UF Geologist To Help Plan Potential NASA Mission

In early February, NASA began one of the first steps in planning for a potential new mission to the moon’s largest and oldest impact basin. The South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return and eXploration (SPARX) Science Definition Team (SDT) defining the science goals and requirements for this ambitious endeavor is composed of some of the brightest minds working in planetary science today, and among that group is University of Florida Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences Stephen Elardo.

Elardo specializes in planetary geology with a particular interest in how rocky planets and other celestial bodies form, especially Earth’s moon. A big part of his current research involves analyzing rock samples taken from NASA’s Apollo missions and from meteorites, and one of his key roles on the SDT will be determining what samples should be collected.

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