I’m Mike Bramble and I am planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I am interested in applying laboratory and remote sensing techniques to quantify the compositional and physical properties of planetary surfaces. My research interests span from icy and ocean worlds, to the asteroids, to the Earth's surface, and to the surface of Mars.

I’m a planetary scientist and spectroscopist, and I apply laboratory experiments and remote sensing techniques to quantify planetary chemical and physical properties and investigate surface processes. My research focuses on the advancement of quantitative analytical techniques in the geological sciences. I investigate how the extreme environmental conditions on various planetary surfaces alter the types of compositional information measured by planetary spacecraft. These extreme environments are replicated in the laboratory and include mimicking the vacuum of space, the coldness of an airless body, and the high radiation present at the surface of Europa. I use these well-controlled laboratory experiments to probe planetary spacecraft data to derive an accurate interpretation of the composition of a planetary surface.

My interests span a wide breadth, and include the topics planetary science and exploration, mineralogy and geochemistry, and analytical techniques in the physical sciences. Wider subject areas I personally find interesting include history, aviation, Middle-earth, and baroque music.