Kenneth Edward Herkenhoff, Ph.D.
Biography
Ken Herkenhoff has been interested in astrophotography since he was a child, and now specializes in imaging Mars. His love of the outdoors led him to study geology and earn a Bachelor’s degree in that subject at the University of California, Berkeley in 1981. After working for a few months in a geostatistics group at Fluor Mining and Metals, he returned to school to study planetary science at Caltech. He recalibrated the Mariner 9 cameras and used the improved images to study the south polar layered deposits on Mars, which are thought to record climate variations on Mars that are similar to ice ages on Earth. He earned a doctorate in Planetary Sciences at Caltech in 1989.
Ken was a post-doctoral researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena for two years, where he continued geologic mapping of the south polar region of Mars and studied the photometry of Mars and its satellites. He was hired as a research scientist at JPL in 1991 and became involved in several planetary missions, including Mars Observer, Cassini, and Mars Pathfinder. The success of Mars Pathfinder and its Sojouner rover led to his involvement in the Mars Exploration Rover missions as science lead for the Microscopic Imagers. These larger rovers landed on Mars in January 2004; Opportunity explored Mars until a global dust storm ended its mission in 2018. In 1998 he moved from JPL to the U. S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he currently works as a research geologist. Ken is a Co-Investigator on the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, serving as Polar Geology science theme lead. He is also a Co-Investigator on the Mars Science Laboratory Mastcam/MAHLI/MARDI and ChemCam science teams; MSL landed on August 5, 2012 and is now exploring Gale crater on Mars.
Ken has published hundreds of papers and abstracts as first or co-author on various topics including the impact origin of Upheaval Dome (Utah), light scattering in Mars’ atmosphere, and Phobos photometry. But most of his work has focused on the design, calibration, and operation of cameras on Mars spacecraft.
Science and Products
Overview of spirit microscopic imager results
This paper provides an overview of Mars Exploration Rover Spirit Microscopic Imager (MI) operations and the calibration, processing, and analysis of MI data. The focus of this overview is on the last five Earth years (2005–2010) of Spirit's mission in Gusev crater, supplementing the previous overview of the first 450 sols of the...
Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Squyres, Steve W; Arvidson, Raymond E.; Cole, Shoshanna B; Sullivan, Rob; Yingst, Aileen; Cabrol, Nathalie; Lee, Ella (Contractor); Richie, Janet; Sucharski, Robert M.; Calef, Fred J.; Bell, James F. ; Chapman, Mary; Geissler, Paul; Edgar, Lauren A.; Franklin, Brenda; Hurowitz, Joel A.; Jensen, Elsa; Johnson, Jeffrey R.; Kirk, Randolph L.; Lanagan, Peter; Mullins, Kevin; Leff, Craig; Maki, Justin; Redding, Bonnie L.; Rice, Melissa; Sims, Michael H.; Sunda, Annette; Springer, Richard; Spanovich, Nicole; Soderblom, Laurence A.; Vaughan, Alicia The thermophysical properties of the Bagnold Dunes, Mars: Ground truthing orbital data
We compare the thermophysical properties and particle sizes derived from the Mars Science Laboratory rover's Ground Temperature Sensor of the Bagnold dunes, specifically Namib dune, to those derived orbitally from Thermal Emission Imaging System, ultimately linking these measurements to ground truth particle sizes determined from Mars Hand Lens...
Edwards, Christopher S.; Piqueux, Sylvain; Hamilton, Victoria E.; Fergason, Robin L.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Vasavada, Ashwin R.; Bennett, Kristen A.; Sacks, Leah; Lewis, Kevin; Smith, Michael D. The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover Mastcam instruments: Preflight and in-flight calibration, validation, and data archiving
The NASA Curiosity rover Mast Camera (Mastcam) system is a pair of fixed-focal length, multispectral, color CCD imagers mounted ~2 m above the surface on the rover's remote sensing mast, along with associated electronics and an onboard calibration target. The left Mastcam (M-34) has a 34 mm focal length, an instantaneous field of view (...
Bell, James F. ; Godber, A.; McNair, S.; Caplinger, M.A.; Maki, J.N.; Lemmon, M.T.; Van Beek, J.; Malin, M.C.; Wellington, D.; Kinch, K.M.; Madsen, M.B.; Hardgrove, C.; Ravine, M.A.; Jensen, E.; Harker, D.; Anderson, Ryan; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Morris, R.V.; Cisneros, E.; Deen, R.G. In situ detection of boron by ChemCam on Mars
We report the first in situ detection of boron on Mars. Boron has been detected in Gale crater at levels <0.05 wt % B by the NASA Curiosity rover ChemCam instrument in calcium‐sulfate‐filled fractures, which formed in a late‐stage groundwater circulating mainly in phyllosilicate‐rich bedrock interpreted as lacustrine in origin. We...
Gasda, Patrick J.; Haldeman, Ethan B.; Wiens, Roger C.; Rapin, William; Bristow, Thomas F.; Bridges, John C.; Schwenzer, Susanne P.; Clark, Benton C.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Frydenvang, Jens; Lanza, Nina L.; Maurice, Sylvestre; Clegg, Samuel M.; Delapp, Dorothea M.; Sanford, Veronica L.; Bodine, Madeleine R.; McInroy, Rhonda
The U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center
In 1960, Eugene Shoemaker and a small team of other scientists founded the field of astrogeology to develop tools and methods for astronauts studying the geology of the Moon and other planetary bodies. Subsequently, in 1962, the U.S. Geological Survey Branch of Astrogeology was established in Menlo Park, California. In 1963, the Branch moved to...
