NASA's Artemis Project - an Online Talk with Dr. Alexa J. Halford

Learn about NASA's Artemis project from expert Dr. Alexa J. Halford, deputy director of the Ionosphere, Thermosphere, Mesosphere lab at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, in this virtual talk. 

With the enterprise of returning humans to the Moon and in preparation for the first crewed missions to Mars, we are inspired to innovate new solutions for the challenges space will hold for us. We endeavor to take advantage of the possibilities this work will provide to gain a deeper understanding of our place in the universe. Much of this work has started. With Artemis1 due to launch soon. As the Artemis program progresses, humans will begin to return to the Moon on at least a yearly cadence. With this regular flow of astronauts at the Moon, this opens up the possibilities for the Moon to be the new Antarctica – where instruments can be deployed in larger arrays, serviced and maintained, or updated with new, improved instruments. The data collected on these missions will provide insights into some of our fundamental science questions and enable improved actionable information and space weather tool development to keep humans safe in this hostile environment. By prototyping new capabilities at the Moon, we will be ready for Mars. While we are unlikely to see Atlantis rising out of the Columbia River, we can only imagine what fantastic discovery might be waiting for us as we venture back to the Moon and on to Mars.

Following graduation from Augsburg College in Minneapolis MN Alexa Halford went on to receive a Masters in Astronomy and Planetary Sciences from University of Colorado at Boulder and a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Newcastle Australia. Shortly after completing her Ph.D. work, Halford won a highly competitive “Visiting Young Scientist” fellowship from Dartmouth College. She then moved to the Aerospace Corporation and is now the deputy director of the Ionosphere, Thermosphere, Mesosphere lab at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. At Goddard she works as the Heliophysics and Space Weather Goddard strategic lead for Artemis, and on several other committees/working groups associated with space weather.  

Learn more about the Artemis Project at https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i/

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