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“Straight on ’til Morning”
|
 Since
before Neil Armstrong’s “one small step,” mankind
has had a storybook fascination with the Moon ... landing on it,
living on it, using it as a base for deeper space expeditions.
In 2004, President Bush renewed that sense of wonder when he announced
the Vision for Space Exploration initiative and committed the country
to long-term exploration of the solar system, starting with a return
to the Moon. Even now, researchers are trying to determine if and
how astronauts could safely work and live there. A member of the College of Engineering faculty, Clive R. Neal, professor of civil engineering and geological sciences, will play a big part in addressing those issues. He has been named the chair of NASA’s Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG). He will also sit on the Planetary Science Subcommittee of NASA’s advisory council. LEAG has been charged with analyzing the technical, operational, and commercial issues associated with lunar exploration. As its chair, Neal’s expertise will prove very beneficial. His research interests include the evolution of the Moon and Mars, and the origin of the solar system. Prior to joining the University in 1990, he served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tennessee, where he first had the opportunity to work with Moon rocks. Neal is also the chair of the Lunar Sample Allocation Subcommittee of NASA’s Curation and Analysis Planning Team for Extraterrestrial Materials, a position he has held since 2005. For more information on LEAG, visit www.lpi.usra.edu/leag. |
