Pluto New Horizons Scientists

Dr. David Grinspoon, Planetary Science Institute, Science Communications “The tantalizing puzzles being revealed by New Horizons will not only expand our knowledge of our own solar system, but challenge us to continue exploring beyond.”

Dr. Jeff Moore, NASA Ames, Mission Co-I, GGI Team Leader
 “Science is important for our understanding of how the universe works, and what it means for our stewardship of our small part of it. The Earth doesn’t care what we do. We need to take care of the planet or it will take care of us.”

Dr. William B. McKinnon, Washington University, Mission Co-I, GGI Deputy Team Lead, Pluto Underground “I do science because I want to know. I wanted to know what the planets are really like, and one by one, I found out.”

Dr. Alan Howard, University of Virginia, Scientific Collaborator “There’s always something going on no matter where you are exploring; something that is changing the nature or face of the bodies we study.”

Dr. Orkan Umarhan, NASA Ames, Post-Doc, GGI
 “Science is important because it gives us insight into our inside, insight to the outside, and shows us that we are actually all one.”

Glen Fountain, APL, PROJECT MANAGER "The New Horizons achievement shows what humans can accomplish when they work as a team."

Michael Buckley, APL Press Coordinator,

Simon Porter, SWRI 
“Scientific exploration reminds us that there are things just around the corner that we cannot yet explain.”

Dr. Richard Binzel, MIT, Mission Co-I, Composition Team “Dream big, explore far.”

Dr. Henry Throop, Planetary Science Institute, Scientific Collaborator
 “We’ve always loved Pluto because it’s mysterious. Now we love it because it’s AWESOME.”

Dr. Paul Schenk, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Mission Co-I, GGI Team “When the latest global image of Pluto came up on my screen in full color, I felt as if somehow I had seen it before; perhaps in a dream; a new level of exploration.”

Dr. Ross Byer, SETI/NASA Ames, Scientific Collaborator, GGI 
“Planetary science is a way for us to explore the worlds that we can’t get to, but our robots can.”

Dr. Steve Maran, SWRI, American Astronomical Society, mission consultant, PR embed
 “Science is important because it helps to make the world a better place by informing us of what we are doing to make it a worse place.

Dr. Kelsi Singer, Post-Doc SWRI, GGI
 “Aside from the fabulous pictures, it’s wonderful to explore other worlds to have planet-scale examples of features that we also have on Earth, which helps us figure out how these geologic processes occur.

Dr. Amanda Zangari, Post-Doc SWRI, GGI 
“Pluto is magnificent, and the rest of solar system is incredibly diverse. Everything is worth investigating.”

Dr. Kimberly Ennico Smith, NASA Ames, Mission Co-I, Deputy Project Scientist
 “New Horizons brings views of a first world to the whole world, here on Earth, shared by all… exploration at its finest.”

Dr. Ivan Linscott, Stanford, Mission Co-I, Co-PI of Radio Science Experiment (REX) 
“Some of us are born with a desire to explore; it’s hard to take that out of our souls. Having a chance to get under the hood of an enigma like the Pluto system is irresistible. You’d have to be crazy not to want to look.”

Dr. Leslie Young, SWRI, Mission Co-I, Deputy Project Scientist & Pluto Encounter Lead 
“Pluto promised us something wonderful, and it hasn't broken it’s promise. After this week, 'Planet or not?' is the least interesting question we could ask.”

Dr. Mark Buie, SWRI, Mission Co-I, GGI, Hazards, Pluto Underground
 “Pluto has always been my favorite planet. And now I have a lot of company.”

Dr. Mike Bird, University of Bonn, REX scientific collaborator
 “This was the most interesting, exciting, and best-run mission I’ve ever been on.”

James Roberts, APL “My son turned 7 on July 14th; what could be a better birthday present than a Pluto flyby?”

Matthew Hill, APL, Co-I, Particles & Plasma “I’m in the knowledge generation business, and this week was one of the most exciting ever.”

