NASA speakers share space insights
MARS — Several speakers with ties to NASA will be on hand for this year's Mars New Year Exploration Celebration.
They include:
April Lanotte, presenting “Mars and Beyond: What We Need to Get to Mars.”
Born and raised in Mars, Lanotte will discuss her role with NASA, along with a variety of ways people can get involved with NASA, too.
She has been working with NASA in a variety of capacities since 2011. She currently supports NASA's Space Technology and NASA's Aeronautics Research mission directorates. In addition, she is the director of education at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver.
An educator for over 20 years, Lanotte works on making aerospace science more accessible to teachers and students. Current projects include working on education activities that focus on drones and upcoming space technologies.
She holds a master of science in space science education from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, a master of arts in English literature with a nonfiction science writing emphasis from Colorado State University and a bachelor of arts in English literature from La Roche College in Pittsburgh.
With graduate degrees in both space science education and in English, Lanotte has contributed a STEM literacy chapter to “Best Practices in STEM Education: Innovative Approaches from Einstein Fellow Alumni,” which was released in the fall of 2018.
Other published aeronautics projects include small unmanned aerial vehicle lessons and activities, an activity guide that focuses on Earth's atmosphere and human survival at high altitudes, development of high school aviation curriculum, and lessons that support ShareSpace Foundation's Giant Moon Map. She has also contributed science content to Challenger Center for Space Science and Disney's Youth Experiences in Science.Douglas Terrier, presenting “NASA's Return to the Moon as the Gateway to Mars.”Terrier is the chief technologist at NASA headquarters, serving as the senior leader in the office.In this role, Terrier is the agency's principal adviser and advocate on NASA technology policy and programs, helping plot the strategic direction of the agency's space technology program.Prior to his current position, Terrier worked at NASA's John Space Center, Houston as the center's chief technologist, serving as the principal adviser to the center director for technology and the point of contact for the agency chief technologist and the space technology directorate.Terrier will discuss NASA's plans to return Americans to the Moon by 2024 and how creating a sustainable American presence on the moon will maintain American leadership in space while also enabling our future exploration of the Red Planet.
Richard Rieber, presenting “Designing for a Martian Road Trip.”Rieber is the mobility systems engineer for Mars 2020, the next rover NASA is sending to explore Mars. He oversees anything and everything that affects how the rover drives, including the tires, autonomous navigation algorithms and the drive-planning software used by the operators. He has been at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 11 years, and has had major roles as an activity leader for the EPOXI mission and as flight director for SMAP, deploying its 6-meter antenna.Rieber holds a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering and a minor in astrophysics and an master's degree in bioastronautics all from the University of Colorado and a master's in space management from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France.The Holy Grail of planetary geology is to analyze geologic samples from another planet in labs on Earth. The Mars 2020 rover is the first step in returning geologic samples from Mars. It will collect interesting material from across the landing site and leave them in one place, or depot, for another mission to bring back.To collect and deposit samples, Mars 2020 must drive further and faster than any other rover sent to Mars. Rieber will discuss the technology required to make this happen, including new tires and autonomous driving.Mitch Schulte, presenting “What's Happening at Mars?”Schulte is a program scientist with the Mars Exploration Program in NASA's Science Mission Directorate.As a program scientist, he manages the science content of a number of NASA's Mars missions. He oversees the U.S. contribution to the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) instrument on the European Space Agency ExoMars rover and NASA's Mars 2020 Rover, both scheduled for launch in July 2020.He is also the lead scientist for the Mars Data Analysis, Instrument Concepts for Europa Exploration and Habitable Worlds Programs for NASA's Mars Exploration Program and Planetary Science Division.As a researcher, Schulte has studied the geology and geochemistry of hydrothermal environments and the life that inhabits them. He also is interested in biosignatures and life detection in ancient Earth and extraterrestrial samples.He is on the editorial board of the scientific journal “Astrobiology” and on the advisory board of the Big Questions Institute at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Schulte has an A.B. and a Ph.D., both in earth and planetary sciences from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.Schulte will describe NASA's efforts to study the Red Planet over the past 50 years. He'll talk about what is going on with current missions in orbit above and working on the surface of Mars, and the next decade of Mars exploration.
