Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters speaks in front of the Hyperwall at a NASA-sponsored Earth Day event at Union Station, Monday April 22, 2013 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters speaks in front of the Hyperwall at a NASA-sponsored Earth Day event at Union Station, Monday April 22, 2013 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Michael Watkins (right), mission manager and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) engineer, Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, Calif., speaks at a press conference, as Michael Meyer, Mars Exploration Program lead scientist looks on, at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on Friday, July 22, 2011 in Washington. The MSL, or Curiosity, is scheduled to launch late this year from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and land in August 2012. Curiosity is twice as long and more than five times as heavy as previous Mars rovers. The rover will study whether the landing region at Gale crater had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Michael Meyer (left), lead scientist, Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, speaks at a news conference presenting findings of the Curiosity rover's analysis of the first sample of rock powder collected on Mars, Tuesday, March 12, 2013 in Washington. The rock sample collected shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. John Grotzinger, Curiosity project scientist, California Institute of Technology is seen on the right. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Dr, Michael Meyer, NASA Mars lead scientist, talks during a Mars Program Update where prominent scientists discussed evidence of water on Mars, current Program status, including the 7th Anniversary of the Mars rovers and the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission and previewing exciting discoveries to come, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)

Michael Meyer, Lead Scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, answers a question from the audience during a special session titled “Planetary Protection for the Future: Science, Exploration, and Commerce” at the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Michael Watkins (third from left), mission manager and project engineer, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, Calif., speaks at a press conference at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on Friday, July 22, 2011 in Washington. From left to right, Watkins is joined by Dwayne Brown, NASA Headquarters public affairs officer; Michael Meyer, lead scientist Mars Exploration Program, NASA Headquarters; Watkins; John Grant, geologist, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington; Dawn Sumner, geologist, University of California, Davis and John Grotzinger, MSL project scientist, JPL. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Dr. Jennifer Elgenbrode, from Goddard Space Flight Center, foreground, talks as Dr. Mary Voytek and Dr. Michael Meyer, far right, look on during a Mars Program Update where prominent scientists discussed evidence of water on Mars, current Program status, including the 7th Anniversary of the Mars rovers and the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission and previewing exciting discoveries to come, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)

Participants at a news conference discussing findings of the analysis of a rock sample from Mars are seen, Tuesday, March 12, 2013 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. From left to right are seen: Michael Meyer, lead scientist, Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters; John Grotzinger, Curiosity project scientist, California Institute of Technology in Pasadena; David Blake, principal investigator for Curiosity's Chemistry and Mineralogy investigation at NASA's Ames Research Center in Calif.; and Paul Mahaffy, principal investigator for Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) investigation at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

NASA Chief Scientist Jim Green, left, Lisa Pratt, NASA's Planetary Protection Officer, Michael Meyer, Lead Scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, Dan Hendrickson, Vice President of Business Development at Astrobotic Technology, Kyle Acierno, Vice President of Global Sales and Strategy at ispace, and Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, right, are seen during a special session titled “Planetary Protection for the Future: Science, Exploration, and Commerce” at the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Dr. Mary Voytek, NASA Astrobiology Program Manager, second from right, talks during panel discussion as Dr. Jennifer Elgenbrode, from Goddard Space Flight Center, left, Dr. John Grant and Dr. Michael Meyer, NASA Mars lead scientist, right look on during a Mars Program Update where prominent scientists discussed evidence of water on Mars, current Program status, including the 7th Anniversary of the Mars rovers and the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission and previewing exciting discoveries to come, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)

Ames 70 Year Anniversary Exhibit in downtown Mountain View, California. Grand Opening at Meyer Appliance, Castro Street. From Left to right Sheila Johnson, Gary Martin, Paul McKim and Michael Bicay outside of Meyer Appliance before opening.