Kestay, Laszlo P.; Vaughan, R. Greg; Gaddis, Lisa R.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Hagerty, Justin J. Stratigraphy of the north polar layered deposits of Mars from high-resolution topography
The stratigraphy of the layered deposits of the polar regions of Mars is theorized to contain a record of recent climate change linked to insolation changes driven by variations in the planet's orbital and rotational parameters. In order to confidently link stratigraphic signals to insolation periodicities, a description of the stratigraphy is...
Becerra, Patricio; Byrne, Shane; Sori, Michael M.; Sutton, Sarah; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E. ChemCam activities and discoveries during the nominal mission of the Mars Science Laboratory in Gale crater, Mars
At Gale crater, Mars, ChemCam acquired its first laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) target on Sol 13 of the landed portion of the mission (a Sol is a Mars day). Up to Sol 800, more than 188000 LIBS spectra were acquired on more than 5800 points distributed over about 650 individual targets. We present a comprehensive review of ChemCam...
Maurice, Sylvestre; Clegg, Samuel M.; Wiens, Roger C.; Gasnault, O.; Rapin, W.; Forni, O.; Cousin, Agnes; Sautter, V.; Mangold, Nicolas; Le Deit, L.; Nachon, Marion; Anderson, Ryan; Lanza, Nina; Fabre, Cecile; Payre, Valerie; Lasue, Jeremie; Meslin, Pierre-Yves; LeVeille, Richard A.; Barraclough, Bruce; Beck, Pierre; Bender, Steven C.; Berger, Gilles; Bridges, John C.; Bridges, Nathan; Dromert, Gilles; Dyar, M. Darby; Francis, Raymond; Frydenvang, Jens; Gondet, B.; Ehlmann, Bethany L.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Johnson, Jeffrey R.; Langevin, Yves; Madsen Morten B.; Melikechi, N.; Lacour, J.-L.; Le Mouelic, Stephane; Lewin, Eric; Newsom, Horton E.; Ollila, Ann M.; Pinet, Patrick; Schroder, S.; Sirven, Jean-Baptiste; Tokar, Robert L.; Toplis, M.J.; d'Uston, Claude; Vaniman, David; Vasavada, Ashwin R. Large wind ripples on Mars: A record of atmospheric evolution
Wind blowing over sand on Earth produces decimeter-wavelength ripples and hundred-meter– to kilometer-wavelength dunes: bedforms of two distinct size modes. Observations from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that Mars hosts a third stable wind-driven bedform, with meter-scale wavelengths...
Lapotre, M. G. A.; Ewing, R. C.; Lamb, M. P.; Fischer, W. W.; Grotzinger, J. P.; Rubin, D. M.; Lewis, K. W.; Ballard, M. J.; Day, Mitch D.; Gupta, S.; Banham, S. G.; Bridges, N. T.; Des Marais, D. J.; Fraeman, A. A.; Grant, J. A.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Ming, D. W.; Mischna, M. A.; Rice, M. S.; Sumner, D. Y.; Vasavada, A. R.; Yingst, R. A. Esperance: Multiple episodes of aqueous alteration involving fracture fills and coatings at Matijevic Hill, Mars
In the search for evidence of past aqueous activity by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, fracture-filling veins and rock coatings are prime candidates for exploration. At one location within a segment of remaining rim material surrounding Endeavour Crater, a set of “boxwork” fractures in an outcrop called Esperance are filled by...
Clark, Benton C.; Morris, Richard V.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Farrand, William H.; Gellert, Ralf; Jolliff, Bradley L.; Arvidson, Raymond E.; Squyres, Steven W.; Mittelfehldt, David W.; Ming, Douglas W.; Yen, Albert S. High concentrations of manganese and sulfur in deposits on Murray Ridge, Endeavour Crater, Mars
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE images and Opportunity rover observations of the ~22 km wide Noachian age Endeavour Crater on Mars show that the rim and surrounding terrains were densely fractured during the impact crater-forming event. Fractures have also propagated upward into the overlying Burns formation sandstones. Opportunity’s...
Arvidson, Raymond E.; Squyres, Steven W.; Morris, Richard V.; Knoll, Andrew H.; Gellert, Ralf; Clark, Benton C.; Catalano, Jeffrey G.; Jolliff, Bradley L.; McLennan, Scott M.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; VanBommel, Scott; Mittelfehldt, David W.; Grotzinger, John P.; Guinness, Edward A.; Johnson, Jeffrey R.; Bell, James F.; Farrand, William H.; Stein, Nathan; Fox, Valerie K.; Golombek, Matthew P.; Hinkle, Margaret A. G.; Calvin, Wendy M.; de Souza, Paulo A. A revised surface age for the North Polar Layered Deposits of Mars
The North Polar Layered Deposits (NPLD) of Mars contain a complex stratigraphy that has been suggested to retain a record of past eccentricity- and obliquity-forced climate changes. The surface accumulation rate in the current climate can be constrained by the crater retention age. We scale NPLD crater diameters to account for icy target strength...
Landis, Margaret E.; Byrne, Shane; Daubar, Ingrid J.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Dundas, Colin M. A revised surface age for the North Polar Layered Deposits of Mars
The North Polar Layered Deposits (NPLD) of Mars contain a complex stratigraphy that has been suggested to retain a record of past eccentricity- and obliquity-forced climate changes. The surface accumulation rate in the current climate can be constrained by the crater retention age. We scale NPLD crater diameters to account for icy target strength...
Landis, Margaret E.; Byrne, Shane; Daubar, Ingrid J.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Dundas, Colin M.