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2019 Conference

Afternoon Keynote
“Our Changing Understanding of the Martian Landscape”
presented by Dr. Bob Anderson, JPL


NASA has been exploring Mars for over five decades. From flybys to landers to rovers, Mars has continually obsessed our imagination. The latest Mars rover mission, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) was designed to resolve whether Mars ever had an environment capable of supporting microbial life.
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Recent data from MSL onboard instruments suggest that ancient Mars may have been more similar to ancient Earth than previously thought. In this presentation, Dr. Anderson will discuss how our ideas of Mars have changed over time and describe how the data collected from MSL is influencing new views.

Dr. Bob Anderson received his Master of Science Degree in geology in 1985 from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia with emphasis on structural geology and mapping tectonic features surrounding the Tharsis region of Mars. In 1995, he received a PhD  in geology from the University of Pittsburgh with emphasis on visible and near-infrared remote sensing. His current research is centered on unraveling the geologic history of Mars, focusing on the tectonic and paleohydrologic evolution of the Tharsis region. He has contributed to the successful Mars Science Laboratory Sample Acquisition/Sample Handling Subsystem and oversees development of the sampling instruments on the surface of Mars and the development of the hardware on the MSL rover. Bob was appointed as Group Supervisor for the Geophysics and Planetary Science section at JPL and also served as past chair of the Planetary Science Division of the Geological Society of America. 

Bob and his wife Yanhua, and their daughter Katie live at Stevenson Ranch, where he enjoys taking care of his salt water reef tanks.

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