Introducing Lucy!
November 14, 2018
My name is Lucy, and I never dreamt that when I was 13 years of age, growing up in suburbia London, UK and saying, “I want to be a geologist” that I would end up helping to operate a robotic rover on another planet! I have been involved in the MSL Curiosity mission and a member of the APXS team since just before the launch in November 2011.
I am originally from the U.K. and got my BSc in geology from Cardiff University, Wales. During my undergraduate studies I knew I had found my calling! I love rocks, the stories they have to tell and the million and billion year old histories locked away, waiting to be revealed from studying them, both in the field and the laboratory. I came to Canada and the University of New Brunswick for my PhD studies and took my first foray into planetary geology, studying the Sudbury structure in Ontario; one of the three largest meteorite impact structures on Earth. I have since studied other terrestrial impact craters, particularly the Manicouagan impact structure in Quebec, martian and lunar craters and geology, as well as meteorites. This experience, and that with analytical techniques similar to the APXS and others deployed by Curiosity, led to my becoming a member of the APXS and MSL Science teams. Also, a 155 km diameter impact crater was selected as the landing site for the mission, so my impact cratering expertise is certainly advantageous!
So why is Mars exploration important? It provides a window in to the early history of our own planet and the solar system in general. Earth is covered with vegetation, oceans and rivers and is an active planet with plate tectonics and constant erosion and deposition. The majority of rocks preserved at the earth's surface are less than 2 billion years old. Because Mars is smaller than Earth, a relatively quiescent planet (there is no current plate tectonics), and without an oxygen-rich atmosphere, the majority of rocks preserved at the surface are significantly older. Therefore, not only can exploration of Mars inform us about the early evolution of the solar system and our planet, but it may also provide insight in to how early life may have got started and evolved on that planet and our own, if we found evidence for past or extant life on Mars.
My role on the mission is primarily to assist in APXS operations and in the interpretation of the data acquired by the APXS instrument. I fill both downlink and uplink tactical roles, as well as a weekly strategic planning role. I help to assess the health and safety of the APXS instrument, choose which targets to analyze with the APXS, deliver the instrument commands to make the measurements and then assess the data when it is downlinked, giving a weekly summary to the MSL science team. In the strategic role, I also plan ahead for any upcoming APXS activities and am actively involved in helping to make decisions about where the rover should drive and what observations should be made. I also work with a number of other science team members integrating the APXS data and other instrument datasets to determine the geological processes responsible for the rocks and regolith we observe.
One of the experiences that I have enjoyed the most is the team work involved in the operations and planning. I am constantly amazed at how we all come to a consensus regarding what we want the rover to do on any given day and execute that plan, sometimes having to make last minute changes. I feel honoured to be a part of that team!