Research Bio

Dr. Robert J. (Rob) Lillis is a planetary space physicist and geophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, where he serves as Associate Director of the Planetary Group. His research focuses on Mars, exploring topics such as atmospheric escape, crustal magnetism, ionospheres, and solar energetic particle radiation.  Lillis is the Principal Investigator for NASA's ESCAPADE mission launching in Fall 2025, a twin-spacecraft endeavor aimed at studying Mars' magnetosphere and its interactions with the solar wind . He also contributes to the MAVEN and Emirates Mars missions, enhancing our understanding of Martian upper atmospheric and magnetospheric dynamics. He earned his BA in Theoretical Physics from Trinity College Dublin and completed his PhD in Physics at UC Berkeley.

 

Research Expertise and Interest

Mars atmosphere, planetary magnetism, MAVEN, solar wind, atmospheric escape