Kjartan Kinch
Kjartan Kinch is an associate Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is an astrophysicist with a 15-year career working on the camera teams on Mars rover missions Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity. He is a Mastcam-Z Co-investigator and is the lead designer of the radiometric calibration targets for the Mastcam-Z. These targets were built at the Niels Bohr Institute and delivered to NASA in May 2019 for integration on the Perseverance rover payload. Kjartan is interested in multispectral imaging, camera calibration, rover operations, dust in the martian atmosphere, and in the geologic history of the Jezero Crater landing site and what it can tell us about ancient Mars. He loves maps.
Mastcam-Z media coverage:
“Danes are Sending Drawings and Secret Messages to Mars!” (in Danish), “Science.dk” online magazine story by Lise Brix, https://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/danskere-har-faaet-tegninger-og-hemmelig-besked-med-til-mars, Dec. 9, 2020.