Experts available to discuss space travel and human exploration of MarsReporters and Editors: MIT faculty with expertise in space travel and human exploration of Mars are available for comment. To arrange for an interview, please contact Elizabeth Thomson, MIT News Office, thomson@mit.edu or 617-253-2700. Eugene CovertProfessor emeritus in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, with expertise in steady and unsteady aerodynamics, boundary layers, airframe-engine integration, fluid mechanics and wind tunnel testing. Covert was a member of the Rogers Commission panel that investigated the space shuttle Challenger explosion. Edward CrawleyFormer head of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, now head of the Cambridge-MIT Institute, has done extensive research on spacecraft and space mission design. Crawley has worked at NASA's Johnson Space Center, is a former member of the NASA Advisory Council and former director of MIT's Space Systems Laboratory. Jeffrey A. HoffmanProfessor of the Practice of Aerospace Engineering in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a former NASA astronaut who flew on five space shuttle missions, including the initial rescue and repair of the Hubble Space Telescope. Dava NewmanProfessor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems. Her current research efforts include advanced space suit design, dynamics and control of astronaut motion, mission analysis, and engineering systems design and policy analysis. Charles M. OmanDirector of MIT's Man Vehicle Laboratory and a senior lecturer in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is a member of the NASA Advisory Council's Space Station Utilization Advisory Subcommittee, and leads the neurovestibular research program of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (headquartered at Baylor College of Medicine). Erika WagnerPh.D. student in the Harvard/MIT Health Sciences and Technology program and spokesperson for The Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program. The student-initiated Mars program, led by MIT and involving the Univ. of Washington and the Univ. of Queensland, Australia, hopes to find out how the mammalian body will adapt to a prolonged stay on the surface of Mars. The team will launch mice into near-Earth orbit inside a rotating, artificial gravity spacecraft to learn how microgravity affects mouse physiology, a vital step toward preparing for a human mission to Mars. Interview with Erika Wagner. Sheila WidnallMIT Institute Professor and professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems. A former secretary of the Air Force, Widnall was also a member of the Columbia accident investigation panel. Her expertise is in fluid dynamics and aerodynamics. Laurence YoungApollo Program Professor of Astronautics at MIT, is a former NASA astronaut payload specialist, and was founding director of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, which seeks solutions to health concerns facing astronauts. Maria T. ZuberHead of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics. The topographic map of Mars produced by her laser altimeter on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft is the most accurate topography model for any planet, including Earth. She is a member of the review board assessing landing plans for the Mars rovers. Zuber has led or co-led spacecraft instrument investigations that have flown to the Moon, Mars and an asteroid, and is involved in missions under development that will orbit Mars, Mercury, and the asteroids Ceres and Vesta. She is co-chair of the NASA Science Instruments and Sensor Capability Roadmap Team and served on the President's Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy in 2004. |
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CONTACTElizabeth A. Thomson RELATEDAlumna has right stuff for shuttle flight - Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence, who received the S.M. degree in ocean engineering from MIT in 1988, began her fourth trip into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on Tuesday, July 26. 8/4/2005 So cool: Study shows Mars in 4-billion-year freeze - Scientists have long thought that the Red Planet was once temperate enough for water to have existed on the surface and perhaps for life to have evolved there. But a new study by MIT and Caltech scientists gives this idea the cold shoulder. 7/21/2005 Evidence of Mars water - MIT's Professor John Grotzinger, a member of NASA's science team for the Mars robotic investigations, led reporters on a "geologic field trip" at a press conference. 3/3/2004 Grotzinger oversees rover - Grotzinger, MIT professor, is leader of the long-term planning group of NASA's science team overseeing the work of the Mars rover Spirit. 1/28/2004 Of Mars and men - Students and researchers at MIT are designing a space mission to learn about the effects of Mars-level gravity using pint-sized astronauts. 1/9/2004 Experts comment on Mars - President Bush's announcement of a new NASA initiative for sending humans to Mars via a moon base sent reporters scurrying for experts for comment. 1/22/2004 More: Aeronautical / astronautical engineering More: Mars |
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