This illustration shows a concept for a proposed NASA Sample Retrieval Lander that would carry a small rocket (about 10 feet, or 3 meters, tall) called the Mars Ascent Vehicle to the Martian surface.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Sixteen scientists from the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Japan have been chosen to help future samples from the Red Planet achieve their full potential.
The members of the Mars Sample Return Campaign Science Group are:
Laura Rodriguez – NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Southern California
Michael Thorpe – Johnson Space Center Engineering, Technology and Science at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston / Texas State University, San Marcos
Audrey Bouvier – Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, Germany
Andy Czaja – Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati
Nicolas Dauphas – Origins Laboratory, the University of Chicago
Katherine French – Central Energy Resources Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver
Lydia Hallis – School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK
Rachel Harris – Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Boston
Ernst Hauber – Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center, Germany
Suzanne Schwenzer – School of Earth, Environment and Ecosystem Sciences, the Open University, UK
Andrew Steele – Earth and Planetary Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Kimberly Tait – Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, Canada
Tomohiro Usui – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Jessica Vanhomwegen – Laboratory for Urgent Response to Biological Threats, Institut Pasteur, France
Michael Veibel – Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Michigan State University
Maria-Paz Zorzano Mier – Astrobiology Center, National Institute for Aerospace Technology, Spain
The first Mars Sample Return Campaign Science Group meeting is scheduled for June 28-29.
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Karen Fox / Dewayne Washington
NASA Headquarters, Washington
