Nathalie A. Cabrol, 2005 Women of Discovery Air & Space Award

"If one dreams hard enough, his or her dreams will come true." — Nathalie A. Cabrol

SETI Institute Principal Investigator at NASA Ames Research Center since 1998. Research on aqueous environments favorable to Life on Mars, their exploration (robotic and human) and the study of terrestial analogues. Adjunct faculty member of The Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Iowa

Born: 1963-01-01

Hometown: Mountain View, CA

Education: PhD in Planetary Geology

Achievements

Discoveries: A 10,000 year old arrowhead found in the Andes that was made by the ancestors of the Inca people.

Expeditions: In the Andes to some of the highest lakes in the world. The Licancabur volcano on the boundary of Chile and Bolivia to explore the highest lakes on earth.

Biography

Nathalie Cabrol is a planetary geologist who works with NASA's Ames Research Center, analyzing images and data from Mars to discover whether the Martian environment might support living organisms. She has led field experiments and helped determine landing sites for Mars Expeditions. In pursuit of understadig the Martian environment, Cabrol has lead Licancabur Expeditions to the highest lake on Earth (5916 m or 19523 ft --  bordering Chile and Bolivia) where conditions are analogous to Mars.  Low oxygen, intense ultraviolet radiation, and an atmospheric pressure only 50 percent that at sea level, the lake mimics climactic aspects of Mars.

Cabrol is also a principal investigator with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, which seeks evidence of extraterrestrial life forms.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Friends

Heroes: My husband, Edmond A. Grin