Planetary Science

My name is Heather and I'm a student and educator :)

My parents call me a NASA geek because of the interest and level of knowledge obtained about astornomy, spaceflight, and the history of NASA.

I look forward to learning more about all of you and hope to gain awesome friends and connections.

I'm not going to lie. I kind of stumbled into my profession. In college, I went through three different majors before settling on geology, and that was only because my school didn't offer a planetary geology degree. In grad school, I was fortunate enough to meet someone who happened to be a science ed. specialist, and was given the opportunity to dip my toe in the world of NASA education.  I took that first dip and haven't looked back! I couldn't imagine doing anything else.  <br> In my spare time, I like to read; collect, climb, and lick rocks (ah, the joys of being a geologist); hike; bike; camp; and spend as much time outside as humanly possible.

Growing up in Westport, Connecticut, I was interested in space-related subjects from an early age--science fiction, model rocketry, the press coverage of the Ranger/Gemini/Apollo/Mariner etc. missions. I got my first telescope in 1972. I was most interested in observing planets, comets, asteroids, though I love deep sky as well. In 1975-76 I helped found the Westport Astronomical Society; we converted a defunct Nike missile site into Rolnick Observatory.

MyMoon (http://mymoon.lpi.usra.edu) is created by you (the Net Generation) and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI). We're collaborating with lunar scientists, educators, engineers, artists, storytellers, and more to provide interactive information about the Moon and opportunities for you to be involved.

MyMoon can be found on Facebook, Twitter (@MyMoonLPI), Flickr, and YouTube. We invite you to join us and share your thoughts, your creations, and your experiences!

Yes, this Moon is your moon, this Moon is my Moon, this Moon is Earth's Moon... but it's not THAT moon! We’re grateful (thrilled, in fact) to report that this project is funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

Brian Shiro is a space explorer trapped inside an earth scientist. A seismologist by training, he is a veteran of numerous geophysical field expeditions to install seismometers in remote locations including Antarctica, Alaska, Canada, and various tropical Pacific islands. His diverse background includes summer jobs working with upper atmosphere gas sensors, carbon nanotubes, satellite radar mapping, geochemistry, glaciology, and high performance computing. Brian has also worked at three NASA centers (JSC, GSFC, and JPL) and served as the principal investigator for a Mars Geophysical Lander mission concept proposal developed with NASA JPL's Team X in 2003.  He was also a crewmember on the 2009 FMARS simulated Mars mission on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic.

Hi! I am a PhD student at Cornell university. I work on the current Mars Rovers, look for places to land the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory rover, and vaporize rocks with lasers to find out what they're made of. Sometimes it seems like my job is straight out of science fiction, but that's fine by me. When I'm not studying Mars or planning to vaporize bits of it, I like reading and writing sci-fi and fantasy, making and eating good food, and hiking, biking, running and skiing.

 My primary blog is The Martian Chronicles, because really, how could a sci-fi fan who studies the red planet name their blog anything else?

I come from Kendal, near the English Lake District. I was born in 1981. I went to University College London from 1999-2003 to get my first degree and am back for a PhD.

I started Kendal Astronomical Society, known as the Eddington Astronomical Society after Arthur Eddington, who was born in the town, at the transit of Venus event in 2004, though later handed the reigns over to others to expand the society.

I now tweet and run a blog to distract me from writing up my thesis on Monte Carlo modelling of particle interactions in the upper atmosphere.