Athena Coustenis#
| Membership Number: | 7598 |
| Membership type: | ORDINARY |
| Section: | EARTH & COSMIC SCIENCES |
| Elected: | 2026 |
| Main Country of Residence: | FRANCE |
| Homepage(s): | https://coustenisplanetologist.com |
| ORCID: | 0000-0003-3414-3491 |
| Linkedin: | https://linkedin.com/in/athena-coustenis-a3182198 |
| Publication Link: |
Present and Previous Positions
- 2021 - present CNRS Research director, exceptional class 2, at LESIA then LIRA, Paris Observatory-PSL
- 2019 - 2021 CNRS Research director, exceptional class 1, at LESIA, Paris Observatory-PSL
- 2013 - 2019 CNRS Research director, 1st class, at LESIA, Paris Observatory-PSL
- 2008 - 2013 CNRS Research director, 2nd class, at LESIA, Paris Observatory-PSL
- 1991 - 2008 Researcher at the Paris Observatory in Meudon (at DESPA, then LESIA)
- 1989 - 1991 Post-doctoral fellow at LAIR at the Paris Observatory
Fields of Scholarship
- Planetology, atmospheres and planetary surfaces
- Definition, development and operations of the Martian Moon Explorer mission
- Ground observation campaigns
- Modelling: development of radiative transfer codes in the infrared, simulation of spectra IR, spectro-imaging data simulation
- Giant planets, natural satellites (Saturn, Titan, Enceladus, Jupiter)
- Exoplanets, characterization of atmospheres by spectroscopy, research on the conditions of habitability and astrobiology
- Observations and exploitation of Titan data with the HST and Infrared Space Observatory (ISO)
- Spectroscopic databases
- Planetary protection
Honours and Awards
- 1998 NASA Group Achievement Awards, Cassini Program
- 2005 Prix Icare to the Huygens team
- 2006 Harold Jeffreys Royal Astronomical Society Prize
- 2007 NASA Group Achievement Award, Descent Imager Spectrometer radiometer (DISR)
- 2007 ESA Award for making an outstanding contribution to the Huygens Probe
- 2012 Trophy for Women's Success from the France Euro Méditerranée Association
- 2014 Masursky Award from the Division for Planetary Science of the American Astronomical Society
- 2017 Distinction award from the Greek Union of Physicists
- 2019 ARGO Award
- 2019 Honorary Member (Fellow) of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
- 2019 Al Seiff Memorial Award of the International Planetary Probes Workshop
- 2019 Knight of the Legion of Honor
- 2021 AGU Eugene Shoemaker Lecture Honoree
- 2023 Jean Dominique Cassini Union Medal of the EGU
