Dr Eleanor Sansom

I research the impact of space rocks hitting our atmosphere, and help determine where meteorites may land. As a member of NASA’s InSight mission science team, I’m looking to draw parallels between fireballs on Earth and Mars.

I work with the Defence Science and Technology Group and Lockheed Martin to translate blue-sky research into new technologies for industry.

As a passionate female researcher and mother, I am proud to be a role model for the next generation and am an avid supporter of STEM outreach and engagement. I am recognised as one of Curtin University’s Athena Swan STEMM Stars, am an AIPS Tall Poppy of 2021 and was nominated as a finalist for the Woodside Early Career Scientist of the Year in 2021. I embrace every opportunity to communicate the fun science I do to the general public, be it on TV, radio or online.

I completed my MSci in Geophysics at Imperial College, London in 2012, with a year abroad at UCLA.  I joined the Desert Fireball Network team at Curtin’s Space Science and Technology Centre in December 2012 and completed my PhD. in early 2017, funded by the Australian Research Council as part of an Australian Laureate Fellowship grant. I joined ICRAR as a senior research fellow in 2024.