We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Wednesday at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Universe Today or the Weekly Space Hangout YouTube page.

This week we welcome Dr. Pascal Lee to the Weekly Space Hangout. Pascal is chairman of the Mars Institute, planetary scientist at the SETI Institute, and director of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) at NASA Ames. He holds an ME in geology and geophysics from the University of Paris, and a PhD in astronomy and space sciences from Cornell.

Pascal’s research focuses on water and caves on the Moon and Mars, the origin of Mars’ moons, and the future human exploration of the Moon and Mars. He has led over 30 expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica for analog studies, including a 402-day winter-over in Antarctica. He is a recipient of the United States Antarctic Service Medal.

He also works on surface systems for future Moon and Mars exploration, including drones, hoppers, rovers, spacesuits, and habitats. Pascal was scientist-pilot for NASA’s first field test of the SEV concept pressurized rover. He also led the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition, a record-setting vehicular traverse on sea-ice along the fabled Northwest Passage and the subject of the award-winning documentary film Passage To Mars (2016). He currently leads the HMP’s Astronaut Smart Glove project and JPL’s GlobeTrotter planetary hopper concept study.

Pascal is also interested in SETI. He argues that there are likely very few advanced civilizations per galaxy, and that we might be the only one in ours at this time.

His first book, Mission: Mars, won the 2015 Prize for Excellence in children’s science books from the AAAS. In his free time, Pascal likes to be walked by his dog Apollo, fly, and paint. He is an FAA helicopter commercial pilot and CFI, and an artist member of the International Association of Astronomical Artists.

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