Brown’s impact on planetary exploration is hard to overstate, returning graduates said. From Head’s involvement in mission control for the Apollo Moon landings, to the Perseverance rover exploring a Brown-discovered ancient lake on Mars, to analysis of samples returned from an asteroid, Brown faculty and alumni have led multiple exploration missions and made key discoveries throughout the solar system. Researchers have contributed to discoveries of water on the Moon, detected organic materials in the asteroid belt, characterized ice on Mercury and much more. New discoveries await with upcoming missions to Venus, a new lunar science virtual institute and research on icy satellites throughout the solar system.

“I was overjoyed by the response to the ‘Brown in Orbit’ symposium,” said Jack Mustard, a planetary science professor who played a key role in shaping the Perseverance rover mission. “There was an incredible connection among the participants that tied everyone together. And the stories of motivation and inspiration that led to great directions in planetary science were amazing to hear.

During the event, several planetary science alumni who have gone on to accomplished careers in the field shared thoughts on Brown’s legacy in solar system exploration and its impact on their professional lives.

David Grinspoon, Class of 1982
Senior Scientist for Astrobiology Strategy at NASA

“At the time I was at Brown as an undergraduate in the late ’70s and early ’80s, there were a lot of firsts happening in planetary science — the first lander on Mars in 1976 and then Pioneer Venus, the first U.S. orbiter and entry probe in 1979. So there was all this new data, and a lot of the scientists who were huge players in those missions… were here at Brown teaching students like me and getting us excited about planetary science. There was just this nexus of interest spreading outward. Now it's hard to go to a professional meeting without running into peers who have some connection to Brown.

“I did an independent concentration, and I called it planetary science. It was a lot of planetary geology, but I also threw in some astronomy, organic chemistry and other things. Jim Head was my advisor for that. I'm not sure, but I think I may be the first person in the U.S. to have an actual undergraduate degree in planetary science.”

Ellen Stofan, Class of 1989
Under Secretary for Science and Research, Smithsonian Institution
NASA Chief Scientist, 2013-2016

“You just can’t overestimate the effect that Brown has had [on planetary exploration], and that's what the symposium is all about — all these missions, all these fundamental discoveries made by people either from Brown or trained by people from Brown. I go way back. I knew Tim Mutch. I was Jim Head’s student. So for me personally, this place introduced me to the excitement of planetary science and exploration. I mean, we get to be armchair explorers of the solar system. The ethos we learned here of comparative planetology — thinking about how we can understand our planet and any planet. There's no place like it.”

David Crown, Class of 1985
Senior Scientist, Planetary Science Institute 

“It’s incredible to just be part of the network from Brown. As a student, I got a great foundation in planetary science. The coursework was fantastic, but I was able to do research as an undergrad and be part of the research community. I could see the work that graduate students and postdocs did. Being welcomed into that environment had a huge impact on me. 

“You don't go very far in this field without running into somebody else who’s been at Brown for part of their training, as this event makes abundantly clear.”

Sue Smrekar, Class of 1984
Principal Investigator, VERITAS mission
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

“Brown is everywhere in planetary science. It's undergrads. It’s professors and the people they’ve mentored and the ideas they’ve come up with. And it’s not just geology. It's people across the spectrum working across the solar system. They're everywhere, and that’s because they value the intellectual integration across all those disciplines and all those bodies. Now I’m at JPL and principal investigator of the VERITAS mission [to Venus]. There are so many people at Brown who I’ve learned from throughout my career and so many Brown graduates on this mission. It’s really a lot of fun.”

James Garvin, Class of 1978 (undergraduate) and 1984 (Ph.D.)
Chief Scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA Chief Scientist, 2004-2005

“I’ve been very lucky to do a lot of things [in this field], and none of it would have happened without the connections I made here. It's the passionate, engaged exploration model. It's not just the static scientist in front of the computer doing stuff. It's about truly engaging students and getting them involved in the field. When I was an undergraduate, I wanted to intern on the Viking mission, but I was a computer science major and didn’t know much geology [at the time]. But they needed programmers, so boom — I’m working on the Viking mission. 

“For a lot of us, this is where we caught the passion and had doors opened. We didn’t all have to be pure physicists or geologists. The ability to connect in ways that weren’t within the typical boundaries allowed us to force-multiply and to do more. 

“The other thing [Brown gave us] is courage — or as Tim Mutch would have called it, resolve. So I had the courage to say, ‘Let’s fly a laser instrument to map Mars.’ People said it was not going to work, but it did work. It’s part of this Brown ethos that just makes things happen."