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April Technical Luncheon
The Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma
500 NE 4th St
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104
USA
Wednesday, April 12, 2023, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM CDT
Category: Events

APRIL TECHNICAL MEETING

Speaker: Dr. Justin Simon (JSC-X1311) - Planetary Scientist, Center for Isotope Cosmochemistry and Geochronology

Title: Exploring Mars with Perseverance  – Project Update

Location: The Petroleum Alliance

Dates: April 12, 2023

Cost: $30 Members $35 Non-members (lunch included)

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

 

 

 

Abstract: The Mars 2020 mission is currently exploring Jezero Crater on Mars, which contains an ancient lake-delta system with a high potential for past habitability. One of the primary goals is to collect a set of scientifically return-worthy samples for return to Earth. Between February 2021 and January 2023, the Perseverance rover collected 15 rock cores, 2 regolith samples and one atmosphere sample. Of the 17 rock cores and regolith samples, 8 were collected on the crater floor and 9 at the delta front. Additionally, 3 witness tube assemblies (WTAs), which will serve as blanks for contamination control, have been sealed. In this talk I will present an overview of the mission and some highlights from the mission’s sample collection, and associated in situ rover observations. These rocks represent the first samples from Mars with a known geologic context, the first collected with the potential to be returned to Earth for laboratory analysis, and the first cores from rock outcrops on another planet.

Biography: Justin Simon is a planetary scientist within the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at the Johnson Space Center. Before coming to Johnson, he worked at the University of California at Berkeley and the Berkeley Geochronology Center as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Currently, Simon is the lead for the Center for Isotope Cosmochemistry and Geochronology (CICG) based within the ARES division. His research group conducts laboratory measurements on meteorites and samples returned by spacecraft to address rocky planet formation, such as from the solar system's earliest solids to the crusts of habitable planets.

 

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