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April 27, 2006
Dr. Michael Zolensky, Co-investigator, Stardust Discovery Mission, NASA Johnson Space Center, 4/26/06
Dr. Michael E. Zolensky is Co-investigator of the Stardust Discovery Mission, the Associate Curator for Interplanetary Dust and hardware returned from space, and a member of the science team of the MUSES-C asteroid sample return mission, at NASA Johnson Space Center (Houston, TX).
Dr. Zolensky has led or participated in successful meteorite recovery expeditions in Antarctica, Chile, Namibia, and the U.S. He has worked on the development of techniques for the characterization of meteoroid and space debris impact features on spacecraft. He led the effort to characterize the impact record of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). Dr. Zolensky works now on development of new techniques for the analysis of nanogram-sized extraterrestrial samples, especially as applied to the early formation of solids in the solar nebula and the detailed characterization of the chemical weathering record of asteroids. He is also leading efforts to locate and characterize aqueous fluid inclusions in meteorites, the first direct samples of water found off the Earth.
Dr. Zolensky serves on the Cosmic Dust Working Group and as a member of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Subcommittee. He is a fellow of the Meteoritical Society and the Mineralogical Society of America. Dr. Zolensky has received NASA’s Group Achievement Awards for leading the LDEF Meteoroid and Debris Investigation Team and development of the Stardust Discovery Mission, and the National Science Foundation Antarctic Service Medal. He has more than 400 publications, and is the namesake of minor planet 6030/Zolensky.
Posted by David Lemberg at April 27, 2006 09:00 AM Return to SCIENCE AND SOCIETY home page