Baylor profs helping NASA prepare for major future missions
When thinking about space exploration in the years ahead, it doesn’t get much bigger than a groundbreaking new telescope or a future mission to the moon. NASA is preparing for both — and calling on Baylor professors to help.
Dr. Benjamin Rose (a Baylor physics and astronomy professor since 2023) has spent several years helping NASA prepare for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (pictured above), a successor to the famous Hubble telescope and NASA’s next flagship mission. The Roman telescope will be able to scan the sky 1,000 times faster than Hubble, providing scientists with vast amounts of data.
Rose (pictured right) was recently a project leader on a team that released a powerful simulation previewing the telescope’s discoveries. Rose’s team prepares the data pipeline to standardize the way researchers receive data — data that the simulation shows could include tens of thousands of transient space objects, such as supernovae.
Dr. Peter James, a Baylor geosciences professor since 2017, was selected to serve on NASA’s prestigious Science Definition Team, a group charged with shaping the goals and design of a future lunar mission. While still in conceptual development, preliminary plans involve the design of a long-range rover capable of traveling hundreds of miles on the moon’s surface.
James has a long history of significant space-related research in his relatively young career. In 2019, James discovered a mysterious mass beneath an enormous crater on the far side of the moon. Last year, he earned a NASA Early Career Award to study volcanoes and craters on rocky planetary surfaces.
As NASA seeks new frontiers in space research, it’s exciting to see the impact of Baylor faculty and students in helping them get there.
Sic ’em, Drs. James and Rose!