Searching for Water

Background Information

I was born in France on August 30, 1963. My parents are Mich?le and Jean (John). They are my true inspiration. I guess I have from them the will of never giving up when things are not exactly the way you would like to see them. They have worked hard all of their lives to give me a wonderful childhood and allow me to go to school and college. They have always encouraged me. They are my best friends and although now we are separated by about 10,000 km, they are constantly in my heart and in my thoughts (we fax a lot). We visit each other twice a year. They come with Viger (V-GER, you know - Star Trek). Viger is their little Yorkshire. I played with him a lot when he was a puppy and I was still in France. As a good "geologist" he travels in a backpack!

I grew up near Paris, 25 km west in what is called the "green belt" of Paris, with parks and forests. I didn't go to Paris very often until I started my college years, though. My childhood was spent between my parents and grandparents, holidays with my cousin playing on the shores of the Mediterranean seas and also going to Italy where I have relatives on the side of one of my grandma's. It seems that I never wanted to do anything other than what I am doing today. At five, I was spending my summer nights watching the sky and the stars in the fields. During the day, I was playing with shiny pebbles in the lake where we spent our vacations in Italy or with the sand on the beach. One of my grandma's told me years later, "When you were walking, you were never looking in front of you. You always looked at the stars or at the rocks". Naturalist already- maybe with a hint of biologist which was evident through the number of "guests" I brought back home (fishes, frogs, tadpoles, etc.). But a naturalist with a method and already some taste for testing and experiments, like when I was about three years old and tried to catch a crow by throwing salt on its tail following my parent's advice. Although I spent a long time hiding behind that tree and the bird came quite close, it did not work. Later on, when I was about 12, I started to cultivate beans in my room (my parents were *really* patient) to study genetics, I insisted. I was puzzled as to why some of the flowers were pink and others were white. I maintained a log for quite some time, and we ate the beans before they become too hard!

So, I guess I do not know what made me study science. I was born with this in me. The universe and the planets fascinated me. I loved nature very early and, as an only child spending many hours alone, I developed a lot of curiosity and the capacity to dream. My parents bought me great books about astronomy, geology, and plate tectonics for birthdays and Christmas. They were really supportive of my passion and were always positive and encouraging. They made a difference. There were some defining moments at school too. Some of my teachers fascinated me by their passion for their discipline. My geology professor in my preparation year to the university helped mold me into what and who I am today. Sometimes it just takes a word to catch the attention of children forever.

I have been married for two and half years now to Edmond Grin, who is an Athena Science Team collaborator. We have known each other for a bit more than 16 years. We share the same passion and this makes life wonderful.

Mars Exploration (General)

I try to understand the history of water on Mars (past and present). My research is two-fold: (1) the study of ancient lakes on Mars, and (2) the development of science strategies for robotic missions to Mars. A significant part of my time is focused on participating and designing rover field experiments. I started as a science team member on the Marsokhod rover field experiments in Kilauea in 1995, Tuba City (AZ) 1996; I was the project science lead for the Nomad rover field experiment in the Atacama desert, Chile, in 1997 and for the ASRO field experiment in 1999 (Mojave, CA). ASRO was the first of the kind to put together a rover and an astronaut in the field and study their interaction. In 1999 (Mojave, CA). I was also deputy science lead on a Marsokhod rover field experiment the same year. Currently, I am the science lead of a large NASA ASTEP project which PI is Red Whittaker of CMU (Pittsburgh). Our goal is to develop robotic astrobiology in the 3 coming years and have a rover able to unambiguously identify life in the field.

2003 Mars Exploration Rover Mission

I am a Athena Science Team member. I was selected as a Participating Scientist at the end of May 2002. I will be styding the traces left by the action of water at both landing sites at macro and micro scale. For instance, looking at the images provides by the microscopic imager, I will analyze the size, shape, and distribution of sedimentary grains and will try to infer if water deposited them or other processes. I will also analyze the images of PanCam and look for layered sediments. In addition to my role in the science team, I was also involved in the landing site selection process and supported Gusev crater. Gusev has been recommended by the science community and science team to be the MER A site. Now its safety is being evaluated by the engineers.

What advice can you offer to young scientists or engineers?

Never give up your dreams and work hard for them because the reward is a life of fulfilled passion.

What are your personal goals for the future?

I'd like in few years from now design a mission to Mars and bring it to completion. There are so many exciting places to be explored there that we need to find ways to reach them. If it is possible in my lifetime, I'd like to go to Mars and explore in person some of the regions that I have been studying, like Gusev. It would be wonderful to set foot on Mars and see the sun set and rise on the horizon of another planet.

What are your dreams for the future of exploration?

I hope that we will find life somewhere else than Earth. It would be such an incredible feeling to know that we are sharing the vast expands of the universe with others, whether they are microorganisms or technologically advanced civilization. One of my dreams is also that soon humans will be leaving on other planets of our solar system (e.g., Mars and the Moon) and that one day not too far from now, a little human being will be born outside planet Earth. A new Era will begin then.

What portion of this mission interests you the most?

So far I could not find one part of that mission that does not fascinate me. Of course, the science part is the one I am the closest too but I also enjoy listening to the engineers, try to understand their concerns and all the talent they are deploying to make sure we are having a mission in very interesting science sites. They are remarkable.

What is the most fascinating thing about your mission?

For the first time with MER we have a real chance to search for traces of past water activity and to understand better the habitability potential of Mars. We also have the mobility to test exciting hypotheses at the landing sites.

