Exobiology

Interview with James Kasting, geoscientist and Distinguished Professor of Geosciences at Penn State University. Kasting describes a childhood spent in many places due to his father’s job at General Electric. For a time, he lived in Huntsville, Alabama near the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, which piqued his interest in science and space. Kasting discusses his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, where he gravitated toward theory over experimentation while studying chemistry and physics. His developing interest in astronomy and space science led Kasting to graduate school first at UC San Diego, then University of Michigan. He recalls his postdoc at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and then his position at NASA’s Ames Research Center working with Jim Pollack. Kasting discusses his return to academia at Penn State, as well as the committees and panels he has served on over the years, such as the Terrestrial Planet Finder Science working group. Throughout the interview, Kasting talks about many areas of his research such as habitable zones, climate models, atmosphere studies, and extrasolar planets. The interview concludes with Kasting’s thoughts on extraterrestrial intelligent life and sending manned missions to Mars.

Interview with Steven Squyres, American geologist and planetary scientist. Squyres discusses his childhood in New Jersey, in a family where both parents had science education. He recalls his interest in science from a young age and his formative trips to the Colorado Rockies which inspired him to study geology. Squyres recounts his time as an undergraduate at Cornell University, where he began as a geology major but later became interested in space science. He discusses his continuation at Cornell for his graduate studies in planetary science, where he studied under Carl Sagan and worked on the Voyager imaging team. Squyres then recalls his post-doctoral position at NASA’s Ames Research Center before accepting a faculty position at Cornell. He discusses the move toward robotic exploration and touches on topics such as the Mars Observer mission and the Martian meteorite controversy. Squyres reflects on writing his book “Roving Mars” and concludes the interview with his thoughts on the broader significance of geological research on Mars.