Among his many important findings, Bridges discovered that wind is as important a geologic process on Mars as it is on Earth, despite the much lower density of the Martian atmosphere.
He was an integral part of multiple Mars missions and instrument teams: he served as a Co-Investigator on the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a Co-Investigator on the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity rover) ChemCam instrument, and a science teammember on two Mars-2020 rover instruments, SuperCam and the Mars EnvironmentalDynamics Analyzer.