Curator's Comments
by Jim Gooding
Changing Times: New Name Honors a Venerable Flame
With this issue of Lunar News, you will notice that our organization has changed from "Office of the Curator" to "Planetary Missions and Materials Branch" to reflect our recently expanded mission. In June 1994, our office was merged with the former Planetary Projects Office to create a new organization that not only looks after Moon rocks, and other extraterrestrial samples, but actively plans and supports further exploration of the Moon and Mars, including sample returns. I am pleased to continue as Lunar Sample Curator and also to serve as Chief of the new Planetary Missions and Materials Branch. Our new charter is as follows:
The purpose of the Planetary Missions and Materials Branch is to support the planning and technological development of future human and robotic exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit and to provide for the collection, preservation, and study of extraterrestrial materials or materials returned from space.
Our Planetary Materials Team is well known to many of you. But for those of you who do not already know them, we proudly announce the newly received members of the Planetary Missions Team:
Nancy Ann Budden (payload science)
John Connolly (mission design)
Patricia Cox (secretary)
Bret Drake (mission design)
Kent Joosten (mission design)
David Kaplan (mission design)
Wendell Mendell (mission science)
Eileen Stansbery (mission science)
Chuck Meyer, a long-time lunar sample researcher and former associate sample curator, is now also helping to look after the interests of planetary geoscience on future lunar exploration missions. And please be aware that you can read about our work toward future exploration missions in Beyond LEO, the team's periodic newsletter. Whereas Lunar News focuses on the Moon, lunar samples and lunar geoscience, Beyond LEO addresses both the Moon and Mars and emphasizes mission designs. To find out more about Beyond LEO, contact John Connolly by one of the following pathways:
For many of us, our new name honors an old flame: Exploring the planets and harvesting scientific knowledge from their geologic samples in ways that the Apollo missions taught us.