Justin McGlown
Papers
3
Total Citations
565
H-Index
3
About
Justin McGlown is a key figure in the search for ancient life on Mars, specializing in the development and operation of advanced spectroscopic instruments for planetary exploration. His primary research areas include Raman spectroscopy, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), and fluorescence imaging, all applied to the in-situ analysis of Martian geology and organic chemistry. McGlown made major contributions to NASA’s Mars 2020 mission as a lead developer for the SHERLOC instrument, a robotic arm-mounted UV Raman and fluorescence spectrometer designed to detect organic compounds and potential biosignatures. His work on the SuperCam instrument suite, which combines LIBS and Raman techniques for remote sensing, has been foundational, with his co-authored paper on the SuperCam body unit accumulating over 320 citations. McGlown also authored the definitive description of SHERLOC’s processing electronics and detector, ensuring the instrument’s high-resolution chemical mapping capabilities. With a combined citation count exceeding 560 for his most influential papers, McGlown’s engineering and scientific contributions are critical to Perseverance’s ongoing mission to characterize the habitability of Jezero Crater and cache samples for future return to Earth.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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