Christopher McKay

Expertise: Space Science
Expedition: Physics of Environment
Affiliation: NASA Ames

Who I Am and What I Do?

Dr. Christopher P. McKay, Planetary Scientist with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames.

Chris received his Ph.D. in AstroGeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982 and has been a research scientist with the NASA Ames Research Center since that time. His current research focuses on the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life. He is also actively involved in planning for future Mars missions including human settlements. Chris has been involved with polar research since 1980, traveling to the Antarctic dry valleys and more recently to the Siberian and Canadian Arctic to conduct research in these Mars-like environments.

How did you get to where you are?

When I was in school I studied physics and from physics I gravitated toward astrophysics. Thus in 1976 I was a first year graduate student in the department of Astrogeophysics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. That same year Viking landed on Mars. The results were most mysterious to me. Here was a planet with all the elements needed to support life (CO2, H2O,N2) present in its atmosphere, with evidence of liquid water in the past and yet there was no sign of life. It seems like Mars had "the lights on but nobody home". I slowly became more and more interested in life and how it originates, survives and changes a planet. In 1980 I applied to be a NASA graduate student Planetary Biology Summer Intern. I was accepted and sent to NASA Ames working with Jim Pollack. While at Ames I met Imre Friedmann of Florida State University and became involved in the work in microbiological work in the dry valleys of Antarctica. I became more and more interested in life and planets and continue to this day to conduct research in this area with a special focus on Mars and with many trips to the Antarctic.