SCPKU Summer Seminar: Geophysical Exploration of Ocean Worlds in the Solar System

Program Overview: The Stanford Center at Peking University (SCPKU) offers Stanford students a special opportunity for short-term study in Beijing. These three-week seminars are taught by Stanford faculty representing disciplines and schools spanning the entire campus and are specifically designed to integrate course content and program location. 

Program Dates: September 1 to September 19, 2025

Seminar Details: This course, "Geophysical Exploration of Ocean Worlds in the Solar System," explores the geophysics of icy moons and ocean worlds in the solar system, such as Europa, Enceladus, and Titan. The course will cover different ways subsurface oceans can be detected and characterized. Topics include geophysical data analysis (e.g., gravity, topography, rotational dynamics, and magnetic induction), the mechanics of tidal deformation and tidal heating, and their implications for the evolution of these worlds. The course will also cover ocean world internal structures, surface compositions, and energy exchanges between icy shells, subsurface oceans, and rocky interiors. Additionally, the course will introduce planetary habitability metrics, the potential compositions of extraterrestrial oceans, and the design of future spacecraft missions to assess habitability. The course will include lectures, guest speaker presentations, and tours of China’s space exploration organizations. Opportunities for students to present their own research will also be provided.

Course Prerequisites: basics of geophysics, ODEs and PDEs. The application is open to both graduate and undergraduate students interested in planetary science and space exploration.   

Instructor Details: 

Professor Anton 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 at Stanford's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In his research, Prof. 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. He is a participating scientist in NASA’s Juno mission. Juno is currently orbiting Jupiter and has performed several flybys of the Jovian moons. Dr. Ermakov uses the data from Juno’s instrument suite to study the interior of Jupiter and its satellites in the context of their formation and evolution models.

Prof. Ermakov 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.

Covered Expenses: SCPKU will cover participating students’ international round-trip economy airfare to Beijing and airport transfers up to $1500, lodging and meals for the duration of the seminar, and class-organized travel expenses within China. Students will be responsible for visa and passport application fees, pre-departure immunization costs, health insurance, and all other incidental expenses. Note that withdrawal after the cancellation deadline will incur a fee.