astronomy

Steve Squyres

Steve Squyres is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Steve Squyres rather than just read about it. In short: Steven Weldon Squyres (born January 9, 1956) is an American geologist and planetary scientist. He was the James A.

Key takeaways

Steve Squyres belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Steve Squyres to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Steve Squyres from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Steven Weldon Squyres (born January 9, 1956) is an American geologist and planetary scientist. He was the James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. His research area is in planetary sciences, with a focus on large solid bodies in the Solar System such as the terrestrial planets and the moons of the Jovian planets. Squyres was the principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER). Squyres is the recipient of the 2004 Carl Sagan Memorial Award and the 2009 Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Communication in Planetary Science. Squyres also received the 2010 Mines Medal for his achievements as a researcher and professor. He is the brother of Academy Award-nominated film editor Tim Squyres. On September 13, 2019, Squyres announced that he would retire from Cornell University on September 22, 2019 to take the position of Chief Scientist at Blue Origin, an aerospace manufacturer.

Early life Squyres was raised in the town of Wenonah in southwest New Jersey and attended Gateway Regional High School in Woodbury Heights, New Jersey.

Education Squyres received his B.A. in Geological Sciences from Cornell University in 1978 and his Ph.D. in planetary studies from Cornell University in 1981, where he worked closely with Carl Sagan. He is a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon (ΤΚΕ) fraternity.

Career Squyres then spent five years as a postdoctoral associate and research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center before returning to Cornell University as a faculty member. He received the Harold C. Urey Prize from the Planetary Division of the American Astronomical Society in 1987. In 2007, he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin medal in Earth and Environmental Science from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

NASA

Squyres has participated in many of NASA's planetary exploration missions. From 1978 to 1981 he was an associate of the Voyager mission to Jupiter and Saturn, participating in analysis of imaging data. He subsequently worked as a radar investigator on the Magellan mission to Venus, and with the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission. Along with his work as principal investigator on the MER (Mars Exploration Rovers), he is also a co-investigator on the 2003 Mars Express and 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions, a member of the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer Flight Investigation Team for the Mars Odyssey mission, and a member of the imaging team for the Cassini to Saturn. Squyres served as Chair of the NASA Space Science Advisory Committee and as a member of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC). In November 2011, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden named Squyres chairman of the NAC, succeeding Kenneth Ford, the founder and director of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. ABC News featured Squyres as its Person of the Week for January 9, 2004, and World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings said he "has gotten us all excited." Squyres was also given the 2005 Wired Rave Award for science by Wired for overseeing the creation of Spirit and Opportunity that had, at the time, lasted thirteen times longer than expected (1174 vs. 90 Martian days). Squyres has written a book called Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet (published August 2005; ISBN 1-4013-0149-5), and appeared on the June 7, 2006 episode of The Colbert Report to discuss it, Mars, and MER. The Disney IMAX documentary film Roving Mars was made from the book. Squyres was interviewed on 60 Minutes on Sunday, April 6, 2008. A portrait of Squyres by Susan Gamble and Michael Wenyon was on view in National Portrait Gallery's "Americans Now" exhibition, from August 20, 2010 through July 10, 2011. On September 19, 2011, NASA announced that Squyres would serve as an aquanaut aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory during the NEEMO 15 undersea exploration mission from October 17–30, 2011. Delayed by stormy weather and high seas, the mission began on October 20, 2011. On the afternoon of October 21, Squyres and his crewmates officially became aquanauts, having spent over 24 hours underwater. NEEMO 15 ended early on October 26 due to the approach of Hurricane Rina. Squyres commented in a post-NEEMO 15 interview, "I would love to continue to be part of NEEMO - in any capacity. I'd be happy to go back as a support diver. I think what they are doing is so cool and I was proud to be part of it." In June 2012, Squyres served as a crew member of the NEEMO 16 mission aboard Aquarius, which began on June 11, 2012 and lasted twelve days. Squyres also contributed to the DAN instrument on the Curiosity rover.

Mars Science Laboratory Squyres said in an interview that he would not be the principal investigator for the Mars Science Laboratory, launched in 2011, as he did not want to be away from his family again for a long period (as happened during the Mars Exploration Rover Mission).

References

External links Cornell Astronomy Dept. Appearances on C-SPAN Scientific American: Father of Spirit and Opportunity With the success of twin rovers on the Red Planet, Steven W. Squyres and his team are showing how to conduct robotic missions—and setting the stage for human exploration Mars Exploration Rovers Squyres bio at Zip Code Mars page Mars Exploration Rovers Mission Update blog Squyres receives Benjamin Franklin Medal for Mars Rover leadership; meanwhile, rovers keep proving their mettle, Cornell Chronicle (20 March 2007) Video of Steve Squyres discussing the Spirit and Opportunity missions Arizona State University presents Shoemaker Award to NASA's MER chief scientist Steve Squyres talks about space exploration with Stephen Colbert on June 7, 2006. Steven Squyres speaks at National Portrait Gallery about his role in launching uncrewed missions to Mars

Illustrations

Steve Squyres: Squyres performing underwater EVA during the NEEMO 15 mission, October 2011 — Squyres performing underwater EVA during the NEEMO 15 mission, October 2011

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Steve Squyres

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Steve Squyres claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Steve Squyres before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Steve Squyres ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Steve Squyres

In research: Steve Squyres appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Steve Squyres in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Steve Squyres is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1956 births, American astronomers, Aquanauts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Steve Squyres outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Steve Squyres in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Steve Squyres means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Steve Squyres out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Steve Squyres in simple terms?

Steven Weldon Squyres (born January 9, 1956) is an American geologist and planetary scientist. He was the James A.

Why does Steve Squyres matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Steve Squyres?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Steve Squyres.