Nathalie
A. Cabrol
Expertise: Planetary Geologist
Expedition Role: Project Principle
Investigator/Mars Paleolake Analogs
Affiliation: NASA
Ames/SETI
Institute
Who I am and What I Do
I am a planetary scientist, more specifically
a planetary geologist specialized in the
study of Mars. This involves studying images
returned by the missions orbiting and landing
on Mars. With Mars Global Surveyor and Mars
Odyssey currently in orbit, the upcoming
2003 Mars Exploration Rover mission (MER),
there is a lot of (very fascinating) work
to do!
My interest is in understanding the evolution
of water on Mars from the past to the present.
What I am trying to find out is if Mars
developed environments that could have been
(or still could be) habitable by living
organisms. However, where there is water,
there is not necessary life. So, this is
not because we see many traces of water
activity that life did necessarily appear
on Mars. On the other hand, where there
is life, there is always water (at least
on Earth) and the fact that we are observing
ancient channels and lakes, as well as sources
of energy like volcanoes, and potential
nutrients (minerals) is a step in the right
direction.
To characterize these environments, we
need to go to Mars. Currently, we are sending
robots as surrogate scientists. In the future,
humans will continue the exploration of
the Red planet themselves. I am personally
very interested in the robotic and human
exploration of Mars. This is why I have
been involved and led several rover field
experiments (Marsokhod 1996, 1997, 1999,
Nomad 1997, ASRO 1999), the latest being
the JPL FIDO rover field experiment. As
a science team member of the 2003 MER mission,
I need to train to be ready for surface
operations when the two rovers will land
on Mars. So, with the team, we had a field
experiment in August 2002. It was fascinating
and very exciting to think that in one year
and half from now we will do this for real!
As a geologist, I also believe in ground-truth.
This is why, although working on interpreting
images of Mars, I think it is really important
to spend lots of time in the field…on
Earth (for now!). Why? The Earth and Mars
are similar enough for our own planet to
provide excellent analogs to Martian terrain.
The difficulty is that the Earth not being
Mars, the analog is never perfect of course
but at least, we can study elements of analogies.
For instance, I am mostly interested in
Martian lakes and this is what is driving
me up high on the terrestrial mountains,
like at the Licancabur volcanic lake, the
highest lake on Earth (5916 m or 19523 ft)
at the boundary of Chile and Bolivia. At
this elevation, the UV radiation is much
stronger and the atmospheric pressure is
half of what it is at sea level, the oxygen
is low, the water is frozen part of the
year. Sediments are made of volcanic material
and it is possible that the water is heated
by a hot spring. Although Licancabur is
not Mars, it is getting closer to the conditions
experienced by ancient Martian lakes than
any other places on Earth. And you know
what? Life is thriving in there…We
want to understand why? How? Documenting
these questions will get us closer to understand
the potential habitability of ancient Martian
lakes, how to explore them, and, this is
not negligible, understand also what are
the limits of life on Earth.
How did you get where
you are?
I studied in France where I was born. I
received a Master degree (1986) and a Ph-D
degree (end of 1991) in planetary sciences
from the University of La Sorbonne in Paris.
Both were focused on the study of the evolution
of water on Mars. However, I shared my time
between the University and the Observatory
of Paris-Meudon. The reason was that planetary
sciences were not too developed at that
time in the French universities and I was
required to have two advisors: one geomorphologist,
Prof. Alain Godard, and one astronomer,
Prof. Audouin Dollfus. Following my Ph-D,
I was selected for a two year post-doc that
I spent at Meudon. I continued to study
water on Mars but this time I was seriously
starting to focus more on basins and lakes.
In particular, I devoted lots of attention
(with Edmond Grin, who was to become my
husband and was working with me) to a 170-km
impact crater that had been filled by a
1000-km fluvial valley: Gusev crater. I
had started to study it in 1986 but this
time I was more interested in its potential
as a future landing site. Gusev is today
one of the finalists for the 2003 mission.
In the meantime, I was applying for a position.
However, the Mars program was at that time
very limited in France --which is not the
case today-- and there was no position.
In 1994, the lab where I worked was closing
because my advisor retired. Few months before,
I had met Chris McKay at Meudon. Chris is
a NASA Ames Research Center planetary scientist
too and a member of the Licancabur expedition.
I had a new research grant, a potential
excellent landing site candidate but nowhere
to go and Chris was looking for…a
potential landing site to propose with one
of his projects. This is how, Edmond and
I landed on October 31 (Halloween night!)
1994 at the San Francisco International
Airport with a 9 month grant in our pocket.
Eight years later…Here we still are.
This was really a defining moment in our
lives. One year after I received a National
Research Council fellowship to work at NASA
Ames (1996-1998) and after completion, I
was hired as well as Edmond by the SETI
Institute as a NASA Ames Research Center
contractor. Working for NASA was a childhood
dream and it came back to me in a completely
unexpected way when I almost thought that
everything was over in 1994 when the lab
at Meudon closed. Lesson: never stop dreaming
and working hard for your dreams. You never
know…
Growing up
I was born in France, August 30, 1963.
