Kevin Righter
Planetary Scientist; Antarctic Meteorite Curator | NASA
Kevin Righter
Planetary Scientist; Antarctic Meteorite Curator
NASA
Phone
281.483.5125
Phone
281.483.5125
Biography
Kevin Righter is a planetary scientist and curator for both the Antarctic meteorites and Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) asteroid samples within the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at the Johnson Space Center. Before coming to Johnson, Righter was a research associate in the Department of Planetary Sciences, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Righter currently uses the application of igneous petrology, experimental petrology and geochemical analysis to understand core formation, the origin of the Earth and Moon as well as differentiated and chondritic meteorites and the role of volatiles in the origin of basaltic magmatism. Righter’s research and curation activities help ascertain the content, origin and evolution of the solar system and the potential of life elsewhere.
Education
Ph.D.
Geological Sciences
University of California - Berkeley
1994
M.S.
Geological Sciences
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
1989
B.A.
Geology
Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges
1987
Education
Ph.D., Geological Sciences, 1994
University of California - Berkeley
M.S., Geological Sciences, 1989
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
B.A., Geology, 1987
Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges
Select Publications
Righter, K., Butterworth, A.L, Gainsforth, Z., Jilly-Rehak, C., Roychoudhury, S., Iacovino, K., Rowland, R., Ericksen, T., Pando, K., Ross, D.K., Prendergast, D., Westphal, A.J. (2022) Oxygen fugacity buffering in high-pressure solid media assemblies from IW-6.5 to IW+4.5 and application to the V K-edge oxybarometer. American Mineralogist 108, in press.
Righter, K., Jakubek, R., Fries, M., Schutt, J., Pando, K., Harrington, R. (2022) Assessment of petrologic sub-types, sub-groups, and pairing within CV chondrites in the US Antarctic meteorite collection. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, in press.
Chidester, B., Rahman, Z., Lock, S.J., Righter, K., and Campbell, A.J. (2022) The lithophile element budget of Earth’s core. Geochim. Geophys. Geosystems, 23(2), p.e2021GC009986
Usui, T., Righter, K., Shearer, C.K., and Jones, J.J. (2022) Effect of Sulfur on siderophile element partitioning between olivine and martian mantle primary melt. American Mineralogist: Journal of Earth and Planetary Materials 107, 357-368.
Wang, X., Fitoussi, C., Bourdon, B., and Righter, K. (2021) The tin isotope composition of meteorites: implications for volatile element depletion in the Solar System. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 312, 139-157.
Righter, K., Schutt, J., Lunning, N., Harvey, R.P., Karner, J. (2021) Identification and pairing re-assessment of unequilibrated ordinary chondrites from four Antarctic dense collections areas. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 56, 1556-1573.
Boujibar A., Fei Y., Bullock E., Righter K., Du Z. (2020) Distribution of Na, Cs and Rb between silicate and sulfide, insights into volatile depletion in terrestrial planets, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 269, 622-638.
Righter, K. and Holmwood, A. (2020) Mineralogy and Petrology of Dark Clasts in the Allan Hills 76005 Polymict Eucrite pairing group. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 55, 781-799.
Righter, K., Herd, C. D., & Boujibar, A. (2020) Redox processes in early Earth accretion and in terrestrial bodies. Elements: An International Magazine of Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Petrology 16(3), 161-166.
El-Shenawy, M.I., Niles, P.B., Ming, D., Socki, R., and Righter, K. (2020) Oxygen and carbon stable isotope composition of the weathering Mg-carbonates on the LEW 85320: Revisited. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 55, 1884-1898.
Ivanova, M.A., Lorenz, C.A., Humayun, M., Corrigan, C.M., Ludwig, T., Trieloff, M., Righter, K., Franchi, I.A., Verchovsky, A.B., Korochantseva, E.V. and Kozlov, V.V. (2020) Sierra Gorda 009: A new member of the metal?rich G chondrites grouplet. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 55, 1764-1792.
Righter, K., Schönbächler, M., Pando, K., Rowland II, R., Righter, M., & Lapen, T. (2020) Ag isotopic and chalcophile element evolution of the terrestrial and martian mantles during accretion: New constraints from Bi and Ag metal-silicate partitioning. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 552, 116590.
Righter, K., Rowland II, R., Yang, S., Humayun, M. (2020) Activity coefficients of siderophile elements in Fe-Si liquids at high pressure. Geochemical Perspective Letters 15, 1-6.
Regberg, A.B., Castro, C.L., Connolly, H.C., Jr., Davis, R.E., Dworkin, J.P., Lauretta, D.S., Messenger, S.R., Mclain, H.L., McCubbin, F.M., Righter, K., Stahl, S.E., and Wallace, S.L. (2020) Bacterial and fungal characterization of the facilities used to assemble, test, and launch the OSIRIS-REx mission. Frontiers in Microbial Biology, 11, 2633; doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.530661.
Righter, K., Rowland, R., Danielson, L.R. Humayun, M., Yang, S., Mayer-Waeselmann, N., Pando, K. (2020) Mantle-melt partitioning of the highly siderophile elements: new results and application to Mars. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, in press.
