Current PhD Students
Hunter Danque
Kyla Edison
Steven Coutts
Chance Amos
Joshua Menges
Karlie Hadden

PI: Kevin M. Cannon
Assistant Professor
Geology and Geological Engineering
Space Resources Program
cannon@mines.edu | 401-340-6608

Undergraduates
Zoe Bowers
Daniel Abel

Research Areas

Space Resources

  • Geologic models for space resources
  • Resource types, concentrations, and locations
  • Prospecting strategies & tools

Regolith Processing

  • Regolith simulant synthesis & analysis
  • Particle size and shape characterization
  • Regolith transport and processing

Planetary Cartography

  • Illumination & line of sight modeling
  • Landing site analysis
  • Predictive maps of resource favorability

Current Student Projects

Facilities & Capabilities

Planetary Cartography Lab
The Planetary Cartography Lab is located in GRL 238, and hosts computing and software resources for mapping, geospatial analysis, and remote sensing for all planetary bodies. Equipment includes an 86" SMART Board interactive display, large format 2D & 3D printers, and VR headsets.

Space Resources Lab
We also have equipment in the shared Space Resources Lab in GRL 140: this includes a Microtrac SYNC particle size and shape analyzer, and instruments and materials for synthesizing and analyzing high-fidelity regolith simulants.

Links & Projects

Lunar Mining & Landing Sites — Resources and tools focused on the Moon

Asteroid Mining — Resources and tools focused on asteroids

Artemis Base Maps — A set of mapping products for prospective landing sites for the Artemis missions

Eat Like a Martian — We’re exploring food produced by ISRU, and food logistics for space missions

Planetary Simulant Database — We created and maintain the Planetary Simulant Database, a free resource with data on historic and current regolith simulants

What we’ve published lately

2021. Karl, D., K. M. Cannon, and A. Gurlo
Review of space resources processing for Mars missions: Martian simulants, regolith bonding concepts and additive manufacturing
Open Ceramics, in press.

2021. Deutsch, A. N., J. L. Heldmann, A. Colaprete, K. M. Cannon, and R. C. Elphic
Analyzing surface ruggedness inside and outside of ice stability zones at the lunar poles
The Planetary Science Journal, 2, 213.

2021. J.D. Tarnas, J.F. Mustard, B. Sherwood Lollar, V. Stamenković, K.M. Cannon, J.-P. Lorand, T.C. Onstott, J.R. Michalski, O. Warr, A.M. Palumbo, and A.-C. Plesa
Earth-like Habitable Environments in the Subsurface of Mars
Astrobiology, in press.

2021. Tarnas, J. D., J. F. Mustard, X. Wu, E. Das, K. M. Cannon. C. B. Hundal, A. C. Pascuzzo, J. R. Kellner, and M. Parente
Successes and challenges of factor analysis/target transformation application to visible-to-near-infrared hyperspectral data
Icarus, 114402.

Contact Info

Feel free to contact me about our groups’ work, potential speaking appearances, or possible collaborations.
Email: cannon@mines.edu
Cell: (+1) 401-340-6608