L. W. Beegle
Papers
12
Total Citations
381
H-Index
6
About
L. W. Beegle is a planetary scientist and instrument developer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory whose career has centered on advancing in-situ analytical technologies for planetary exploration, with a particular focus on the search for signs of life on Mars. Beegle is best known as a principal investigator on the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument aboard NASA's Perseverance rover, a landmark contribution to astrobiology that has garnered over 237 citations since its 2021 publication. SHERLOC represents a major leap forward in planetary science, combining deep-UV Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy to generate spatially resolved chemical maps of Martian surfaces in the search for organic compounds and biosignatures. Beegle's earlier work on ion mobility spectrometry for space exploration (2006, 52 citations) and deep-UV sensing technologies further laid the groundwork for these sophisticated field instruments. His contributions also extend to Mars surface mobility, sample acquisition systems for the Phoenix mission, and robotic arm-mounted imaging tools, demonstrating a broad, systems-level expertise in enabling transformative Mars exploration missions.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 2Ion mobility spectrometry in space exploration52 citations · 2006
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- 8Robotic Drilling Technology and Applications to Future Space Missions4 citations · 2006
- 9CHAMP: camera, hand lens, and microscope probe4 citations · 2005
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