Space Science Week Lecture: The Search for Life in Oceans Beyond Earth
The icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn are home to vast oceans, making them some of the most promising candidates for finding potentially habitable places for life in our Solar System. Join Kevin Hand in the annual Space Science Week Public Lecture to explore these ocean worlds, and learn how Earth’s oceans may hold the key to finding life on other worlds.
Kevin Hand is deputy chief scientist for solar system exploration at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. In this role Hand helps guide JPL’s future for the robotic exploration of our solar system — including the planned exploration of Jupiter’s moon Europa. He helps design and determine the missions that will best address the key science questions pertaining to the origin and evolution of our solar system as outlined in the National Academies decadal survey for planetary science. He was a scientist onboard James Cameron’s 2012 dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and he was part of a 2003 IMAX expedition to hydrothermal vents in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He has made nine dives to the bottom of the ocean.
This talk is open to the public and will be accessible to all ages. Learn more and register to attend at
Date and Time: Wednesday, 29 March 2017, at 7:00 pm
Location: National Academy of Sciences Building, 2101 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC
This talk is part of Space Science Week 2017, a three-day gathering of the discipline and standing committees of the National Academies' Space Studies Board and Board on Physics and Astronomy to discuss issues and advances in their relevant fields.