Public profile

Jonathan Clarke

Doctor

Postal Address: 

CSIRO, Australia Canberra

E-mail: 

Jon.Clarke@ga.gov.au

Grouping Type: 

Associate Members

Biography: 

My career has been extremely varied and when asked what my expertise is in I generally reply I am a geological general practioner.  I graduated as a palaeontologist, moved into petroleum and coal geology, my PhD was in carbonate sedimentology and palaeoecology.  I have also worked on marine surveys in the Southern and Indian Oceans, explored for base metals, nickel and gold in Archaean and Proterozoic terranes in South and western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland, as well as for gold and copper in the Philippines and Chile.  More recently I have been working on the evolution of Australian landscapes, especially of the arid interior and its regolith, on the sedimentology and architecture of Australian Cainozoic basins, and aquifer characterisation and salinity mapping in Australian depositional landscapes.

I have been researching in two main fields, terrestrial analogues of Martian landscapes and developing exploration strategies for human missions to Mars.  Particular analogue landscapes I am interested in include the Hanksville area in Utah, the Arkaroola region in South Australia, areas of inverted relief throughout Australia, and groundwater-related landforms of Australian mound springs, especially those at Dalhousie.   Exploration strategies for human missions is through integrated field research of instruments (spectrometers, data capture, geophysical tools), methodologies (scouting, navigation), exploration technologies (suits, living modules, rovers, field robotics), at appropriate levels of simulation fidelity.  These inform and define baseline requirements and capabilities of human Mars missions and have been particularly useful in the development of the Mars Oz reference mission, a low mass, high return four person Mars mission utilising chemical propulsion and solar power.

I have vice president and research committee chair of Mars Society Australia www.marssociety.org.au

 

Research: 

 

Selected Publications

CLARKE, J. D. A. and STOKER, C.  2003.  Mound spring complexes in central Australia: an analog for Martian groundwater-fed outflow channels?  Abstracts of the 34th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, abstract #1504.

CLARKE, J. D. A. 2003.  The nature of regolith: a planetary scale perspective. In Advances in Regolith, Extended abstracts CRC LEME eastern regolith symposium 2003.

G. A. MANN, G. A.., CLARKE, J. D. A. and GOSTIN, V. A. 2004. Surveying for Mars Analogue Research Sites in the Central Australian Deserts.  Australian Geographical Studies. 30(1): 116-124.

PERSAUD, R., RUPERT-ROBLES, S., CLARKE, J. D. A., DAWSON, S., MANN, G., WALDIE, J., PIECHOCINSKI, S. AND ROESCH, J.  2004. Expedition one: a Mars analog research station thirty-day mission.  In COCKELL, C. C. (ed.) Mars Expedition Planning.  American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series, 107: 53-88.

WOOD, N. B. and CLARKE, J. D. A. 2004. Strategies for Investigating Martian Microenvironments for Evidence of Life: The Expedition One Experience.  In COCKELL, C. C. (ed.) Mars Expedition Planning.  American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series, 107: 89-102.

PIECHOCINSKI, S., CELLUCCI, E., CLARKE, J. D. A. LAING, J., ORLOTTI, B.,  PERSAUD, R., SOLIGNAC, A. and WOOD, N. B.  2004.  Potential Capabilities and Uses of an Integrated Data Logging Device During a Human Mars Exploration Mission. In COCKELL, C. C. (ed.) Mars Expedition Planning. American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series, 107:  273 - 286.

MANN, G. W., WOOD, N. B., CLARKE, J. D. A. PIECHOCINSKI, S., BAMSEY, M., and LAING, J.  2004. Comparative Fields Tests of Pressured Rover Prototypes.  In COCKELL, C. C. (ed.) Mars Expedition Planning.  American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series, 107: 313-326.

CLARKE, J. D. A. and PAIN, C. F.  2004.  From Utah to Mars: regolith-landform mapping and its application.  In COCKELL, C. C. (ed.) Mars Expedition Planning.  American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series, 107: 131-160.

CLARKE, J. D. A., THOMAS, M., and NORMAN, M.  2004.  The Arkaroola Mars analog region, South Australia. Abstracts of the 34th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference Abstract #1029.

CLARKE, J. D. A. 2004.  Mars lander designs: a background to MARS-OZ. Proceedings of the second Australian Mars Exploration Conference, University of Sydney, 2002. Mars Society Australia.

CLARKE, J. D. A. 2004.  MARS-OZ: a technical description. Proceedings of the second Australian Mars Exploration Conference, University of Sydney, 2002. Mars Society Australia.

LAING, J. H., CLARKE, J., DECKERT, J., GOSTIN, V., HOOGLAND, J., LEMKE, L., LEYDEN, J., MANN, G., MURPHY, G., STOKER, C., THOMAS, M., WALDIE, J., WALTER, M., and WEST, M. 2004. Using an Australian Mars analogue research facility for astrobiology education and outreach. In NORRIS R., OLIVER, C., and STOOTMAN, F. (eds.) Proceedings of the 213th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union held at Hamilton Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, 8-12 July 2002 2002, IAU Symposium 213, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2004.

THOMAS, M., CLARKE, J. D. A. and PAIN, C. F.  2005. Weathering, erosion and landscape processes on Mars identified from recent rover imagery, and possible earth analogues.  Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 52(3): 365-378.

WILLSON, D. and CLARKE, J. D. A. 2005. MARSOZ: A Proposed Mars Base Design Adopting a Horizontally Landed Bent Biconic Vehicle. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 58: 181-196.

WILLSON, D., CLARKE, J. D. A., and MURPHY, G. M.  2005. MARS-OZ: a design for a Simulated Mars Base in the Australian Outback. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 58: 292-293.

CLARKE, J. D. A. 2006 (ed.).  Mars Analog Research.  American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series Vol. 111, 343p.

CLARKE, J. D. A.  PERSAUD, R., RUPERT, S., and the Expedition Two crew. 2006. A Multi-Goal Mars Analogue Expedition (Expedition Two) to the Arkaroola Region, Australia.  In CLARKE, J. D. A. (ed.).  Mars Analog Research.  American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series 111, 3-16.

BATTLER, M. M., CLARKE, J. D. A., and CONIGLIO, M. 2006. Possible Analog Sedimentary and Diagenetic Features for Meridiani Planum Sediments Near Hanksville, Utah: Implications for Martian Field Studies In CLARKE, J. D. A. (ed.).  Mars Analog Research.  American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series 111, 55-70.

HELDMANN, J., BROWN, A., CLARKE, J. D. A., MARTINEZ, E., RUPERT, S., and THOMAS, M. 2006. Follow the Water: Applying a Mars Exploration Strategy to the Arkaroola Analog Region, South Australia. In CLARKE, J. D. A. (ed.).  Mars Analog Research.  American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series 111, 71-92.

CLARKE, J. D. A. and WILLSON, D.  2006. Exploration Radii at the Arkaroola MARS-OZ Site: Implications for Mars.  In CLARKE, J. D. A. (ed.).  Mars Analog Research.  American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series 111,129-146.

PARKINSON, R., COCKELL, C. S., and CLARKE, J. D. A. 2006. In-Situ Resource Use (ISRU) at Pole Station.  In COCKELL, C. S. (ed.). Project Boreas: a station for the Martian geographic North Pole.  British Interplanetary Society, 192p.

NELSON, P. A., MANGA, M. BOURKE, M. C., and CLARKE, J. D. A.  2007.  A model for mound spring formation and evolution.  Abstracts of the 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, abstract #2111.

BOURKE, M. C., CLARKE, J., MANGA, M., NELSON, P., WILLIAMS, K., FONSECA, and J., FOBAR, B 2007.  Spring mounds and channels at Dalhousie, central Australia.  Abstracts of the 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, abstract #2174.

WILLSON, D. and CLARKE, J.  2007. A Practical Architecture for Exploration-Focused Manned Mars Missions Using Chemical Propulsion, Solar Power Generation and In-Situ Resource Utilisation.  Proceedings of the 6th Australian Space Science Conference.

PAIN, C. F., CLARKE, J. D. A., and THOMAS, M. 2007. Inversion of relief on Mars.  Icarus 190: 478-491.

CLARKE, J. D. A. In press.  Chapter 13 – Extraterrestrial regolith.  In SCOTT, K. A. and PAIN, C. P. (eds.) Regolith textbook.  CSIRO Publishing.

CLARKE, J. D. A., WILLSON, D., and COOPER, D.  In Press.   In-situ resource utilisation through water extraction from hydrated minerals – relevance to Mars missions and an Australian analogue.  Proceedings of the 6th Australians Mars Exploration Conference.  Mars Society Australia.

CLARKE, J. D. A., BOURKE, M., NELSON, P., MANGA, M., and FONSECA, J. In press. The Dalhousie Mound Spring Complex as a guide to Martian Landforms, Processes, and Exploration. Proceedings of the 7th Australians Mars Exploration Conference.  Mars Society Australia.

History

Member for

8 years 10 months