[meteorite-list] NASA Announces New Advisory Council Chairman

[Ron Baalke]

Nov. 02, 2011

Michael Braukus 
Headquarters, Washington      
202-358-1979 
michael.j.braukus at nasa.gov   

RELEASE: 11-359

NASA ANNOUNCES NEW ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN

WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has named Cornell 
University Astronomy Professor Steven W. Squyres, as chairman of the 
NASA Advisory Council (NAC), an assembly of experts from various 
fields that offer guidance and policy advice to the administrator of 
America's space agency. 

"I am extremely excited that Steve has accepted the NAC chairmanship," 
Bolden said. "His experience as a planetary science researcher with 
many NASA robotic missions will be of great value to the council. The 
knowledge and experience of the council's members, such as Steve's, 
is a vital component of the group. They will be of tremendous value 
as we go forward, planning to go beyond low-Earth orbit." 

Dr. Squyres succeeds Dr. Kenneth Ford, the founder and director of the 
Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, who has served as 
council chairman since October 2008. Squyres previously served on the 
council during the 1990's, and he also served as chairman of the 
former NASA Space Science Advisory Committee. 

In October 2011, Squyres participated as an aquanaut in a unique 5-day 
undersea expedition in the Florida Keys that simulated a future human 
mission to an asteroid, taking the first steps toward learning how to 
conduct asteroid exploration by humans. He was a member of the 15th 
NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) team of six 
researchers that lived and worked underwater in Aquarius, a school 
bus-sized laboratory sitting on the seabed near Key Largo, Fla., at a 
depth of 60 feet. NASA's goal is to send a human mission to an 
asteroid by 2025. The NEEMO expedition was originally planned for 
13-day duration, but ended earlier than planned due to Hurricane 
Rina. 

Squyres' scientific research focuses on the robotic exploration of 
planetary surfaces, the history of water on Mars, geophysics and 
tectonics of icy satellites, tectonics of Venus, and planetary 
gamma-ray and X-ray spectroscopy. His best known research includes 
the study of the history and distribution of water on Mars and of the 
possible existence and habitability of a liquid water ocean on 
Europa. 

Squyres has participated in a number of NASA planetary missions 
including Voyager, Magellan, and the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. 
He currently is the scientific principal investigator for the Mars 
Exploration Rover mission, which includes the Spirit and Opportunity 
rovers. He also is a co-investigator on the Mars Express mission and 
the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Squyres is a member of the Mars 
Odyssey mission and the Cassini mission to Saturn. 

In 1981, Squyres earned a Ph.D. in planetary science from Cornell 
University. 

For more information about the NASA Advisory Council, visit: 
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oer/nac   
	
-end-