Kathleen Mandt, PhD

#ArtemisII rollout has begun!!!

Hooray for #Pandora!! This is a mission led by Elisa Quintana of #NASA-GSFC, one of the most brilliant scientific leaders I know. This small satellite will study nearby #exoplanets at a level of detail we can't do with #JWST because of the high demands for time on JWST.🪐🔭🧪

Driving progress for the benefit of society by providing independent, objective advice to advance science, engineering, and medicine.

There is so much more in this report. Enjoy reading it here: www.nationalacademies.org/read/28594/c...

Illustration of three campaigns in different locations: igneous and impact melt, sedimentary rocks, glaciers

All three of the above campaigns assume 300+ days on the surface in one location. The final campaign involves three 30-day trips to three different locations.

Illustration of notional drill rig intended to explore 2-5 km deep beneath the Martian surface

The third campaign is Seeking Life Beneath the Icy Martian Crust and requires deep drilling to get below the cryosphere in search of life.

Illustration of a science station on Mars that includes a rover for geologic exploration, a deep drilling platform, a meteorology tower, and a lab.

The second campaign seeks Synergy of Mars Science Measurements. This campaign includes deep drilling, which is a big scientific priority for Mars.

Map of an idealized landing site on Mars for a 300+ day campaign. The ideal landing site includes a variety of regions to explore.

The first, and preferred campaign is "Mars Science Across and Expanded Exploration Zone." This study does not recommend specific landing sites, but gives guidelines for landing site characteristics. This landing site should have a lot of variety in places to explore within range of the landing site

There are two objectives that cross boundaries of the science panels: In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and Radiation.
These 11 goals defined the four campaigns that are outlined in the study.

5 objectives focus on humans, plants, and animals from Earth that go to Mars: Impact on Crew, Effect of Mars on Genomes and Reproduction, Understanding Microbes, Martian Dust, and Plants and Animals in an Ecosystem.
These are important not only for #Mars but for humans on the #Moon with #Artemis

Additional objectives related to #Geosciences and #Atmospheres include
Mars Geology — Characterize and map the geologic record to reveal Mars’ evolution.
Dust Storms — Determine what controls the onset and evolution of the major dust storms that make Mars’ atmosphere so variable.

Also prioritized were:
#2 Water and CO2 on Mars: Characterize the planet’s water and CO2 cycles to understand how they may have evolved.
This question is important not only for #Astrobiology but also the history of Mars and our solar system. #Geosciences #Atmospheres

Panels provided ~10 top science questions in our areas. The Steering Committee used this to identify 11 top science objectives overall. The #Search4Life was #1: Determine if evidence can be found on Mars of existing or extinct life, the planet’s habitability, or indigenous prebiotic chemistry.

A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars: Panel on Astrobiology As one of four panels that will provide input to the steering committee of

It started with four #Science panels that identified the top questions in #Astrobiology, #Geosciences, #Atmospheres and #SpacePhysics, and #BiophysicalSciences. I had the honor of chairing the brilliant team of scientists on the Astrobiology panel www.nationalacademies.org/projects/DEP...

A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars When astronauts set foot on Mars, it will be one of humanity’s greatest milestones. These first steps will be the result of decades of research, engineering, and imagination coming together, marking t...

This study took two years to complete and was led by the amazing Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the PI of the #NASA #PsycheMission and Dava Newmon of MIT. The task was to identify the highest priority science objectives and define campaigns to achieve them www.nationalacademies.org/projects/DEP...

Search for Life Should Be Top Science Priority for First Human Landing on Mars, Says New Report When astronauts set foot on Mars, it will be one of humanity’s greatest milestones, marking the start of a new era of discovery on another planet. A new National Academies report identifies the highes...

I'm a day late with this because I was at the National Academies for this briefing. The big takeaway is that the search for life should be the top science priority when we send humans to land on #Mars! 🪐🧪🔭 #Astrobiology www.nationalacademies.org/news/search-...

