please see here for a full CV.

Publications

2022

• Breton, Sylvain, Cathy Quantin-Nataf, Lu Pan, Lucia Mandon, and Matthieu Volat. 2022. “Insight into Martian Crater Degradation History Based on Crater Depth and Diameter Statistics.” Icarus 377 (May): 114898. [link]

2021

• Pan, L., C. Quantin-Nataf, L.Mandon, M.a Martinot, and P. Beck. 2021. “Spectral Endmember Variability on Hyperspectral Datasets of a Martian Meteorite — Implications for Planetary Surfaces.” Icarus 370 (December): 114656. [link]
• Knapmeyer-Endrun B., M. P. Panning et al. (incl. L. Pan), Thickness and structure of the Martian crust from InSight seismic data, Science, 2021, 373, 6553, pp. 438-443, [link].
• Mandon L., P. Beck, C. Quantin-Nataf, E. Dehouck, A. Pommerol, Z. Yoldi, R. Cerubini, L.Pan, M. Martinot, J.-A. Barrat, B. Reynard, Martian meteorites reflectance and implications forin situ studies, Icarus, 366, 114517, [link].
• Pan, L., J. Carter, C. Quantin-Nataf, M. Pineau, B. Chauvire, L. Le Deit, N. Mangold, B. Rondeau, V. Chevrier. Voluminous silica precipitation in late martian waters, Planetary Science Journal, (2021) 2 65, [link].
• Liu Z., Y. Liu, L. Pan, J. Zhao, Inverted channel belt to the East of Tempe Terra, Mars, and implications for persistent fluvial activity. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, (2021)562, 116854, [link].
• Mandon L., A. Parkes Bowen, C. Quantin-Nataf, J. C. Bridges, J. Carter, L. Pan, P. Beck, E. Dehouck, M. Volat, N. Thomas, G. Cremonese, L. L. Tornabene, Morphological and spectral diversity of the clay-bearing unit at the ExoMars landing site Oxia Planum, Astrobiology, 2021 21:4, 464-480., [link].
• Quantin-Nataf C., J. Carter, L. Mandon, P. Thollot, M. Balme, M. Volat,L. Pan, D., Loizeau, C. Millot, S. Breton, E. Dehouck, P. Fawdon, S. Gupta, J. Davis, P.M., Grindrod, A. Pacifici, B. Bultel, P. Allemand, A. Ody, L. Lozach, J. Broyer, Oxia Planum – the landing site for the 2022 ExoMars “Rosalind Franklin” Rover Mission: geological context and pre-landing interpretation, Astrobiology, 2021, [link].

2020

• Perrin, C., Rodriguez, S., Jacob, A., Lucas, A., Spiga, A., Murdoch, N., Lorenz, R., Daubar, I. J., L. Pan, Kawamura, T., Lognonne, P., Banfield, D., Banks, M. E., Garcia, R. F., Newman, C. E., Ohja, L., Widmer-Schnidrig, R., McEwen, A. S., Banerdt, W. B. (2020) Dust Devil Tracks Around the InSight Landing Site, Mars: 8 Months of Monitoring from HiRISE Satellite Images and Comparison with in-situ Atmospheric Data , Geophy. Res. Lett., [link].
• Pan, L., C. Quantin-Nataf, B. Tauzin, C. Michaut, M. Golombek, P. Lognonné, P. Grindrod, B. Langlais, T. Gudkova, I. Stepanova, S. Rodriguez, A. Lucas.(2020) Crust heterogeneities and structure in the first kilometers at the dichotomy boundary in western Elysium Planitia and Implications for InSight lander, Icarus, 338, [link].
• Lognonné, P., W. B. Banerdt, W. T. Pike, D. Giardini et al. (incl. L. Pan) (2020) Constraints on the shallow elastic and anelastic structure of Mars from InSight seismic data, Nature Geoscience, [link].
• Johnson C., A. Mittelholz et al. (incl. L. Pan).(2020) Crustal and Time-Varying Magnetic Fields at the InSight Landing Site on Mars, Nature Geoscience, [link].

2019

• Pan, L., C. Quantin-Nataf, S. Breton, and C. Michaut. (2019). The Impact Origin and Evolution of Chryse Planitia on Mars Revealed by Buried Craters. Nature Communications 10 (1): 4257, [link]. (Picked up by Planetary Newsletter)

2018

• Pan, L., and Ehlmann, B. L. (2018). Aqueous processes from diverse hydrous minerals in the vicinity of Amazonian aged Lyot crater. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 123, 1618–1648, [link].
• Tian W., L. Wang, L. Pan and M. Y. Gong (2018) A giant felsic pyroclastic flow eruption in the Tarim Flood Basalt Province, Acta Petrologica Sinica. 34 (1): 63-74.

2017

• Buz, J., B. L. Ehlmann, L. Pan, and J. P. Grotzinger (2017), Mineralogy and stratigraphy of the Gale crater rim, wall, and floor units, J. Geophys. Res. Planets, 122, 1090–1118, [link].
• Pan, L., Ehlmann, B. L., Carter, J., Ernst, C. M. (2017) The stratigraphy and history of Mars' northern lowlands through mineralogy of impact craters: A comprehensive survey. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets , 122(9), 1824-1854. [link]. (picked up by JGR-Planets Editor's highlight; The Planetary Mechanics Blog)

Before 2017

• Pan, L., and B. L. Ehlmann (2014), Phyllosilicate and hydrated silica detections in the knobby terrains of Acidalia Planitia, northern plains, Mars, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 1890–1898, [link].
• Shangguan S.M., T. Wei, Y.G. Xu, P. Guan, L. Pan (2012) The eruption characteristic of the Tarim flood basalt., Acta Petrologica Sinica.28 (4): 1261-1272

Recent conference abstracts

• Frydenvang J, PJ Gasda, E Dehouck, L Pan, BC Clark, T Bristow et al., Evolving bedrock geochemistry observed by ChemCam as the Curiosity rover enters the orbitally defined sulfate unit on Aeolis Mons in Gale crater, Mars, AGU Fall Meeting 2021.

Contact

Lu Pan, Postdoc researcher @ University of Copenhagen Centre for Star and Planet Formation
Øster Voldgade 5-7
1350 København K

Email: lu.pan@sund.ku.dk

Useful links

• Research groups

  • Center for star and planet formation, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen
  • The Mars group at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen
  • e-Planets team, University of Lyon
  • Ehlmann research group, Caltech

• Organizations and Mars missions

  • MSCA H2020 Action
  • CRISM
  • InSight mission

• Outreach/fun

  • Super Planet Crash:
  • Eyes on Mars: Curiosity

Updated 03/28/2022