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.
Driven to inspire future space enthusiasts, Brown University student Skye Rosario is designing and installing a new lunar science exhibit at the Museum of Natural History and Planetarium this summer.
Following the Artemis II mission, Hania Khan, a Brown Mechanical Engineering student and DEEPS Communications Assistant, sat down with Professor Jim Head to discuss the past, present, and future of the NASA lunar exploration programs, from Apollo to Artemis and beyond.
During the spring semester, prestigious national and international organizations recognized Brown University faculty for their leadership, service, research and scholarship.
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.
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.
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.