A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars will identify high priority science objectives (in all relevant disciplines) to be addressed by human explorers across multiple science campaigns o...

Make sure to follow @nationalacademies.org. The briefing will be held at the National Academies Keck Center in Washington D.C. and livestreamed online on December 9, 2025, from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM (ET). Register at the link above. 🧪🔭🪐 You can read more here: nationalacademies.org/humans-on-mars

A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars: Report Release Event When astronauts set foot on Mars, it will be one of humanity’s greatest milestones. These first steps will be the result of decades of research, engineering, and imagination coming together, marking t...

🚨🚨Big #PlanetaryScience News🚨🚨
Tomorrow the National Academies will release the report on their study "A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars." I was honored to chair the #Astrobiology Panel for this study. Make sure to watch the briefing!🧪🔭🪐

www.nationalacademies.org/projects/DEP...

Congratulations to Michele!! I first met her when I was a graduate student working on Cassini. She was awe-inspiring then and continues to be now. 🧪🔭🪐

UK gets first female Astronomer Royal in 350 years Prof Michele Dougherty is the first woman to be appointed to the influential post.

#BBCNews - UK gets first female Astronomer Royal in 350 years
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Earlier today, a small meteoroid exploded high in the atmosphere over northern Georgia.

That explosion was imaged from space by the GOES-19 satellite.

Credit: NOAA/CIRA (h/t @cira-csu.bsky.social)

Would you be able to follow me so I can DM you?

Thread was broken. Here is the #ASLStream bsky.app/profile/momm...

And that's it! The most important takeaway I would like everyone to remember is how important robotic space missions are. These spacecraft go where no humans can travel and discover things we can't learn from Earth-based observations #NASA #ESA #PlanetaryScience #Astrobiology 🪐🧪🔭
🧵18/18

ASL STREAM-The Origin of Earth's Oceans (Exploring Space Lecture Series) YouTube video by Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Also, here is the #ASLstream of my talk for those who are interested. #NASA #ESA #PlanetaryScience #Astrobiology 🪐🧪🔭 www.youtube.com/live/VDpyzls...

Which leads to my team's results that are explained here
#PlanetaryScience 🪐🧪🔭 🧵17/x bsky.app/profile/momm...

Another big surprise was how high D/H was. It didn't match the amount of CO and N2 in the comet or other Jupiter Family Comets #PlanetaryScience 🪐🧪🔭 🧵16/x bsky.app/profile/momm...

Image showing what the star trackers saw when the spacecraft was surrounded by ice-covered dust lit up by the Sun. It's impossible to tell which dots are stars and which are dust.

Robotic space science missions are also an adventure and are sometimes scary. The spacecraft used star trackers to check its pointing. When the comet was really active we flew too close. Ice-covered dust confused the spacecraft and made it shut down. We had to replan! #PlanetaryScience 🪐🧪🔭 🧵15/x

Three Rosetta camera images taken 7 seconds apart. The middle image shows a jet coming from the nucleus but the jet does not appear in the other two.

Robotic space science missions are amazing!!! The second surprise Rosetta provided was to show that the activity is complicated. We expected to see gas sublimating from the surface lifting dust to make a coma but also found jets bursting out of the surface #PlanetaryScience #Astrobiology 🪐🧪🔭🦆 🧵14/x

Rosetta navigation camera images of the comet when the spacecraft was approaching. The shape looks more like a duck than the diamond shape predicted by Hubble. A rubber ducky is overlaid on one of the images.

The first big surprise was what the comet actually looked like #PlanetaryScience #Astrobiology 🪐🧪🔭🦆 🧵13/x

Images of comet nucleus taken from Hubble Space Telescope before Rosetta arrived.

Although they take a long time to get there, robotic space missions can go where humans aren't able to go and make surprising discoveries. Rosetta made many discoveries! Below is the image of what we expected to see based on #Hubble images of the comet #PlanetaryScience #Astrobiology 🪐🧪🔭 🧵12/x