PUBLIC LECTURE: NASA- eMed FREE Public Lecture : Colonizing Moon and Mars: Health diagnostics, living and working, dangers of space travel, benefits to common man.

From time immemorial, humans have traveled far and wide to explore the blue planet we call Earth. Several thousand years ago the ancient Greeks, mystified by the beautiful vastness of night sky, eloquently charted different constellations, formulated various myths, folklores, and stories of Gods. Since then, we had one dream; to leave our planet and venture out into deep space to explore and populate the solar system. It was not until the 1960’s that humans were in awe after seeing the first pictures of our planet floating from outer space. Artists, scientists, writers, poets, engineers, movie makers and even real state agents are attracted by space. Now more than 43 years of human presence in space (mostly in low earth orbit), it seems we are ready to travel back to Moon and perhaps to Mars and further. This lecture will review early history of this quest, living and working in space, benefits to common man, national pride and economy, dangers of space travel, space craft and crew safety, life on Mars, and colonizing Moon and Mars.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this lecture will be of the speaker’s and not of NASA or the US Government.

Dr. Rafat Ansari has been a scientist at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio since 1988. He has advanced the laser light scattering technology for space experiments on-board the space-shuttle orbiter and space station and biomedical/clinical and industrial applications here on earth. He frequently flies on the “vomit comet” (NASA’s zero gravity airplane) to conduct microgravity experiments. He holds three adjunct professorships in USA, Italy, and Switzerland and is serving on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biomedical Optics and the Current Analytical Chemistry. He has over 100 publications and many patents to his credit and has served on several US national panels on science and technology. Among many honors, Dr. Ansari is a recipient of the prestigious Public Service Medal (highest civilian honor), NASA Space Act Award, and the Abe Silverstein Medal. He is also a certified single-engine airplane pilot, a scuba diver, and a motorcyclist.