Samuel Howell

Background

About Samuel Howell

I am an Ocean Worlds Scientist engaged in the study and exploration of potentially habitable environments and life beyond Earth. My work focuses on understanding the processes that make the deep, hidden oceans of our solar system's icy moons potentially habitable, and guiding the development and testing of technologies to explore them. I participate in, lead, and manage diverse teams from different disciplines to push boundaries in space exploration and polar field sciences. Within the Planetary Interiors and Geophysics group at NASA JPL, I support the exploration of Ocean Worlds as Project Staff Scientist on the Europa Clipper mission. I further lead science and manage technical development for multiple future concepts to enable planetary ice shell and ocean access. As the Principal Investigator of the NASA-funded ORCAA analogue mission, I am leading multiple institutions to conduct access of a subglacial lake in the Juneau Icefield with a planetary “cryobot” to simulate a potential future mission to Europa. Additionally, I act as lead scientist for JPL's PRIME cryobot concept, CryoComm through-ice communications system, and NASA’s SWIM technology concept for planetary ocean exploration. At JPL, I have led polar expeditions in support of these projects to demonstrate technologies on Earth that someday might fly to the outer solar system. In my career, I have additionally explored the Earth's oceans, from equator to poles, aboard scientific research vessels using remote imaging and geophysical techniques. I obtained my B.S. in Engineering Physics from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a concentration in Mechanical Engineering and minor in Thermal Fluid Mechanics. I obtained my M.S. and PhD in Geology and Geophysics University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where I explored planetary-scale process through studies of local surface features. My research on Earth, the first-discovered Ocean World, garnered national attention, including a 2016 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award for innovation detecting and predicting motions on the San Andreas Fault. I love to broadly shared the excitement surrounding the search for life within our solar system. and have had the privilege of contributing to documentary and broadcast news media, radio interviews in local, state, and national broadcasts, various podcasts and live streams, and numerous print and online news outlets.