Professor Timothy Glotch to Serve on NASA’s Artemis Mission First Geology Team

Timothy Glotch, professor and chair of the Department of Geosciences at Stony Brook University, will be a participating scientist with NASA as part of Artemis' first lunar surface science team. He is among 10 scientists who are joining the team that will shape a science plan for astronauts to complete on the lunar surface under the Artemis program, including deploying scientific instruments, making critical observations of the landing site and collecting Moon rocks. Glotch will also be supporting the science team at NASA's Mission Control in Houston during Artemis mission operations.

During the mission, astronauts will land near the Moon's South Pole, a landscape of extremes with dark craters that may contain ice and mountain peaks in near-constant illumination. The scientific research during the first crewed Artemis lunar landing mission will provide critical data to support further exploration while digging deeper into questions that have intrigued scientists since the Apollo era, such as the impact history of the Moon and the locations of shallow ice deposits. In addition, the processes that the science team develops and tests during the first Artemis landed lunar mission will provide the framework for science operations during increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon's surface and subsurface.

Glotch and his associates will engage in pre-mission planning, science mission operations and work preparing the post-mission reports to address these questions.

Through Artemis, NASA will address high-priority science questions in a Golden Age of exploration and discovery, focusing on those best accomplished by human explorers on and around the Moon and by using the unique attributes of the lunar environment. The Artemis missions will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery and economic benefits, and to build a foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

"Congratulations to the scientists selected to participate in this important Artemis lunar surface science team," said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The selected scientists will bring a wealth of expertise to this team to ensure we are supporting crews on the Moon to achieve the missions' science objectives. Exploring the lunar surface and executing the U.S.'s science objectives is a major step toward sustained operations at the Moon and preparation for human exploration of Mars."

"I am incredibly honored to have been selected to join the Artemis lunar surface science team," said Glotch. "I'm looking forward to joining the rest of the team and doing my part to help maximize the scientific return from NASA's first crewed mission to the surface of the Moon in almost 60 years. Lunar research has been a cornerstone of the university's Department of Geosciences since its founding during the Apollo era, and it is exciting to be able to continue that tradition."