Ellen Stofan
Ellen Stofan
Ellen Renee Stofanis the Chief Scientist of NASA and serves as principal advisor to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on the agency’s science programs, planning and investments. Previously, she served as vice president of Proxemy Research in Laytonsville, Maryland, and as an honorary professor in the Earth sciences department at the University College London...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth24 February 1961
CountryUnited States of America
Ellen Stofan quotes about
countries good india inspirational investing program
You see countries like India really investing in their space program because they see it as inspirational and good for their economy.
change until
We're not going to get humans to Mars until at least the mid-2030s, and the world is going to change by then.
life scientists whether
To unambiguously settle the questions of whether there was life on Mars, it will take scientists down on the surface.
huge life whether
There's a huge question of whether you really need water for life.
I'm actually a NASA brat. My father was a rocket scientist. He started working at NASA before it was NASA in 1959.
'The Martian' may be fiction, but at NASA, we are working to make it a reality.
budget community nasa priorities scientific within
We actually look to the scientific community to kind of come back to NASA and tell us what the priorities should be. And then at NASA, we try to look within our budget and say, 'What can we accommodate, and what are the most important things for the nation?'
atmosphere coming slowing
If you think of the Apollo capsule coming into Earth with a parachute, the Mars atmosphere is just so thin, you've got to find some way of slowing yourself down really rapidly.
communication issue
Communication is an issue where we can improve, and if I can do anything to help, I am happy to.
astronauts explore missions move outward reduced require sure survive thrive
Mars missions will require up to three years in reduced gravity, so we need to make sure astronauts can not only survive but thrive as they move outward to explore this new world.
behave due fact hot knew prior sitting solid surface
Prior to Magellan, due to the fact that we knew it was so hot on Venus, we thought that the rocks at the surface would behave more plastically, more like Silly Putty than like solid rock in the way that we think of it, like the rocks that I'm sitting on.
disease general gets humans might planet understand
I always like to say just think you were a doctor with only one patient. You might understand how that person gets sick, how they get better, but you understand nothing about the progression of disease or how humans in general get ill. Now take an Earth scientist: you only have one planet to study.
formed venus
When you look at Venus and the Earth, they formed at about the same place in the solar system. They're made of about the same materials; they're about the same size.
envelope life push seas
Water-based life is very much an Earth-centric view, and we can push the envelope on that here in our own solar system. We have the methane seas of Titan.