Dr. Tom Krimigis, Emeritus Head, Space Dept., APL, PEPSSI Instrument Team
 “When I was a boy growing up on a small Greek island and looking up at the night sky, I never dreamed that I would be on a space mission to a single planet, much less nine. This is the stuff that dreams are made of.”

Peter Kollman, APL, Particles & Plasma “New Horizons has gone where no human has ever gone before.”

Dr. Ralph McNutt, APL, Mission Co-I, PI, PEPSSI instrument, Pluto Underground.
 “Science is about drawing back the veil of ignorance, which is what we all have to do as we look toward the future and keep the human race on target to bigger and better things. And may I add, this mission would never have happened without Alan Stern and his incredible focus.”

Josh Kammer, SWRI, post-doc, Atmospheres “I’m one of the youngest scientists on this mission, and I feel incredibly lucky to be here. I’m inspired by the success of this mission to keep pushing outward in the solar system to worlds both familiar and unfamiliar.”

Will Woods, Stanford

Dr. Alex Parker, SWRI, Post-Doc, Hazards
 “This is my first encounter with a new world. There was no way I could have anticipated the overwhelming feeling of being in the control room, and seeing the data come in. It was very emotional. And I kept reminding myself, “This is real.”

Jamey Szalay, LASP, University of Colorado, student dust counter “We’ve been taking data from Earth to Pluto, and we can’t wait to explore the unknown.”

Dr. Cathy Olkin, SWRI, Mission Co-I, Deputy Project Scientist “Being a part of this team is an honor. I began working on New Horizons more than a decade ago during development of the spacecraft and instruments.”

Marcus Piquette, LASP, University of Colorado

Dr. Mihaly Horanyi, LASP, Mission Co-I University of Colorado “Science makes the Earth a better place, especially if we are all engaged in it.”

Dr. Hal Weaver, APL, Mission Co-I, Project Scientist “The binary system of Pluto and Charon has been revealed to be complex and diverse, and we are seeing completely unexpected results. This is FUN.”

Dr. Will Grundy, Lowell Observatory, Mission Co-I, Surface Composition Team Lead 
 “The thing I like best about science is having different people that know different pieces of the puzzle, and coming together to figure out problems in group. The Pluto system is complex enough that it’s forcing us to do this anyway; no one of us could answer these questions alone.”

Dr. Alice Bowman, Mission Operations Manager 
“I love science. I have a unique position as a bridge between the science and engineering teams, and these pictures are beautiful. If I have a small part to play in this, I’m grateful.”

Dr. John Spencer, SWRI, Mission Co-I, Deputy Pluto Encounter Planning, GGI Deputy, Hazards
 “This has been an amazing week. It’s gone beyond science; we feel as if we are bringing the whole of humanity along with us."

Dr. Francis Nimmo, UC Santa Cruz (UCSC), Scientific Collaborator
 “Science is important - humans are explorers, and this mission is crossing off a big unknown on the map.”

Casey Michael Lewis, APL 
“Pluto is an excellent example of what formed the very edge of our solar system; I’m thrilled we’ve gone by it.”

Dr. Brian May, Scientific Collaborator
 “Pure art and pure science are the pinnacles of human endeavor. You can add love to that if you like. So much of what we do is for money, power, or advancement, but pure work is important because it stands apart from the things that we do for survival and extends the range of human consciousness.”

Dr. Yanping Guo, APL, Mission Ops, Lead Trajectory Designer 
“The trajectory to Pluto, being so far from the Earth, was difficult. I’ve always been interested in combining the practicality of engineering with the wonder of science and it was a privilege to be on this mission.”

Dr. Alan Stern, SWRI, Mission Principal Investigator, PI, Alice and Ralph instruments, Pluto Underground
 “Science never sleeps.”

Amy Shira Teitel, Media Embed
 “The most exciting thing about this mission for me is that it’s not the end of the discovery of the classical solar system, it’s the beginning of the exploration of the next frontier.”

Mark Kochte, APL, Mission Operations Analyst 
“I’ve always been interested in astronomy and space exploration. Having traveled across the solar system from Mercury to Pluto has been a truly amazing experience.”