STEVE SQUYRES

To Mars and Beyond

Wednesday, April 7 at 7:30pm · Mountainlair Ballroom

Recently named as ABC's World News Tonight's Person of the Week, Dr. Stephen W. Squyres is best known as the face and voice of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) mission to Mars. The recent pioneering drive across the Red Planet's surface by two high-tech robotic rovers named Spirit and Opportunity has sparked celebration in NASA mission control and around the world. The flawless landing of the rovers was a morale boost to a space program that had a rough year following the Columbia space shuttle disaster last February.

Squyres sees science as a manifestation of curiosity—a way of figuring things out. His fascination and extraterrestrial expertise helped bring NASA and the nation to Mars. "I can't even remember not wanting to be a scientist . I just had a curiosity about how things work ... that's really what science is, just trying to figure stuff out, and I like figuring stuff out," said Squyres. To him, the Mars mission embodies what space exploration is all about.

Squyres first realized he wanted to dedicate his life to space exploration while studying geology at Cornell University. He later received his PhD from there as well, and spent five years as a postdoctoral associate and research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center before returning to Cornell as a faculty member.

Squyres has monitored the rover's progress as it beams back images and attempts to reflect a sense of Mars' history. After traveling 300 million miles through space, and only days into the three-month mission, the rover sent postcard images back to Earth, giving hope to scientists that they would someday be able to determine whether there is life on Mars.

In addition to his lead role as principal scientific investigator for the Mars exploration project, Squyres has also participated in many of NASA's planetary exploration missions, including the Voyager mission to Jupiter and Saturn, the Magellan mission to Venus, and the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission.