Space Science Institute, Littleton CO
Member of the SETI Institute Science Advisory Board
Ben Clark’s work in space exploration began five decades ago, including development of the instrument on the Viking landers that first analyzed the composition of martian soil. In the late 1980’s, he led a team which generated designs for human missions to Mars, as a prelude to NASA’s “90-day study.” He has also participated in three task groups by the National Academy of Science’s NRC board.
He led a group of engineers who developed advanced concepts for NASA’s Discovery, Scout and New Frontiers programs, leading to the Stardust, Genesis, GRAIL, Phoenix, JUNO, and OSIRIS-REx missions. He has been a science co-investigator on the Giotto, Stardust, Genesis, Cassini/Huygens, and Phoenix missions, as well as being a member of the science teams for the Mars Exploration Rover project (Spirit and Opportunity rovers) and currently, the on-going Curiosity and Perseverance rover missions. He has over 250 publications and reports on topics in space science and engineering, and is co-author, with Prof. V. Kolb, of two books on astrobiology.