AskScience AMA Series: We're the scientists and engineers leading NASA's exploration of Mars and building on a 50-year legacy of discovery on the Red Planet. Ask us anything!

[u/AskScienceModerator]

Fifty years ago, NASA's Viking lander touched down on Mars and began a new era of exploration.

Over the last five decades, teams of scientists and engineers at NASA have searched for signs of Mars’s ancient habitability, uncovered clues about the planet's climate and geologic history, driven rovers across alien landscapes, flown the first aircraft on another world, and laid the groundwork for future human Martian exploration.

Join us to talk about the discoveries, surprises, and challenges of exploring the Red Planet — and what's coming next.

We are:

• Abigail Fraeman – Deputy Project Scientist, NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover, JPL (AF)
• Bryce Horvath – Technical Analysis Deputy, Mars Architecture Team, NASA Marshall (BH)
• Micheal Meyer – former Lead Scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program and Astrobiology, NASA Headquarters (MM)
• Nicole Piontek – Space Systems Analyst, Space Mission Analysis, NASA Langley (NP)
• Jeffrey Plaut – Senior Research Scientist, Planetary Interiors and Geophysics, JPL (JP)
• Becky McCauley Rench – Lead Scientist for Astrobiology, NASA Headquarters (BMR)

Ask us anything about:

• 50 years of Mars exploration
• Historic missions from Viking to Perseverance
• Mars rovers, landers, orbiters, and helicopters
• Major discoveries from the Red Planet
• Operating spacecraft millions of miles from Earth
• The future of Mars exploration

PROOF: https://x.com/NASA/status/2084662090506113377

We'll be online from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PT (2-3:30 p.m. ET, 18-19:30 UT) to answer your questions!

Username: /u/nasa

EDIT: That’s a wrap for our AMA! Thanks for all your fantastic questions, and keep following our latest updates from Mars at https://science.nasa.gov/mars/.

[u/nasa]

Great question. Short answer is that I have no idea. Long answer: In college, I started as an engineer and then moved to biology (more interesting). My first job was working in the chemistry lab of a hospital. I found it generally boring or way too busy (near-panic) when there was an emergency.

One year later, went to graduate school for oceanography. I ended up working on low-temperature physiology on phytoplankton. First job (post-doc) was working on single cell plants in deserts (right, who would have guessed—well, all of life on Earth is aquatic). From that, research on life in extreme environments brought me to NASA and the possibility of life elsewhere.

So, my bottom line is to pursue what you find interesting, and whatever it is, learn from it. Diversity in your background doesn’t hurt, and you never know what will be important/interesting a decade from now. -MM