Dr. Christopher P. McKay, Planetary Scientist
with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames.   Chris is a senior
scientist with the NASA Ames Research Center. His research focuses on
life in extreme environments and the search for life on other worlds
in our Solar System. He is also actively involved in planning for
future Mars missions including human exploration.  Chris been involved
in research in Mars-like environments on Earth, traveling to
ice-covered lakes in Antarctica, permafrost in the Siberian and
Canadian Arctic, many deserts including the Atacama, Namib, & Sahara
Deserts to study life in these extreme environments.  He was a
co-investigator on the Huygens probe to Saturn’s moon Titan in 2005,
the Mars Phoenix lander mission in 2008, and the Mars Science
Laboratory mission, in 2012, and the Dragonfly mission to Titan set to
arrive in 2034.