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Dr. Christopher McKay
Dr. Christopher McKay

Christopher P. McKay is a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, studying planetary atmospheres, astrobiology, and terraforming. Planetary science, also known as planetology and closely related to planetary astronomy, is the Science of Planets or Planetary systems NASA Ames Research Center (ARC is a NASA facility located at Moffett Federal Airfield, which covers 43 acres at the borders of the cities of Mountain View Astrobiology (from Greek grc ἄστρον astron, "constellation star" grc βίος bios, "life" and grc -λογία The terraforming (literally "Earth-shaping" of a Planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its McKay received his PhD in astrogeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982 and his bachelor's degree from Florida Atlantic University. The University of Colorado at Boulder ( CU-Boulder, UCB officially Colorado and CU colloquially is the Flagship University

Contents

Overview

McKay has done extensive research on planetary atmospheres, particularly the atmospheres of Titan[1] and Mars, and on the origin and evolution of life. TemplateInfobox Planet.--> Titan (ˈtaɪtən, or as [2] He is a co-investigator on the Huygens probe, the Mars Phoenix lander, and the Mars Science Laboratory. The Huygens probe, supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA and named after the Dutch 17th century astronomer Christiaan Huygens, is an atmospheric entry Phoenix is a Robotic spacecraft on a Space exploration mission on Mars under the Mars Scout Program. The Mars Science Laboratory ( MSL) is a NASA rover scheduled to be launched on September 15, 2009 and perform the first ever He has also performed field research on extremophiles, in such locations as Death Valley, the Atacama Desert[3], Axel Heiberg Island, and ice-covered lakes in Antarctica. An extremophile is an Organism that thrives in and may even require Physically or Geochemically extreme conditions that are detrimental to the Death Valley is the lowest driest and hottest Valley in the United States. Atacama redirects here for the political-administrative region of Chile, see Atacama Region. Axel Heiberg Island is the 31st largest island in the world and Canada's 7th largest island.

In addition to his professional work, McKay is a member of the board of directors of the Planetary Society and also works with the Mars Society. The Planetary Society is a large publicly supported non-government and not-for-profit organization that has many research projects related to Astronomy. The Mars Society is an international Space advocacy Non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging the exploration and settlement of Mars. He has written and spoken extensively on space exploration and terraforming. History First orbital flights The first successful orbital launch was of the Soviet unmanned Sputnik [4][5][6]

McKay on the ethics of terraforming

Dr. McKay advocates a moderately biocentric position in the ethics of terraforming, arguing that we must thoroughly explore a planet such as Mars first to discover whether there is any microbial life before taking first steps toward terraforming, and that if indigenous alien life is found in an obscure niche or dormant on Mars, we should remove all Earth life and alter Mars to support the global spread of this alien life on Mars. Biocentrism (from Greek βίος bio, "life" and κέντρον kentron, "center" is a term that has several meanings but is commonly defined The ethics of terraforming has constituted a philosophical debate within Biology, Ecology, and Environmental ethics as to whether Terraforming [7] McKay has held a series of public debates with Robert Zubrin, who advocates a moderately anthropocentric position on the ethics of terraforming. Robert Zubrin (born 19 April 1952) is an American Aerospace engineer and Author, best known for his Advocacy of manned Mars Anthropocentrism (from Greek άνθρωπος anthropos, "human being" and κέντρον kentron, "center" Anthropos (the term [8][9]

References

  1. ^ e. g. Photochemically Driven Collapse of Titan's Atmosphere, Ralph D. Lorenz, Christopher P. McKay, and Jonathan I. Lunine, Science, Vol. 275 pp. 642 - 644, 31 Jan. 1997
  2. ^ Organic Synthesis in Experimental Impact Shocks, Christopher P. McKay and William J. Borucki, Science, Vo. 276 pp. 390-392, 18 April 1997
  3. ^ Microbial Life in the Atacama Desert, R. M. Maier, K. P. Drees, J. W. Neilson, D. A. Henderson, J. Quade, J. L. Betancourt;, Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez, Fred A. Rainey, and Christopher P. McKay, Science, Vol. 306 pp. 1289-1290, 19 November 2004
  4. ^ R. H. Haynes and C. P. McKay, "The Implantation of Life on Mars: Feasibility and Motivation," Adv. Space Res. , 12, (4)133-(4)140 (1992).
  5. ^ C. P. McKay and M. M. Marinova, "The Physics, Biology and Environmental Ethics of Making Mars Habitable," Astrobiology, 1, 89-109 (2001).
  6. ^ M. M. Marinova, C. P. McKay and H. Hashimoto, "Radiative-Convective Model of Warming Mars using Artificial Super-Greenhouse Gases," J. Geophys. Res. , 110, E03002, doi:10. 1029/2004JE002306 (2005).
  7. ^ C. P. McKay, "Let's Put Martian Life First," The Planetary Report, XXI(4), 4-5 (2001).
  8. ^ C. P. McKay and R. M. Zubrin, "Do Indigenous Martian Bacteria have Precedence over Human Exploration?" in On to Mars: Colonizing a New World (pp. 177-182)
  9. ^ R. M. Zubrin and C. P. McKay, "A World for the Winning: The Exploration and Terraforming of Mars," The Planetary Report, XII(5), 16-19 (1992).

External links

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