MDRS Crew 83
November 14, 2009 - November 27, 2009
Daily Crew Reports

Name	Speciality
Carol Stoker	Commander
Lisa Messeri	Crew Journalist
Jhony Zavaleta	Executive Officer / Lead Engineer
Susana Direito	Crew Biologist
Joshua Nelson	Crew Astronomer, Habitat Engineer
Kevin Martin	Expedition Management Trainee

Carol Stoker	Carol Stoker is a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center. She recieved her B.S. in Physics from University of Utah and Ph.D in AstroGeophysics from the University of Colorado. Carol.s research focuses on developing robotic systems for space exploration and testing them in terrestrial analogs. She has led field experiments in the Antarctic, arctic, undersea, and deserts in the southwestern US to demonstrate robotic systems to search for life on other planets. Her projects have won six NASA group achievement awards and she has over 100 publications. She is actively involved in the robotic exploration of Mars and in planning for future human exploration. She is currently a coinvestigator on the Mars Phoenix mission recently performed sampling near the north pole of Mars to search for habitable environments for life. She also currently leads activities to develop and test drilling systems to access the Martian subsurface to search for evidence of life.
Lisa Messeri	Lisa Messeri is a graduate student at MIT studying the anthropology of science. Her dissertation research uses ideas from geography and anthropology to think about how people engage with something they haven't physically experienced: being in outer space. She is spending her time at the Hab as part of her exploration into such "space places on earth." How does tramping through the red sands of the Utah desert while testing equipment intended for Mars create a richer imaginative experience for scientists and engineers?
Jhony Zavaleta	Jhony Zavaleta is a mechanical and space systems engineer working at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. He works in the Astrobiology Division in areas involving subsurface exploration technologies, space educational outreach, and planetary missions planning and design. He.s an avid Mars and space enthusiast fascinated with field research work on Mars analog sites in work related to life detection technologies and subsurface access.
Susana Direito	Susana Direito is an astrobiologist currently doing her PhD in "Molecular detection of life on Mars" at the department of Molecular Cell Physiology, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She got her graduation in Applied Chemistry (branch Biotechnology) at Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. After graduating, she worked on the MAGIC project (Mars Atmospherical Geophysical and ExobIological Characterisation) at the same university. MAGIC was a portuguese scientific project within the scope of ESA.s Mars Express Mission having the Recognised Cooperating Laboratory status for the Mars Express mission. Subjects relating to the origin of life, chemical evolution, and the possible existence of life beyond Earth have always fascinated her.
Joshua Nelson	Joshua Nelson is a graduate student studying multidisiplinary topics in Space Science. He holds his bachelors in aerospace engineering from the University of Arizona, along with minors in astronomy, physics, and planetary science. This summer he participated in the International Space University Space Studies Program. Most recently he has worked on the Mars Underground Mole project at the NASA Ames Research Center. Prior to his work at Ames he worked on high altitude balloon payloads, lunar landers, and other space related projects. Joshua is presently the Chairman of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), the largest student run pro space organization in the world. Outside of space, Josh is an avid hiker and a HAM radio operator.
Kevin Martin	Kevin Martin is from the NASA Ames Research Center and is studying Expedition Project Management as part of the NASA APEX Foundations program. He is also helping with general Hab maintinance and science deployment logistics and coordination. Kevin has a Masters degree in Space Science from the University of North Dakota and has been with NASA Ames for 12 years.

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