Mars through the Ages

Speakers: Bonnie Teece (Cornell University) and Brandi Carrier (JPL)

4:30 P.M. Reception
5:00 P.M. Lecture
Sharp Lecture Hall - California Institute of Technology

Registration is required. Register for this event.

Abstract:

Mars has been a large focus in US planetary exploration and, more recently, of international space agencies. Space missions (with rovers, landers, and orbiters) have increased our understanding of ancient and present Mars, and whether Mars had or has conditions that would allow life to emerge and persist. Dr. Bonnie Teece will first review Martian geochemistry and the organic molecules found on its surface, detailing the preservation of ancient (billions of years old) organic molecules and whether they could be preserved today. Dr. Brandi Carrier will then review Mars missions and discuss the samples currently being collected by NASA's Perseverance rover. She will also highlight future mission concepts and plans for Mars astrobiology.

Speaker's Biography:

Dr. Teece is researching organic biosignature detection and alteration, organo-mineral associations, preparation for sample return missions, and distinguishing biotic from abiotic signals in challenging samples. Her research examines how signs of life are preserved and detected on Earth and other planetary bodies. She works on hydrothermal systems, early Earth rocks, and Ocean World and Mars-analogue sites in the Pacific Ocean, New Zealand, Chile, Yellowstone National Park (USA), and across Australia. She is a mission formulator and was one of the science architects for Mars Sample Return, as well as in the leadership for Search for Life Science Analysis Group (SFL-SAG) which examined how to detect modern life in the icy mid-latitudes of Mars. She earned her PhD at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at UNSW, Sydney, and conducted her Postdoctoral Fellowship at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, before moving to Cornell University to join the Department of Astronomy as a Faculty member.

Dr. Carrier works as a Formulation Scientist and Science Systems Engineer in the Mars Exploration Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has previously served as the Lead Sample Integrity Scientist for the Mars Sample Return Program and as the Deputy Project Scientist for the Mars Sample Receiving Project. She also recent co-chaired the MEPAG Search for Life Mission Science Analysis Group (SFL-SAG). She earned her PhD at Tufts University in Medford, MA, and conducted her Postdoctoral Fellowship at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory working on the SHERLOC instrument for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.