John Grunsfeld (at podium), Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, asks one last question of the Mars Curiosity rover panel, Tuesday, March 12, 2013 in Washington. The news conference covered the findings that the analysis of the rock sample collected shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – During a news conference at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA officials and university investigators outlined science plans for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, or MAVEN, mission. Briefing participants included Michael Meyer, lead Mars Scientist at NASA Headquarters. MAVEN is being prepared for its scheduled launch on Nov 18, 2013 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Positioned in an orbit above the Red Planet, MAVEN will study the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail. For information on the MAVEN mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/maven/main/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

S86-25199 (September 1985) --- Three members of the STS-51L prime crew and a backup crew member walk away from the flight line at nearby Ellington Field following flights in the T-38 jet trainers seen in the background. Sharon Christa McAuliffe (center right), payload specialist/citizen observer for the Teacher-in-Space Project, and Barbara R. Morgan (center left), her backup, are flanked by astronauts Francis R. (Dick) Scobee (right), mission commander, and Michael J. Smith, pilot. The photo was taken by Keith Meyers of the New York Times. EDITOR?S NOTE: The STS-51L crew members lost their lives in the space shuttle Challenger accident moments after launch on Jan. 28, 1986 from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Scientist and Assistant Professor Bethany Ehlmann with the California Institute of Technology and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, answers a question from the media during a “What Do We Know About Mars” news conference, Nov. 21. The press conference was part of preflight activities for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. NASA Public Affairs Officer George Diller, at left, moderates the conference that also features Lead Scientist Michael Meyer, Mars Exploration Program and Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger from the California Institute of Technology. MSL’s components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 26 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – During a news conference at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA officials and university investigators outlined science plans for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, or MAVEN, mission. Participating in the briefing, from the left, are George Diller of NASA Public Affairs, Michael Meyer, lead Mars Scientist at NASA Headquarters, Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Janet Luhmann, MAVEN deputy principal investigator from the University of California at Berkeley, Nick Schneider, MAVEN Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph, or IUVS, instrument lead at the University of Colorado, Paul Mahaffy, MAVEN Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, or NGIMS, instrument lead at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and David Mitchell, MAVEN Solar Wind Electron Analyzer, or SWEA, instrument lead at the University of California. MAVEN is being prepared for its scheduled launch on Nov 18, 2013 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Positioned in an orbit above the Red Planet, MAVEN will study the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail. For information on the MAVEN mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/maven/main/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is host to a “What Do We Know About Mars” news conference, Nov. 21, as part of preflight activities for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. NASA Public Affairs Officer George Diller, at left, moderates the conference featuring Lead Scientist Michael Meyer, Mars Exploration Program; Scientist and Assistant Professor Bethany Ehlmann with the California Institute of Technology and Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger from the California Institute of Technology. MSL’s components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 26 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Scientist and Assistant Professor Bethany Ehlmann with the California Institute of Technology and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, answers a question from the media during a “What Do We Know About Mars” news conference, Nov. 21. The press conference was part of preflight activities for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. NASA Public Affairs Officer George Diller, at left, moderates the conference that also features Lead Scientist Michael Meyer, Mars Exploration Program and Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger from the California Institute of Technology. MSL’s components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 26 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is host to a Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) science briefing as part of preflight activities for the MSL mission. From left, NASA Public Affairs Officer Guy Webster moderates the conference featuring Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA Mars Exploration Program; John Grotzinger, project scientist for Mars Science Laboratory California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.; Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mast Camera and Mars Descent Imager investigations on Curiosity, Malin Space Science Systems; Roger Wiens, principal investigator for Chemistry and Camera investigation on Curiosity, Los Alamos National Laboratory; David Blake, NASA principal investigator for Chemistry and Mineralogy investigation on Curiosity, NASA Ames Research Center; and Paul Mahaffy, NASA principal investigator for Sample Analysis at Mars investigation on Curiosity, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. MSL’s components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 26 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is host to a Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) science briefing as part of preflight activities for the MSL mission. From left, NASA Public Affairs Officer Guy Webster moderates the conference featuring Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA Mars Exploration Program; John Grotzinger, project scientist for Mars Science Laboratory California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.; Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mast Camera and Mars Descent Imager investigations on Curiosity, Malin Space Science Systems; Roger Wiens, principal investigator for Chemistry and Camera investigation on Curiosity, Los Alamos National Laboratory; David Blake, NASA principal investigator for Chemistry and Mineralogy investigation on Curiosity, NASA Ames Research Center; and Paul Mahaffy, NASA principal investigator for Sample Analysis at Mars investigation on Curiosity, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. MSL’s components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 26 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett