Milestones

The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) is pleased to announce that the 2017 recipient of the Eugene M. Shoemaker Impact Cratering Award is Maree McGregor of the University of New Brunswick in Canada. McGregor is pursuing a Ph.D. study in geochronology and shock processes of terrestrial impact craters. She is working with Dr. John Spray at the […]
 
Adler Astronomer Lucianne Walkowicz will hold the fifth Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology in the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. She will begin on October 1, 2017, and be in residence for 12 months. Walkowicz is an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium, in Chicago, where she studies stellar […]
 
The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is a global science video competition designed to inspire creative thinking about fundamental concepts in the life sciences, physics, and mathematics. In recognition of her winning submission, Hillary Diane Andales receives up to $400,000 in educational prizes, including a scholarship worth up to $250,000, another $50,000 for the science teacher who […]
 
The Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) is pleased to announce its 2017 prize winners. Gerard P. Kuiper Prize for outstanding contributions to the field of planetary science — The Gerard P. Kuiper Prize for outstanding contributions to planetary science goes to Margaret G. Kivelson (University of California, Los Angeles, and University of Michigan) […]
 
2017 Dwornik Award The Dwornik Award was endowed by Stephen E. Dwornik in 1991 to encourage students in the field of planetary science. The Dwornik Award originally acknowledged the best oral presentation at both LPSC and GSA, with the winners traveling to Washington, DC, to accept their award. Due to the overwhelming number of planetary-related […]
 
      2017 Leonard Medal — This is the society’s highest and oldest award and is given to individuals who have made outstanding original contributions to the science of meteoritics or closely allied fields. It is named for Frederick C. Leonard, who was a founder of the Meteoritical Society and its first president. This […]
 
President Donald Trump is sending astronauts back to the Moon. On December 11, 2017, the president signed at the White House Space Policy Directive 1, a change in national space policy that provides for a U.S.-led, integrated program with private sector partners for a human return to the Moon, followed by missions to Mars and beyond. […]
 
NASA has established a new advisory group on behalf of the National Space Council that will represent the expertise, interests, and perspectives of non-federal aerospace organizations to the National Space Council. The official charter for the Users’ Advisory Group (UAG) was signed by acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot on December 6, 2017, and subsequently announced in […]
 
NASA invited members of the public to send their names to Mars. And the public responded loud and clear. More than 1.6 million people signed up to have their names etched on a microchip that will be carried on NASA’s upcoming InSight mission, which launches in May of 2018. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, […]
 
When NASA scientists want to follow the path of the Curiosity rover on Mars, they can don a mixed-reality headset and virtually explore the martian landscape. Now everyone can get a taste of what that feels like. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, collaborated with Google to produce Access Mars, a free immersive […]