The off-planet idea called bioARK is designed to create a self-sustaining lunar settlement using algae. The proposal received honorable mention from the Aurelia Institute Prize in Design for Space Urbanism. “Moving beyond the cradle will require an all-of-life effort: humans cannot leave Earth without life-sustaining microbial biomes,” according to the submission by Lynn Rothschild, a NASA Ames Research Center scientist, James Head III, a Brown University research professor, and Christopher Maurer, an architect at redhouse studio architecture.
Read Article
Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences
James Head
Professor (Research), Louis and Elizabeth Scherck Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Geological Sciences
Lincoln Field Building
Room 104
Room 104
Research Interests
Planetary Geoscience
Biography
Professor Head studies themes of planetary evolution and the role of volcanism and tectonism in the formation and evolution of planetary crusts. Several research projects are underway in the field in Antarctica, on the Earth's seafloor, and in assessing data from planetary surfaces to study climate change on Mars, volcanism on the Moon, Mars, and Venus, the geology of the surface of Mercury and the tectonic and volcanic evolution of icy satellites.
Recent News
The Boston Globe
From meteoroids to lava: Artemis mission’s unexpected findings
As NASA’s Artemis II was in the middle of its epic sling around the moon, DEEPS Professor James Head and John “Jack’’ Mustard spoke with the Boston Globe about the revolutionary science of the mission. From live meteoroid impact flashes to ancient far-side lava flows, scientists anticipate groundbreaking discoveries from Artemis’s unprecedented lunar observations.
Read Article
With the launch of Artemis II, Jim Head — who helped train astronauts, select landing sites and analyze samples during the Apollo Moon landings nearly 60 years ago — is excited about a new chapter in lunar exploration.
Read Article
Brown Daily Herald
Brown professor researches methods to support humans for 500 days on Mars
Professor Jim Head is heading the 500-Day Design Reference Mission, which researches practices that would be necessary for 500 days on the moon. The project also helps to train the next generation of planetary scientists. WaTae Mickey ’26, a research assistant in Head’s lab, is researching the site where Apollo 15 landed. Logan Ramanathan ’28, another research assistant in the lab, is researching lunar surface power and surface interactions with rocket exhaust.
Read Article
In an interview with The Boston Globe, Professor James Head discusses his experiences working with NASA to help land Apollo astronauts on the moon, compared with helping today's 18 astronauts selected for the Artemis mission. "The big thrill for me now is not so much doing it again, it’s that we get to share it with people who didn’t get the individual experience before," Head noted. "I think there’s hope that it’s going to be as inspirational as Apollo 8 was. ... I want my students who are now working at NASA headquarters to have the thrill of all this."
Read Article
NASA’s Artemis II mission will be taking astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch as well as the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen to the vicinity of the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. DEEPS Professor commented on the mission's parallels with the Apollo 8 mission, noting, "Here are these four brave astronauts making observations of the moon and looking back at the Earth after over 50 years. It’s going to be new. With all the confusion that’s going on on Earth today, it could even be a force for bringing people together..."
Read Article