NASA scientist from Oklahoma is living his dream

Sunday, December 11th 2005, 12:26 pm

By: News On 6

PAULS VALLEY, Okla. (AP) _ In 1971, a young Pauls Valley High School senior wrote and illustrated a six-part science column for the Pauls Valley Daily Democrat. The column dealt solely on the future of space exploration.

``Man's destiny lies among the planets and the stars, not this solitary little planet on which he now exists,'' the young scientist wrote.

The senior was Jeff Moore and today he is employed in the very field he wrote and dreamed about as a teen growing up in Pauls Valley.

After graduating from high school, Moore attended the University of Oklahoma and received two degrees. The first was in geophysics, the degree that gave him his ``day job.''

``The other degree was in history. A field I found very interesting but I really couldn't do anything with it,'' he said.

Ironically, Moore is now one member of a team that will make space history in the upcoming months and years.

Moore, who was recently named as a new member of NASA's Mars Rover Team, is also one of the lead scientists for NASA's New Horizons mission to the Pluto-Charon system and the Kuiper belt.

New Horizons will be the next mission to visit the Jupiter system and the first mission to visit Pluto in 2015. The spacecraft carrying the Pluto probe will launch sometime in January of 2006 from Florida's Cape Canaveral.

``It will be the fastest traveling craft to leave Earth,'' said Moore. ``The Atlas V rocket carrying the space probe will travel 20 miles per second and will reach the Moon's orbit in nine hours.''

To put that kind of speed into proper perspective, it took the Apollo spacecraft three days to reach the orbit of the Moon.

``It will be a voyage of exploration and discovery,'' he said. ``The only images we now have of Pluto are those from the Hubble Telescope and those are limited. So, it will be interesting to see what the probe will send back to us.''

After launch, New Horizons will cross the entire span of the solar system in record time, 9 1/2 years, and conduct flyby studies of Pluto and its moon, Charon.

According to NASA, the seven science instruments on the piano-sized probe will shed light on the bodies' surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres.

``Pluto is about the size of Earth's Moon,'' Moore said. ``The space probe will allow us to see objects as small as half a football field.''

Moore compares space exploration to the pioneering spirit of Oklahoma.

``Space exploration appeals to our character. People wouldn't be in Oklahoma today if they hadn't of taken some risks,'' he said.

Risks such as putting the first man on the Moon and one day sending a manned mission to Mars.

``Right now all we know about Mars is what the Mars rovers are telling us,'' he said. ``It's important to send scientists to Mars, and it would be more affordable. Five geologists on Mars can do a faster and much better job of exploring Mars than a rover would ever be able to do.''

So, the question is: Would Moore like to eventually be one of those scientists to step onto the surface of Mars and conduct experiments?

``If it was possible, I would like to do it. But, by the time we send a manned mission to Mars I will be too old for such a task,'' he acknowledged.

To go to Mars, Moore noted, would take a two year commitment.

``First you would have to assemble two ships in space. One ship would be an emergency ship in the event something happened to the first ship on the way to Mars,'' he said.

The trip to Mars would take about six months or so, he added. Scientists would then spend a year on the planet conducting experiments and gathering soil samples before heading back to Earth.

Moore, though, is content to continue with his work on the Mars rover for the time being.

``The two Mars rovers have actually lasted longer than they were expected to,'' he said. ``They are allowing us to conduct more experiments and gain a better understanding of the planet.''

The rovers, titled Spirit and Opportunity, are giving scientists the ability to be high-tech back seat drivers, Moore said.

``We're able to look at something and tell the rover operators, 'Hey, I want to see what's over there.' They'll pull the rovers over to the location we've pointed out and we are able to examine that specific portion of Mars in greater detail.''

Moore is also a proponent of a return manned mission to the Moon.

``There's a lot of geology on the Moon we haven't done yet,'' he said. ``The Moon is also a good place to try out other research projects as well.''

Which brings us back to one of the columns Moore wrote in high school. In a somewhat prophetic statement Moore proclaimed: ``The exploration of the Moon will occupy humanity for decades, if not for centuries.''