The Perseverance Rover landed in Jezero Crater on Mars this past February, and our mission is to search for signs of ancient microbial life and to select samples for eventual return to Earth. In this talk, Dr. Horgan will give an overview of what we know about the landing site in Jezero from orbital data, provide a glimpse into our first images from the surface and the science questions they raise, and show an example of the sample suite that we might expect to return.

Biography: Dr. Briony Horgan is Associate Professor of Planetary Science at Purdue University. Her research program uses data from NASA satellites and rovers, along with lab and field work back on Earth, to understand the surface processes that have shaped Mars and the Moon. She is a graduate of our own Oregon State University's Department of Physics (B.S. 2005)! She earned her Ph.D. at Cornell University and did post-doctoral work at Arizona State University. https://www.eaps.purdue.edu/people/profile/briony.html