Nielsen, S. G., Auro, M., Righter, K., Davis, D., Prytulak, J., Wu, F., & Owens, J. D. (2019) Nucleosynthetic vanadium isotope heterogeneity of the early solar system recorded in chondritic meteorites. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 505, 131-140.
Sarafian, A. R., Nielsen, S. G., Marschall, H. R., Gaetani, G. A., Righter, K., & Berger, E. L. (2019) The water and fluorine content of 4 Vesta. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 266, 568-581.
Righter, K. (2019) Volatile element depletion of the Moon—The roles of precursors, post-impact disk dynamics, and core formation. Science Advances5(1), eaau7658.104.
Righter, K., Pando, K., Ross, D. K., Righter, M., & Lapen, T. J. (2019) Effect of silicon on activity coefficients of Bi, Cd, Sn, and Ag in liquid Fe?Si, and implications for differentiation and core formation. Met. Planet.Sci. 54, 1379-1394.
Boujibar, A., Habermann, M., Righter, K., Ross, D.K., Pando, K., Righter, M., Chidester, B.A. and Danielson, L.R. (2019) U, Th, and K partitioning between metal, silicate, and sulfide and implications for Mercury's structure, volatile content, and radioactive heat production. American Mineralogist: Journal of Earth and Planetary Materials 104, 1221-1237.
Righter, K., Pando, K., Marin, N., Ross, D.K., Righter, M., Danielson, L., Lapen, T.J. and Lee, C. (2018) Volatile element signatures in the mantles of Earth, Moon, and Mars: Core formation fingerprints from Bi, Cd, In, and Sn. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 53, 284-305.
Dworkin, J. P., Adelman, L. A., Ajluni, T., Andronikov, A. V., Aponte, J. C., Bartels, A. E., ... Righter, K., …. Burton, A. S. (2018). OSIRIS-REx contamination control strategy and implementation. Space Science Reviews 214(1), 19.
Righter, K., Pando, K., Humayun, M., Waeselmann, N., Yang, S., Boujibar, A., & Danielson, L. R. (2018) Effect of silicon on activity coefficients of siderophile elements (Au, Pd, Pt, P, Ga, Cu, Zn, and Pb) in liquid Fe: Roles of core formation, late sulfide matte, and late veneer in shaping terrestrial mantle geochemistry. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 232, 101-123.
Sarafian, A.R., Hauri, E.H., McCubbin, F.M., Lapen, T.J., Berger, E.L., Nielsen, S.G., Marschall, H.R., Gaetani, G.A., Righter, K. and Sarafian, E. (2017) Early accretion of water and volatile elements to the inner Solar System: evidence from angrites. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 375, p.20160209.
Sarafian, A. R., Nielsen, S. G., Marschall, H. R., Gaetani, G. A., Hauri, E. H., Righter, K., & Sarafian, E. (2017) Angrite meteorites record the onset and flux of water to the inner solar system. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 212, 156-166.
Righter, K., Nickodem, K., Pando, K., Danielson, L., Boujibar, A., Righter, M., & Lapen, T. J. (2017) Distribution of Sb, As, Ge, and In between metal and silicate during accretion and core formation in the Earth. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 198, 1-16.
Shofner, G.A., Campbell, A.J., Danielson, L.R., and Righter K. (2016) The W-WO2 oxygen fugacity buffer (WWO) at high pressure and temperature: implications for fO2 buffering and metal-silicate partitioning. Amer. Mineral. 101, 211–221.
Righter, K., Danielson, L.R., Pando, K.A., Shofner, G.A., Sutton, S.R., Newville, M., Lee, C.-T. (2016) Valence and metal-silicate partitioning of Mo: implications for conditions of Earth accretion and core formation. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 437, 89-100.
Righter, K., Sutton, S.R., Danielson, L.R., Pando, K.A., and Newville, M. (2016) Redox Variation in the Inner Solar System with New Constraints from Vanadium XANES in Spinels. American Mineralogist 101, 1928-1942.
Righter, K., Cosca, M.A., and Morgan, L. (2016) Preservation of ancient impact ages on the R chondrite parent body: 40Ar/39Ar age of hornblende-bearing R chondrite LAP 04840. Met Planet. Sci. 51, 1678-1684.
Yang, S., Humayun, M., Righter, K., Jefferson, G., Fields, D., and Irving, A.J. (2015) Siderophile and chalcophile element abundances in shergottites: implications for martian core formation. Met Planet. Sci. 50, 691-714.
Righter, K. (2015) Magma ocean depth and oxygen fugacity in the early Earth – implications for biochemistry. Origin of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere, doi: 10.1007/s11084-015-9445-2.
Righter, K. and 24 other authors (2015) Mineralogy, petrology, chronology and exposure history of the Chelyabinsk meteorite and parent body. Met Planet. Sci. 50, 1790-1819.
Righter, K., Danielson, L.R., Pando, K., Williams, J., Humayun, M., Hervig, R.L., Sharp, T.G. (2015) Mantle HSE abundances in Mars due to core formation at high pressure and temperature. Met Planet. Sci. 50, 604-631.
Righter, K. (2011) Prediction of metal-silicate partition coefficients for siderophile elements: an update and assessment of PT conditions for metal-silicate equilibrium during accretion of the Earth. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 304, 158-167.