Heldmann’s scientific research interests focus on studies of the Moon and Mars. Her Mars research focuses on studies of recent water on the Red Planet through spacecraft data analysis, numerical modeling, and fieldwork in Mars-analog environments such as the Outback of Australia, the Canadian High Arctic, the Atacama Desert, Spitsbergen, the Mojave Desert, and Antarctica, among other locales. Her work focuses on martian and terrestrial gully features which can be indicative of geologically recent liquid water activity. Liquid water is especially important to understand climate, geology, and the potential for past and/or present life on Mars. She also studies surface and subsurface ice deposits on both Earth and Mars to further understand the physics, geomorphology, and potential habitability of such cold icy locales in the Solar System.
