Thursday, April 23, 2009

Alum to speak about Phoenix Mars Mission on April 24

As part of the Science Initiative events at 3 p.m. today, Friday, April 24, Dr. John Hoffman ’51, professor of physics at the University of Texas at Dallas, will present “Phoenix Mars Mission” in the World Room. The SMU community is invited to hear this presentation.

Launched in August 2007, the Phoenix Mars Mission was the first in NASA’s Scout Program. Phoenix was designed to study the history of water and habitability potential in the Martian arctic’s ice-rich soil. Hoffman was a co-investigator for the TEGA experience that flew on the Mars Scout Phoenix Mission. Hoffman Hall is named in honor of Dr. Hoffman’s father.