Main Focus
I am a physicist working in the following fields:
Interaction between the Sun and the planets
- Ionospheric and atmospheric physics of the terrestrial planets
- Evolution of planetary atmospheres
- Analysis of the plasma spectrometer data from the Mars Express, MAVEN, Venus Express and BepiColombo missions
- Energetic charged particle acceleration
- Planetary space weather
- Science preparation for the JUICE mission to Jupiter
- [Instrumentation] design and development of the PEP/JEI detector for the JUICE spacecraft
- [Instrumentation] design of onboard software for the BepiColombo MSA sensor
- [Instrumentation] design and development of the plasma spectrometer PLASMON for ESA
- [Instrumentation] design and development of the plasma spectrometer IMCA for PlasmaObservatory
Curriculum Vitae
Roles in space Missions:
Co-I: IMCA on Plasma Observatory [coming up]
Co-I: RPS on RAMSES
Co-I: PEP on JUICE
Co-I: MPPE on BepiColombo
Co-I: SERENA on BepiColombo
Co-I: ASPERA on MEX
Education and Employment:
Since
2001: Research Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Solar System
Research (MPS), Göttingen (earlier: Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy
(MPAE), Katlenburg-Lindau), Germany
1995 – 2001: Research Assistant at the Astronomy Unit, Queen Mary College, University of London, UK
1991 – 1995: PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy, Katlenburg-Lindau & University of Braunschweig, Germany
1990 – 1990: Computer simulation of coal power station exhaust at the Federal Institute of Health in Vienna, Austria
1983 – 1989: Mag.Phil.Nat. in Theoretical Physics at the University of Vienna, Austria
1981 – 1983: B.Sc. in physics at University of Würzburg, Germany
Selected Publications:
Dubinin, E.; Fraenz, M.;
Modolo, R.; Pätzold, M.; Tellmann, S.; DiBraccio, G.: Different Faces
of the Martian Magnetosphere. Journal of Geophysical Research (Space
Physics) 130, p. e2025JA033717 (2025)
doi:10.1029/2025JA033717
Fränz, M.; Krueger, H.; Raines, J.; Glass, A.; Gershman, D.; Prencipe, F. et al.:
He+ ions in the vicinity of mercury observed by the MESSENGER and BepiColombo spacecraft
Planetary and Space Science (2025), 265, 106152 (2025)
doi:10.1016/j.pss.2025.106152
Fränz, M.; Rojo, M.; Cornet, T.; Hadid, L. Z.; Saito, Y.; André, N. et al.:
Spacecraft
Outgassing Observed by the BepiColombo Ion Spectrometers. Journal of
Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 129, p. e2023JA032044 (2024)
doi:10.1029/2023JA032044
Hadid, L. Z.; Delcourt, D.; Harada, Y.; Rojo, M.; Aizawa, S.; Saito, Y. et al [including Fränz, M.].:
Mercury's plasma environment after BepiColombo's third flyby. Communications Physics 7, p. 316 (2024)
doi:10.1038/s42005-024-01766-8
Hadid, L. Z.; Delcourt, D.; Saito, Y.; Fränz, M.; Yokota, S.; Fiethe, B. et al.:
BepiColombo
observations of cold oxygen and carbon ions in the flank of the induced
magnetosphere of Venus. Nat. Astron. 8, 716–724 (2024)
doi:10.1038/s41550-024-02247-2