On May 21-22, 2018, over 100 colleagues from around the globe gathered at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the life and career of Neil Gehrels at a memorial symposium. Talks spanned the range of Neil’s scientific interests (cosmic rays, gamma-ray bursts, gravitational waves) and programmatic roles (Compton, Swift, Fermi, and WFIRST), as well as personal reminiscences of a universally admired mentor, colleague, and friend. We were also pleased to publicly announce that, as a result of a generous donation from the Gehrels family, the nationally recognized prize doctoral position offered by the Joint Space-Science Institute will be renamed the Neil Gehrels Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship.
The meeting’s webpage, including talks, can be found here:
Experts from Codes 500 and 600 presented their work to Thomas Zurbuchen during a poster session on May 29.
From left to right: Colleen Hartman, James MacKinnon, Lauren Andrews, Alex Glocer, Knicole Colon, Thomas Zurbuchen, Kyle Hughes, Nithin Abraham, Ryan Derosa, Amir Jahromi, and Chris Scolese.
Knicole Colon presents a poster about exoplanet data to Thomas Zurbuchen.
Goddard's Mars Organic Molecular Analyzer Mass Spectrometer (MOMA-MS) team celebrates major milestone
05.24.2018
On Wednesday May 16 the MOMA-MS was shipped from Goddard Space Flight Center to Thales Alenia Space in Torino, Italy to begin its integration with other instruments on the ExoMars rover planned to launch toward Mars in 2020. The MOMA instrument is provided to the ExoMars mission with a European and US teaming collaboration that integrates a Goddard linear ion trap mass spectrometer with a French provided gas chromatograph and a laser provided by Germany. The goal of this highly capable instrument is to detect and identify organic material from below the surface of Mars that is delivered to MOMA by a drill on the rover. This drill can acquire sample from up to 2 meters below the surface. At that depth organic molecules are better protected from destruction by the high energy radiation that penetrates through the thin martian atmosphere. The primary goal of the mission is to search for organic molecules of biotic or prebiotic relevance that may give us clues about possible microbial life on ancient Mars at a time where surface water was abundant.
Message from the Sciences and Exploration Director
Dr. Colleen Hartman
I’d like to welcome you to NASA Goddard’s Science and Exploration Directorate -- the largest Earth and space science research organization in the world. Located across our main campus at Greenbelt, MD, New York City and Wallops Flight Facility, we total more than 2,000 employees, including civil servants, university scientists, contractors and students.
We like to say Goddard begins with science. With an interwoven and collaborative team of world-class scientists, engineers and technologists, we take ideas from concept to launch and discovery. We are trailblazers, on Earth and in space, with an official mission to explore fundamental questions about our Earth, our sun, the planets and the universe. We seek to better understand our universe and the relationship between our physical world and human life.
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Contact Us
Diana M Elben
301.286.4828
Administrative Officer [600]
General inquiries about the scientific programs at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center may be directed to the Center Office of Communications at 1.301.286.8955.
