Dr. Marko Gacesa is a computational physicist with expertise in AMO physics, non-equilibrium modeling, planetary atmospheres, and cold plasmas, with research collaborations involving NASA's MAVEN mission and the Emirates Mars Mission. His research focus are atomic and molecular processes in environments out of local thermal equilibrium that determine the evolution of dense astrophysical environments and cold plasmas.
Alongside his physics and space science research, he explores the use of applied advanced computational modeling and AI/ML methods to study systems-level risk, complexity, and resilience across physical-digital environments.
Dr. Gacesa joined the Physics Department at Khalifa University in Fall 2020. Before that, he held research positions at NASA Ames Research Center, the Space Sciences Lab at the University of California Berkeley, University of Connecticut, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, and conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute of Theoretical Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (ITAMP) at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Nonthermal Processes in Planetary Atmospheres
My group studies physical processes taking place between atoms, molecules, and ions taking place in upper layers of planetary atmospheres exposed to the solar radiation and heliospheric plasma. Specifically, we study the upper atmospheres of Mars, where the photochemical and non-thermal escape to space take place, as well as Venus, Titan, Io, and extrasolar planets. The goal is to better understand current conditions as well as past climates in the Solar system, as well as the impact of escape processes on the formation and evoluton of planetary atmospheres.
In order to compare the models to data and help with the interpretation of the observational data, we collaborate with the instrument and science teams of space missions to Mars, including NASA's MAVEN mission and the Emirates Mars Mission.
Emerging Science and Technologies for In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU)
Within the scope of the ISRU themes, my group is exploring the physics behind proposed innovative technologies for extracting resources and 'living off the land' in space, at planetary surfaces of Moon and Mars. Main directions of our research are extraction of oxygen and hydrogen from the lunar regolith, as well as optimization of cold plasma conversion of CO2 for space applications.
