Science & Tech

Researcher Mark Lemmon To Receive NASA Public Service Medal

Mark Lemmon, associate professor in the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University, will receive the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal.
By Keith Randall, Texas A&M Marketing & Communications June 8, 2010

NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal
NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal

(NASA)

Mark Lemmon, associate professor of atmospheric sciences in the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University, will receive the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal during ceremonies (June 15) in Pasadena. Calif.

The award is among the highest NASA grants to a non-government employee. Lemmon is cited for “exceptional science leadership of the Phoenix Surface Stereo Imager (SSI), providing the first surface images of the northern polar region of Mars.”

Lemmon was the lead scientist in developing the SSI, a stereographic (two lens) imager with color and near-infrared capabilities. The SSI returned nearly 30,000 images to Earth before the lander lost its solar power due to the Martian winter.

Launched Aug. 4, 2007, Phoenix landed May 25, 2008, farther north than any previous spacecraft on the Martian surface, and operated for about five months. Among key results, it verified the presence of water and ice in the Martian subsurface, as well as discovering perchlorates in Martian soil, which are an important potential source of both oxygen and energy. SSI pictures showed arctic surface textures dominating the landscape, revealed both dirty and pure ice in different trenches, allowed the monitoring of varying weather phenomena like water-ice clouds and dust devils, and were used to guide both the digging by the Phoenix Robotic Arm and the selection of Martian samples to analyze on the spacecraft.

Lemmon’s research involves developing and operating robotic Mars explorers as well as using data gathered on other planets to determine properties of their atmospheres. He currently participates in the daily operations of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers as a member of the Athena science team, operated through the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif., and he is on the science team for the cameras on the Curiosity rover, to be launched to Mars in late 2011.

Media contact: Keith Randall, Texas A&M News & Information Services.

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