Welcome! The MSFC Planetary Science group includes scientists and engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). We study surface processes on the Moon, Mars, and asteroids, and are actively involved in planetary missions.
Our Research Focus Areas:
About us:
Last Modified: April 10, 2013
Web Services provided by Bob Dean (MITS)
NASA Official: Barbara Cohen
Planetary science at NASA is at the leading edge of new knowledge of our Solar System’s content, origin, evolution and the potential for life elsewhere. NASA planetary science is engaged in one of the oldest of scientific pursuits: the observation and discovery of our solar system’s planetary objects, using an extraordinary complement of flybys, orbiters, landers, and rovers, and an eye on returning samples from planetary bodies to state-of-the-art NASA-supported laboratories.
MSFC planetary scientists are active in research and integral to projects led at the Center. Our research areas of expertise include planetary sample analysis, planetary interior modeling, and planetary atmosphere observations.
We serve as Project Scientists for the Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP) and Robotic Lunar Lander Development Project (RLLD). LMMP is building a suite of tools and data products that support human lunar exploration activities, scientific analyses, landing site selection for robotic missions, including NASA and commercial missions, and for education and public outreach. The RLLD designs small lunar robotic landers for exploration and science missions to the Moon, Mercury, and near-Earth asteroids. We provide formal and informal scientific guidance on an as-needed basis to program-level activities such as Lunar Quest and Lunar Simulants, internal and external projects and proposals, and other related activities such as the Small Business Innovation Research in Lunar Science Instruments and Technology managed at MSFC.
We are actively involved as science team members on multiple current missions and instruments, including the InSight mission to Mars, the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Cassini mission to Saturn, and the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission to the Moon, and have leading roles in new mission proposals.
We operate two unique laboratory facilities (the Dusty Plasma Lab and the MSFC Noble-Gas Research Lab) and we are developing a competitively-selected, nearly $1M project through the NASA Planetary Instrument Definition and Development Program (PIDDP) to begin development of the Potassium-Argon Laser Experiments (KArLE). The proposed KArLE instrument would be the first ever to yield absolute ages of rocks in situ rather than on returned samples, and is targeted for suitability on future planetary lander or rover missions to Mars, the Moon, and asteroids.