Planetary Science Institute

**Planetary Science Institute**
	Logo of the Planetary Science Institute
Abbreviation	PSI
Formation	1972
Founders	William Kenneth Hartmann
Type	Nonprofit 501(c)(3)
Focus	Planetary science
Headquarters	Tucson, Arizona, United States
Location	1700 East Fort Lowell, Suite 106;
Official language	English
Director	Mark V. Sykes
Website	psi.edu

The Planetary Science Institute (PSI) ^[1] is a 501(c)(3) non-profit research institute based in Tucson, Arizona, focusing on planetary science.^[2] As of 2018^[update], its director is Dr. Mark V. Sykes.^[3] PSI, along with Space Science Institute (SSI) Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), and Eureka Scientific, were listed as 501(c)(3) organizations in the US in a special report by Nature in 2007, which facilitate federal grant applications of non-tenure-track astronomers.^[4]

Description

Founded in 1972 by William Kenneth Hartmann,^[5] PSI is involved in many NASA missions, the study of Mars, asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust, the formation of the Solar System, extrasolar planets, the origin of life, and other scientific topics. It actively participated in the Dawn mission,^[6]^[7] which explored Vesta between 2011 and 2012, and Ceres between 2015 and 2018. It managed the GRaND^[8] a Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector spectrometer,^[9] which mapped the surfaces of the two minor planets to determine how they were formed and evolved.

PSI's orbit@home was a distributed computing project through which the public could help in the search for near-Earth objects. The institute is also involved in science education through school programs, popular science books and art.

Aileen Yingst, geologist and senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute
Pamela L. Gay, Senior Education and Communication Specialist and Senior Scientist

^ Demers, Jasmine. "Tucson's Planetary Science Institute to assist NASA with Saturn moon mission". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
^ "Phys.org - News and Articles on Science and Technology". phys.org. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
^ "Leadership". Planetary Science Institute. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
^ Bjorn, Genevive (2007). "Freedom of the skies". Nature. 449 (7163): 750–751. doi:10.1038/nj7163-750a.
^ "About Us". Planetary Science Institute. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
^ Mace, Mikayla. "NASA's Dawn spacecraft runs out of fuel, but Tucson scientists say discoveries will go on". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
^ "Overview | Dawn". NASA Solar System Exploration. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
^ "Dawn - NASA Planetary Data System". arcnav.psi.edu. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
^ "GRaND Instrument | Technology". NASA Solar System Exploration. Retrieved 2 December 2021.

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