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Paul Spudis | |
|---|---|
| Born | Paul Dee Spudis 1952 (1952)[1][2] Bowling Green, Kentucky, US[3] |
| Died | (aged 66) Houston, Texas, US.[2] |
| Occupation | Geologist |
Paul D. Spudis (1952–2018) was an American geologist andlunar scientist. His specialty was the study ofvolcanism and impact processes on the planets, includingMercury andMars.
Spudis was well known as a leading advocate of a return to the Moon to use its resources to establish and supply a cislunar space transportation system.[4]
In 1976 he earned aB.S. in geology at theArizona State University. Following his graduation he spent several months working with Dr. Ronald Greeley atAmes Research Center studying various aspects of Lunar and Martian geology, before transitioning to an internship at theJet Propulsion Laboratory, during theMars landing of that year. The following year he went toBrown University to study planetary geology, with a focus on theMoon. A year later he earned his master's degree and moved back toArizona where he started working for Dr. Greeley who had just joined the faculty at Arizona State University. In 1982 he earned a PhD in geology at the university.
After graduation, he went to work for theU.S. Geological Survey. In the following years he spent in lunar studies and promoting the idea of lunar exploration. He became a principal investigator at theNASA Office of Space Science, Solar System Exploration Division, planetary geology program. He later joinedLunar and Planetary Institute inHouston as a staff scientist.
Eventually Spudis joined theJohns Hopkins UniversityApplied Physics Laboratory, and became senior staff scientist. He returned to the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston in 2008 and was a senior staff scientist there.
He served as a member of a 1991White House committee, the Synthesis Group, in Washington D.C. In 1994 he was the deputy leader of theClementine mission science team. He also served on numerous science advisory committees. At Johns Hopkins'Applied Physics Laboratory he developed an imaging radar system for the Indian mission to the Moon,Chandrayaan-1. He was a member of the 2004 Presidential Commission on the Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy. He was a team member of theMini-RF experiment on NASA'sLunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission.
Spudis was born in Kentucky to Mattie Wren.[3][2]
He was married to Anne M. Seaborne until his death.[2]
Spudis died on 29 August 2018 of complications from lung cancer.[5][6]
In 2016 theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers awarded him theColumbia Medal.[7][8]
Theinner main-beltasteroid7560 Spudis is named in honor of Paul Spudis.[9]
Spudis, a crater on the Moon, is named after him. This crater is next to the famous Shackleton crater on the south polar region of the Moon, which has been an area of particular interest for future lunar landing missions.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)American Society of Civil Engineers 2016 Columbia Medal acceptance speech and technical talk by Paul D. Spudis, Lunar and Planetary Institute
Complete bibliography at"Bibliography".spudislunarresources.com. Spudis' personal website.
