ASU's Mars man wins big award on Earth

The Geological Society of America has chosen Philip R. Christensen, director of ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility on the Tempe campus, to receive its G.K. Gilbert Award. He will be formally presented with the award at the Society's annual meeting in October 2008.

The Gilbert Award, bestowed annually by the Society's Planetary Sciences Division, is for "outstanding contributions to the solution of fundamental problems in planetary geology in the broadest sense." It commemorates geologist Grove Karl Gilbert (1843-1918), one of the earliest scientists to study the geology of the American West.

Christensen is Edgar and Helen Korrick Professor of Geological Sciences in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He is the designer and principal investigator for three innovative instruments on Mars-orbiting spacecraft. These instruments have made major discoveries regarding Mars. They include the mineral hematite (which told NASA where to send one of its Mars Exploration Rovers), the cause of mysterious dark markings that come and go on the south polar cap, and silica minerals in Gusev Crater (which suggest the existence of an ancient hot spring).

"I'm thrilled to be chosen for this award," says Christensen. "It points up the continuing value of the Mars Exploration Program in the broader field of planetary science."

Robert Burnham (April 2008)