What's the most challenging part of your job?

Not to get to overexcited!

What is unique about your job?

What is unique about it is that I would never use the word "job" or "work" about it. To me, because I spend so much time analyzing Mars mission images, every morning I have the feeling that I am going to Mars. Every day is a renewed expectation. This is really what is is unique about.

What's the most extraordinary experience you've had so far on this mission?

There have been two high points so far: (1) the phone call from NASA HQ to let me know that I was selected in the Athena science team; (2) the recommendation of Gusev crater as the site for MER A by the scientific community and the Athena science team. Of course, we still need to wait until the engineers have run all the safety simulations and that our adminsitrator Ed Weiler makes the final decision but this was a defining moment. I have been working for many years on this site with Edmond Grin and it gave us a sense of achievement.

When you were in elementary school, what did you want to be when you grew up?

As I said, I never wanted to do anything else. If I trust parents, this might be the first things I said...

When did you decide you wanted to be in the space industry and how did you go for it?

I always wanted to. The problem I faced was that at the time I was still in France and the Martian was not as developed as it is today. They were only very few positions. This situation had two major implications: there was no specific teaching about planetology so I went to geology, geomorphology, remote sensing classes and made sure to participate to international conferences so that I could see what was happening and make contact with planetary geologists; the second is that I could not expect to do my career in my country of birth. I left in 1994 for NASA Ames after meeting Christopher McKay in France. I was working on a site (Gusev crater) that he found interesting. I came at Ames with a 9-month French research grant...and the rest is history.

Why do you think Mars Exploration is important?

First, from its very first step on Earth, life has been exploring. This is why we are here today. This is why life has survived throughout all the crises. We have exploration in our genes as a mode of survival and diversification. But why Mars is important? I would say it is important for our past and our future because it is the closest to planet Earth in terms of geology, environment, and possibly, conditions for life. This "possibly" makes all the difference. Remember that we have the chance of living on a very dynamic planet but we pay a tough price for that. What I mean is that because Earth is active, rocks are recycled through plate tectonics very often. It means also that we have lost traces of our begining. The oldest rocks on Earth are 3.9 Ga old. They already show the indirect traces of the activity of life. Life was already there...When did it appear, how? We might never know on Earth but maybe our answer is somewhere on Mars. Why is that? To explain this, I often use the comparison with someone who would have lost very early his parents and would like to know more about them. The best thing to do is to go to the closest relatives that could be brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts, ask questions, take photos and search for family resemblances. This is why Mars is important, because it is the planet closest to Earth and did not experience as much recycling as the Earth. The oldest rocks are probably still there on Mars and the conditions at the beginning of the two planets were not too different. Our own Rosetta stone, this 4.2 Ga old rock might be waiting for us up there and who knows about life...That's for the past. As for the future, Mars is also the best candidate for the first human colony outside the Earth. To me, this is where this first baby born ourside the Earth will see the sunrise and it will be a wonderful vision.

What excites you about Mars or about space exploration?

I guess I responded in part by answering the previous question. We are explorers and our species will not be able to survive without exploring and spreading on other worlds. For 4 Ga years, species have been diversifying their habitats on Earth but our planet and its resources are not expandable to infinity. We will have to sail to other "space continents" soon as we always did before. The ships our a bit different and for the first time it will not be a land on Earth, but it will be a land none the less and a place for new beginnings.

Do you work on any other projects at your company?

Yes, I have several projects ongoing at the moment, one of them being the study of the highest lake on Earth on top of the Licancabur volcano (6017 m/20,056 ft) and another one being the development of robotic astrobiology with CMU.

Describe the human side of robotic exploration.

There is this very exciting time when you try to design robots, software, and technology that can do the work you would do if you could be on Mars. This is especially wonderful when you see these robots working and returning data. Now, there is also a frustrating part which has to deal with computing capabilities, time delays from one planet to the other. There is a lot of waiting for the data to come but in the end, we are so excited anyway by what could come that time flies! For now, robots are our surrogates in the field. One day, human will be there and will use the best computers of all to interpret these new environments: their brain.

Do you have any hobbies?

I practice lots of sports but swimming and free diving were my favorites before I met Edmond. He since introduced me to mountaineering. He is a great mountaineer and has many successful high ascents under his belt. Year after year, we hiked more and more mountains together, every time a bit higher. In november 2002, me, Edmond and our science team where on top of the Licancabur volcano (6017 m or 20,056 ft) to study the highest lake on Earth as an analog to martian paleolakes. That was a tremendous experience, mental, physical, and spiritual. I am not even talking about the view! I fell in love with mountains for many reasons, one of them is that mountains never lie and one cannot lie to a mountain. On their slopes, we are facing ourselves. They give lessons of courage and from time to time, lessons of modesty that we have to accept. The Licancabur expedition allowed us to combine these passions of science, swimming, diving, and mountaineering.

When I am not at NASA Ames or in the field, I love art, painting and sculpture. I read a lot, all sorts of literature. Books are open windows on people thoughts and minds, a way of understanding the diversity of cultures and civilizations of planet Earth. In a world of diversity, these keys are very important. Whether it is for work or not, we all meet people from various countries and background. Understand how they think, why they think this way, what is their history is fundamental for building up trust, collaborations and interactions. It is the key of understanding and tolerance

Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?

We create our own barriers and limitations. Keep dreaming as dreams do not have such barriers and never take no for an answer.

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