Dr. Linda J. Spilker is a JPL Fellow, Senior Research Scientist and planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who has participated in NASA and international planetary missions for over 45 years. She is currently serving as the Voyager Project Scientist. Her mission roles have grown to encompass mission leadership as well as design, planning, operation and scientific data analysis. Prior to Voyager, Spilker was the Cassini Project Scientist, leading a team of over 300 international scientists to maximize the scientific return of the Cassini mission within cost and schedule. She worked in a science role on the Cassini project for 30 years, and was a Co-I with the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) team. She led the CIRS ring team focusing on thermal infrared studies and modeling of Saturn's rings to address questions of the rings' origin and evolution. She led the science preparation of two Cassini Senior Review Proposals, in 2012 and 2014, both of which received Excellent ratings. She also participated in a 2023 Voyager Senior Review proposal.
Prior to Cassini, Spilker previously worked on Voyager for 12 years, as the Experiment Representative (science liaison to the project) with the Infrared Radiometer and Spectrometer (IRIS) team and as a science associate with the Photopolarimeter Team. Prior to that she was a research assistant (as L. Horn) in the Geology Department at Caltech studying the lead and bismuth distribution in meteorite samples, with a focus on carbonaceous chondrites and early solar system history and formation.
Spilker is a member of the Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) Steering Committee after serving for five years as OPAG Vice-Chair, then Co-Chair. She was previously the Chair for the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS). She was an author or coauthor on a number of white papers for the 2023 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. She has also participated on the Advisory Council for Planetary Data System Ring-Moon Systems Node since 1990, providing input on archiving data from Cassini and other planetary missions.
Over the years Spilker has mentored numerous postdocs, graduate students and summer students as well as young scientists at JPL and other institutions. She is committed to transferring knowledge and training future generations.
