Linda Spilker
Linda Spilker is an American planetary scientist who served as the project scientist for the Cassini mission exploring the planet Saturn. Her research interests include the evolution and dynamics of Saturn's rings. In 2022, she became the project scientist for the Voyager mission after Edward Stone's retirement.
Career
Spilker received a BA in Physics from California State University, Fullerton in 1977 and an MS in Physics from California State University, Los Angeles in 1983. She obtained a PhD in Geophysics and Space Physics from UCLA in 1992. She joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1977, initially working on the Voyager missions that were launched the same year. She became a Cassini mission scientist in 1990. In 1997, she was the editor of a NASA publication that summarizes the mission's legacy. In 2010, she became the Cassini mission project scientist, a role in which she directed the entire team's scientific investigations. She has appeared as herself in multiple television documentary programs, including several in the PBS Nova series.Honors and awards
- NASA Exceptional Service Medal
- NASA Group Achievement Award
- NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal