Ralph D. Lorenz is a planetary scientist and engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.[1] whose research focuses on understanding surfaces, atmospheres, and their interactions on planetary bodies, especially Titan, Venus, Mars, and Earth.[2] He currently serves as Mission Architect of Dragonfly, NASA's fourth selected New Frontiers mission,[3][4] and as participating scientist on Akatsuki[5] and InSight.[6]
He is a Co-Investigator on the SuperCam instrument on the Perseverance rover, responsible for interpreting data from its microphone. He leads the Venus Atmospheric Structure Investigation on the DAVINCI Discovery mission to Venus. He is the recipient of the 2020 International Planetary Probe Workshop (IPPW) Al Seiff memorial award, and the 2022 American Geophysical Union's Fred Whipple Award for contributions to planetary science.[7]