Biographical Sketch: Christopher P. McKay

McKay is a planetary scientist with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames Research Center. He received his Ph.D. in AstroGeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982 and has been a research scientist with NASA Ames since that time. His current research focuses on the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life. He is also actively involved in planning for future Mars missions, including human exploration.

Mckay has researched Mars-like environments on Earth, including the Antarctic dry valleys, Siberia, the Canadian Arctic, and the Atacama desert. He was a co-investigator on the Huygens probe to Saturn's moon Titan in 2005, and is now working on the Mars Phoenix lander misson (2007), and the Mars Science Lander mission (2009). He is also currently the program scientist for the Robotic Lunar Exploration Program.