My parents are Michèle and Jean (John).
They are my true inspiration. I guess I
have from them the will of never giving
up when things are not exactly the way you
would like to see them. They worked hard
all their life to give me a wonderful childhood
and allow me to go to school and college.
They always encouraged me. They are my best
friends and although now we are separated
by about 10,000 km, they are every day in
my heart and in my thoughts (we fax a lot…).
It must have been tough for them. I am their
only child and I stayed home a long time
since the university was close to our house.
The day I decided to live, that was to put
one ocean and one continent between us and
me. They were still smiling at the airport.
They just wanted me to realize my childhood
dream. We visit each other twice a year:
they come, we go…They come with Viger
(V-GER, you know…Star Trek). Viger
is their little Yorkshire. I played a lot
with him when he was a puppy and I was still
in France. I am missing him too. As a good
"geologist" he travels…in
a backpack!
I grew up near Paris, 25 km west in what
is called the "green belt" of
Paris, with parks and forests. I never went
very often to Paris until I started my college
years, though. My childhood was spent between
my parents, and grand-parents, holidays
with my cousin playing on the shores of
the Mediterranean seas and also going to
Italy where I have relatives on the side
of one of my grand-ma's. It seems that I
never wanted to do anything other than what
I am doing today. At five, I was spending
my summer nights watching the sky and the
stars in the fields. During the day, I was
playing with shiny pebbles in the lake where
we spent our vacations in Italy or with
the sand on the beach. One of my grand-ma's
told me years later: "when you were
walking, you were never looking in front
of you. You always looked at the stars or
at the rocks". Naturalist already…may
be with a hint of biology also if I believe
the number of "guests" I brought
back home (fishes, frogs, tadpoles, etc…).
But a naturalist with a method and already
some taste for testing and experiments,
like when I was about three years old and
tried to catch a crow by throwing salt on
its tail following my parent's advice…Although
I spent a long time hiding behind that tree
and the bird came quite close, it did not
work.. Later on, I was about 12, I started
to cultivate beans in my room (…my
parents were *really* patient) to study
genetics, I insisted. I was puzzled why
some of the flowers were pink and other
white. I maintained a log for quite some
time…and we ate the beans before they
become too hard! So, I guess I do not know
what made me study science. I was born with
this in me. The cosmos and the planets fascinated
me. I loved nature very early and, as an
only child spending many hours alone, I
probably developed lots of curiosity and
capacity of dream. My parents bought me
great books about astronomy, geology, plate
tectonics for birthdays and Christmas. They
were really supportive of my passion and
always positive and encouraging. They made
a difference. There were some defining moments
at school too. Some of my teachers fascinated
me by their passion for their discipline.
My geology professor in my preparation year
to the university is not foreign to what
and who I am today. Sometimes it just takes
a word to catch forever the attention of
children.
Personal
Although we have known each other for the
past 16 years, Edmond and I have been married
for the past two years only. But in those
16 years, we always have been together,
working side by side, sharing everything.
I feel privileged to be with him. He is
an incredible man, a wonderful human being.
He is part of the Licancabur project and
will tell you his own story as all team
members will. I strongly believe that he
is a tremendous inspiration for young students
and people in general. We met on the school
bench at the university. The only difference
between him and me is that I was starting
my studies when he was going back to school
after retiring from his first and very successful
career as an engineer hydrogeologist where
he was damming terrestrial rivers. I wanted
to make martian rivers flow again. That
got his attention! This is how he started
his new career in planetary geology. Both
of us share the same love for planet Earth…and
Mars. We travel a lot for our work, which
allow us to walk our world.
I practice lots of sports but swimming
and free diving were my favorites before
I met Edmond. He since introduced me to
mountaineering. He is a great mountaineer
and has many successful ascents under his
belt. Year after year, we hiked more and
more mountains together, every time a bit
higher. I fell in love with mountains for
many reasons, one of them is that mountains
never lie and one cannot lie to a mountain.
On their slopes, we are facing ourselves.
They give lessons of courage and from time
to time, lessons of modesty that we have
to accept. The Licancabur expedition will
allow us to combine these passions of science,
swimming, diving, and mountaineering. When
we are not at Ames or in the field, we both
love art, painting and sculpture. The both
of us read a lot, all sorts of literature.
Books are open windows on people thoughts
and minds, a way of understanding the diversity
of cultures and civilizations of planet
Earth. In a world of diversity, these keys
are very important. Whether it is for work
or not, we all meet people from various
countries and background. Understand how
they think, why they think this way, what
is their history is fundamental for building
up trust, collaborations and interactions.
It is the key of understanding and tolerance. |
