• Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences

McKinnon

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• Ph.D. at California Techinical Institute
• M.S. at California Technical Institute
• B.S. at MIT

News Stories & Tip Sheets:

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'Holy grail for icy volcanism' Saturnian moon shows evidence of ammonia July 24, 2009 -- NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Saturn's moon Enceladus, seen by the Cassini spacecraft. Data collected during two close flybys of Saturn's moon Enceladus by NASA's Cassini spacecraft add more fuel to the fire about the Saturnian ice world containing sub-surface liquid water, according to a report in the July 23 issue of the journal Nature that is co-authored by a planetary researcher from Washington University in St. Louis.

Extreme environments Return to Europa: A closer look is possible Dec. 13, 2007 -- NASA/JPL Thick or thin ice shell on Jupiter's moon Europa? Scientists are all but certain that Europa has an ocean underneath its surface ice, but do not know how thick this ice might be. Download Jupiter's moon Europa is just as far away as ever, but new research is bringing scientists closer to being able to explore its tantalizing ice-covered ocean and determine its potential for harboring life. William B. McKinnon, professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, is discussing some of these recent findings and new opportunities for exploring Europa in a news briefing on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007, at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

Ice smoke Hot spot on Enceladus causes plumes Dec. 10, 2007 -- NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Hot spots on Saturn's tiny satellite, Enceladus, could be telltale signs of life on the frigid moon. Download Enceladus, the tiny satellite of Saturn, is colder than ice, but data gathered by the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan has detected a hot spot that could mean there is life in the old moon after all. In fact, for researchers of the outer planets, Enceladus is so intellectually hot, it's smokin'.

Many moons Space scientists ponder which Jupiter moon will reveal the most Feb. 7, 2007 -- NASA Let's visit Europa! William B. McKinnon, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, says the space science community suffers from an embarrassment of riches when pondering which of Jupiter's moons should be studied next, because they all differ in the way that they can reveal more about planets and how they behave. But he thinks it is Europa that clearly commands the most attention.

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Jupiter's Moon Europa: What Could Be Under The Ice? ScienceDaily.com and 3 others Dec. 14, 2007 -- Jupiter's moon Europa is just as far away as ever, but new research is bringing scientists closer to being able to explore its tantalizing ice-covered ocean and determine its potential for harboring life. WUSTL earth and planetary sciences professor William McKinnon is discussing some of these recent findings and new opportunities for exploring Europa in a news briefing today at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

Passing probe to study 'crop circles' on Europa NewScientist.com (UK) Feb. 28, 2007 -- When NASA's New Horizons space probe makes its closest approach of Jupiter on Wednesday, it will get the best ever glimpse at the composition of several of the planet's large moons. NASA plans to send back only five images of Jupiter and its moons shortly after the flyby. One of those five will be of Jupiter's moon, Europa, which scientists think harbours a watery ocean beneath an icy crust. Some scientists say this is a prime place to look for life in the solar system. WUSTL earth and planetary sciences professor Bill McKinnon comments.

Manned-flight programs to gain at other NASA efforts' expense Baltimore Sun Feb. 8, 2005 -- Space scientists say the NASA budget rolled out yesterday would leave the Hubble Space Telescope to die in orbit, while starving other space science programs to help pay for the Bush Administration's drive to send humans to the moon and beyond.For many scientists, "the mood is deeply apprehensive," said William B. McKinnon, a planetary scientist at WUSTL and chairman of the Division for Planetary Sciences at the American Astronomical Society.

Of all of the Galilean satellites, though, Europa, with its complexly tectonically and volcanically deformed icy surface and probable subsurface water ocean, has clearly emerged as the star. Active research involves linking the tectonic patterns seen on the surface to sources of stress, the conditions necessary for subsolidus convection within both the surface ice shell and the interior silicate mantle, and the geophysical and geochemical consequences thereof. The latter are of deep interest because of the theoretical possibility of a subsurface biosphere, hosted in hydrothermal systems on Europa's ocean floor. This concept is being presently studied in a collaboration with Professor Everett Shock.

Understanding the ice-rock bodies of the deep outer solar system is especially challenging. Pluto and its moon Charon are important because they are survivors representative of the planetesimals that accreted to form Uranus and Neptune. Triton, Neptune's major satellite, may have been captured from solar orbit, and thus be similar to Pluto. Work in this area concerns the origin and interrelationships of these bodies and the ice-rock bodies of the Kuiper Belt, within which Pluto is found and from which Triton probably escaped. Recent work has redated the volcanic terrains on Triton, taking into account the impacts of smaller Kuiper Belt objects, and finds Triton's terrains to be much younger than previously thought.

The reconnaissance of the solar system is now complete, except for the significant exception of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt beyond. The cratering records of the solid planets and satellites contain the most direct evidence of the accretion of the solar system, a process that is not absolutely complete as the 1994 Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts with Jupiter attest. Much remains to be learned, especially as concerns the impact process itself and effects on target bodies. The Earth has not been spared from such collisions, and while infrequent today, the effects can be catastrophic. Magellan radar images of Venus and Mars Global Surveyor high-resolution images and laser altimetry open up other vistas. Past work has dealt with atmospheric effects on cratering, and the formation of multiringed craters, on Venus.

Planetary science suffers from no shortage of data to study and interpret, and the next twenty years should see new infusions from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Cassini mission to Saturn, new missions to Mars and Mercury, and if all goes well, missions to Europa and Pluto as well. Professor McKinnon is actively involved in NASA's effort to plan and launch these new missions to the frontiers of the solar system, particularly a return to orbit Europa and the first reconnaissance mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Planetary science remains vital and exciting, a field of central importance for our species and - as we are, like it or not, in charge around here - for all other species as well.