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Total Citations
33
H-Index
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About
D. M. Hurley is a leading planetary scientist whose research focuses on the transport, retention, and detection of volatiles on airless bodies, particularly the Moon. Her work is central to understanding how water ice and other volatile compounds accumulate in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) and how they interact with the harsh lunar space environment. In her highly cited 2015 study, "Spillage of lunar polar crater volatiles onto adjacent terrains" (25 citations), Hurley demonstrated that volatiles are not static within cold traps but can be dynamically released and transported onto sunlit, topside terrains via processes like solar wind sputtering—a key insight for interpreting remote sensing data. More recently, her 2023 investigation using LRO-LAMP observations (8 citations) provided a critical assessment of H₂O, CO₂, and NH₃ reserves in south polar cold traps, refining our understanding of accessible lunar resources. By linking surface energization processes with volatile migration, Hurley’s work has reshaped models of lunar polar geology and directly informs future exploration strategies, including NASA’s Artemis program. Her contributions are essential for predicting where and how water might be harvested for sustained human presence on the Moon.
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