Everybody has busy lives, but you can tell people, 'Go outside and look at the night sky. We've been able to demonstrate that every star you see probably has a planet around it.' Ellen Stofan busydemonstratehave Change image and share on social
We have to ask, 'How can we break a huge challenge like sending humans to Mars into a series of doable, affordable steps? How can we break that problem down into chunks in order to keep making progress?' Ellen Stofan affordablebreakchallenge share on social
As we visit Mars multiple times, we will build up infrastructure on the surface to expand the capabilities and reach of humans on Mars. Ellen Stofan buildcapabilityexpand Change image and share on social
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. Ellen Stofan behaveduefact share on social
Mars was this water-based planet, and we know there was stable water on the surface for a long time, which is critical for life having a chance to develop. Ellen Stofan basechancecritical Change image and share on social
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. Ellen Stofan apolloatmospherecapsule 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
We're going to understand that there is life on other bodies in the solar system. Ellen Stofan bodylifesolar Change image and share on social
Instead of being able to look at smaller interesting research projects, I am trying to see the links between all the research NASA does. For me, that's extremely fun because I get to go play and learn about areas of science that I know nothing about. Ellen Stofan areaextremelyfun share on social
One of the big things about space exploration is that it is as expensive as it is complicated, and you need all the countries of the world to help if you want to accomplish big goals. Ellen Stofan accomplishbigcomplicate Change image and share on social
