The College invites you to hear Joseph C. Parrish speak on “The Past, Present, and Future of Mars Exploration.”

Humankind has long been fascinated by the Red Planet.  Ever since telescopes were first trained on Mars, we have wondered how Mars formed and evolved, if Mars could ever have been inhabited, and whether it could ever be possible for humans to visit.  NASA and other members of the international space community have been exploring Mars with flyby missions, orbiters, landers, rovers, and helicopters.  These missions have returned incredible science, driven the development of miraculous new technologies, and have inspired billions here on Earth to imagine the presence of life elsewhere in the universe—along with the possibility of humans living away from our home planet. This remarkable adventure of Mars exploration is just beginning, and NASA and other enterprises—national and private — have ambitious plans to unlock the remaining secrets of Mars.

Open to students, faculty, staff, and the public. No registration is required.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Joseph Parrish currently serves as the Program Manager of the Mars Exploration Program at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. Prior to this assignment, Mr. Parrish served as the Program Manager for the Robotic Servicing for Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Mr. Parrish also served as the Deputy Manager of the Mars Program Formulation Office at JPL, as the NASA Deputy Chief Technologist in the Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, as the Vice President of Research & Development at Aurora Flight Sciences Corp. in Cambridge, MA, and as the President of
Payload Systems Inc. in Cambridge, MA.

Mr. Parrish holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.