astronomy

Louise Prockter

Louise Prockter is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Louise Prockter rather than just read about it. In short: Louise Prockter is a planetary scientist and former supervisor of the Planetary Exploration Group at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. In 2016 the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) announced the appointment of Prockter as Director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston, Texas, effective September 6, 2016.

Key takeaways

Louise Prockter belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Louise Prockter to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Louise Prockter from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Louise Prockter is a planetary scientist and former supervisor of the Planetary Exploration Group at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. In 2016 the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) announced the appointment of Prockter as Director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston, Texas, effective September 6, 2016. She was the first woman to serve as LPI Director and led the LPI from 2016 to 2020. She is currently Chief Scientist, Space Exploration Sector, at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Education Prockter did her undergraduate work at Lancaster University in England and got her master's degree from Brown University. She went on to get Ph.D. in planetary geology at Brown University in 1999.

Career Prockter has worked on a number of NASA missions, both formally and informally. She was on the imaging team for the Galileo Europa Mission (GEM), the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission, and the MErcury Surface, Space Environment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission to Mercury. For the MESSENGER mission, she has served as the Instrument Scientist for the Mercury Dual Imaging System, Co-Investigator, and Deputy Project Scientist. Prockter is Principal Investigator for Trident, a flyby mission to Triton, one of four mission concepts selected for further study under NASA's ninth Discovery-class mission call.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Louise Prockter

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Louise Prockter claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Louise Prockter before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Louise Prockter ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Louise Prockter

In research: Louise Prockter appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Louise Prockter in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Louise Prockter is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Alumni of Lancaster University, Brown University alumni, Johns Hopkins University faculty, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Louise Prockter outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Louise Prockter” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Louise Prockter in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Louise Prockter means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Louise Prockter out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Louise Prockter in simple terms?

Why does Louise Prockter matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Louise Prockter?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Louise Prockter.