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. Ellen Stofan astronautexploregravity Change image and share on social
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. Ellen Stofan basecentricearth Change image and share on social
Being able to have a laboratory on Mars, being able to have some sort of sustained human presence on Mars in the future, I think, is critically important for science. Ellen Stofan criticallyfuturehuman Change image and share on social
I'm so biased to this issue of the origins of life and the limits of life. Ellen Stofan biasissuelife Change image and share on social
What we expect to find, certainly in our own solar system, are probably simple single or multiple-cell forms of life. To get to intelligent life takes stability of conditions over huge, long periods of time. Ellen Stofan cellconditionexpect share on social
I'm actually a NASA brat. My father was a rocket scientist. He started working at NASA before it was NASA in 1959. Ellen Stofan bratfathernasa Change image and share on social
A lot of my role is advocacy, and as a scientist, you're an advocate, too, because you are coming up with a theory and having to convince your fellow scientists that you're right. Ellen Stofan advocacyadvocatecome Change image and share on social
It's part of the human character to want to know what's over the next hill, to want to know what's beyond. Ellen Stofan characterhillhuman Change image and share on social
Humans can actually read a landscape, go through a lot of rocks - crack them open, throw them, pick up the next one. Rovers are great - they do amazing science - but it is a lot more tedious process; they go much less far than a human can cover in a day. Ellen Stofan amazecovercrack share on social
If I had an unlimited budget, I would really be probing that question of life because we know what the questions are, and we know what the destinations are. Ellen Stofan budgetdestinationlife Change image and share on social