Bio

Dr. Ermakov's research lies at the intersection of planetary science and planetary exploration by robotic means and focuses on studying the internal structure and evolution of the Solar System bodies ranging from asteroids to gas giants. In his research, Dr. Ermakov combines a diverse range of spacecraft data (e.g., spacecraft radiometric tracking, stereo-imaging, magnetometry, microwave radiometry and geologic mapping) with geophysical and orbital dynamics modeling to probe the interiors and histories of Solar System bodies.

Dr. Ermakov has been a member of the NASA Dawn mission team. Dawn was the first mission to orbit two small bodies in the Solar System: asteroid Vesta and dwarf Ceres. Small bodies are a time machine that lets us explore the environment in which planets formed. Combining gravity and topography data sets is one of the most powerful tool to study deep planetary interiors from orbit. Dr. Ermakov used gravity and shape data for detailed studies of asteroid Vesta's and dwarf planet Ceres's internal structures. The Dawn data have established a framework for future geophysical investigations of water-rich worlds in the outer Solar System such as Europa and Enceladus.

Currently, Dr. Ermakov is a participating scientist in the NASA’s Juno mission. Juno is currently orbiting Jupiter and has performed several flybys of the Jovian moons. Dr. Ermakov uses the data from the Juno’s instrument suite to study the interior of Jupiter and its satellites in context of their formation and evolution models.

He received an Engineer Degree in Space Geodesy from the Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography in 2010 and a Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2017. After receiving his doctorate degree, Dr. Ermakov was a post-doctoral scholar at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at the Earth and Planetary Science Department of the University of California, Berkeley. From 2021 to 2023, Dr. Ermakov was a research scientist at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Lab.

Academic Appointments

Honors & Awards

  • Robert N. Noyce Faculty Fellow, School of Engineering, Stanford University (2024)
  • Team Award for the development the Mercury gravity field model, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2019)
  • Asteroid 10680 Ermakov, Minor Planet Center (2017)
  • NASA Group Achievement Award to the Dawn Gravity Team, NASA (2016)

Professional Education

  • Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Planetary Science (2017)
  • Engineer, Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography, Space Geodesy (2010)

Contact

  • Academic
    aie@stanford.edu
    University - Faculty Department: Aeronautics and Astronautics Position: Asst Professor

Additional Info

Links

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

I am interested in the formation and evolution of the Solar System bodies and the ways we can constrain planetary interiors by geophysical measurements.

2024-25 Courses

Stanford Advisees

  • Master's Program Advisor
    Nick Bostock, Luca Castelletto, Santiago Thorup
  • Doctoral (Program)
    Prachet Jain, Riley Tam

All Publications

  • Evaluating the Use of Seasonal Surface Displacements and Time-Variable Gravity to Constrain the Interior of Mars JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS Wagner, N. L., James, P. B., Ermakov, A. I., Sori, M. M. 2024; 129 (6)

    View details for DOI 10.1029/2023JE008053

    View details for Web of Science ID 001253251100001

  • Microwave Observations of Ganymede's Sub-Surface Ice: I. Ice Temperature and Structure JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS Brown, S., Zhang, Z., Bolton, S., Bonnefoy, L. E., Ermakov, A., Feng, J., Hartogh, P., Levin, S., Misra, S., Siegler, M., Stevenson, D. 2023; 128 (6)

    View details for DOI 10.1029/2022JE007609

    View details for Web of Science ID 001010117100001

  • Next Generation Planetary Geodesy Sori, M., Keane, J., Ermakov, A. Keck Institute for Space Studies. 2023
  • Probing the Icy Shell Structure of Ocean Worlds with Gravity-Topography Admittance PLANETARY SCIENCE JOURNAL Akiba, R., Ermakov, A. I., Militzer, B. 2022; 3 (3)

    View details for DOI 10.3847/PSJ/ac4d2b

    View details for Web of Science ID 000913042000001

  • Geophysics of Vesta and Ceres Vesta and Ceres: Insights from the Dawn Mission for the Origin of the Solar System Ermakov, A., Raymond, C. Cambridge University Press. 2022: 173-196

    View details for DOI 10.1017/9781108856324.015

  • A Recipe for the Geophysical Exploration of Enceladus PLANETARY SCIENCE JOURNAL Ermakov, A. I., Park, R. S., Roa, J., Castillo-Rogez, J. C., Keane, J. T., Nimmo, F., Kite, E. S., Sotin, C., Lazio, T. W., Steinbrugge, G., Howell, S. M., Bills, B. G., Hemingway, D. J., Viswanathan, V., Tobie, G., Lainey, V. 2021; 2 (4)

    View details for DOI 10.3847/PSJ/ac06d2

    View details for Web of Science ID 000917379800001

  • Surface Roughness and Gravitational Slope Distributions of Vesta and Ceres JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS Ermakov, A. I., Kreslavsky, M. A., Scully, J. C., Hughson, K. G., Park, R. S. 2019; 124 (1): 14-30

    View details for DOI 10.1029/2018JE005813

    View details for Web of Science ID 000459245700002

  • Power Laws of Topography and Gravity Spectra of the Solar System Bodies JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS Ermakov, A. I., Park, R. S., Bills, B. G. 2018; 123 (8): 2038-2064

    View details for DOI 10.1029/2018JE005562

    View details for Web of Science ID 000448877500005

  • Constraints on Ceres' Internal Structure and Evolution From Its Shape and Gravity Measured by the Dawn Spacecraft JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS Ermakov, A. I., Fu, R. R., Castillo-Rogez, J. C., Raymond, C. A., Park, R. S., Preusker, F., Russell, C. T., Smith, D. E., Zuber, M. T. 2017; 122 (11): 2267-2293

    View details for DOI 10.1002/2017JE005302

    View details for Web of Science ID 000417851800004

  • Ceres's obliquity history and its implications for the permanently shadowed regions GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS Ermakov, A. I., Mazarico, E., Schroeder, S. E., Carsenty, U., Schorghofer, N., Preusker, F., Raymond, C. A., Russell, C. T., Zuber, M. T. 2017; 44 (6): 2652-2661

    View details for DOI 10.1002/2016GL072250

    View details for Web of Science ID 000399762700005

  • Constraints on Vesta's interior structure using gravity and shape models from the Dawn mission ICARUS Ermakov, A. I., Zuber, M. T., Smith, D. E., Raymond, C. A., Balmino, G., Fu, R. R., Ivanov, B. A. 2014; 240: 146-160

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.icarus.2014.05.015

    View details for Web of Science ID 000341171500011

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7020-7061