Christopher McKay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dr. Christopher McKay of NASA Ames Research Center.

Christopher McKay is a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center and an expert on astrobiology, space exploration, and terraforming.

1 Overview
2 McKay on the ethics of terraforming
3 Sample research papers
4 Popular articles
5 Research papers on terraforming
6 External links

[edit] Overview

McKay is a co-investigator on the Titan Huygens probe, the Mars Phoenix lander, the Mars Science Lander, and the Robotic Lunar Exploration Program. He is also very active in performing field research on organisms surviving in extreme locations on Earth, which he has performed at Death Valley, the Sahara Desert, the Gobi Desert, the Atacama Desert, Axel Heiberg Island, Siberia, and at the bottoms of ice-covered lakes in Antarctica.

He is a member of the board of directors of the Planetary Society and has been very active with the Mars Society. He has written and made speaking appearances extensively on space exploration and terraforming. He has published several papers on various topics related to space exploration and terraforming and he holds a Ph.D. in astrogeophysics from the University of Colorado.

[edit] McKay on the ethics of terraforming

Dr. McKay is noted as an advocate of a moderately biocentric position in the ethics of terraforming, arguing that we must thoroughly explore a planet such as Mars first to discover whether there is any microbial life before taking first steps toward terraforming, and that if indigenous alien life is found in an obscure niche or dormant on Mars, we should remove all Earth life and alter Mars to support the global spread of this alien life on Mars. Discussions of the ethics of terraforming often make reference to a series of public debates McKay has held with his friend Robert Zubrin, who advocates a moderately anthropocentric position on the ethics of terraforming. For example, a written account of some of these debates is available in On to Mars: Colonizing a New World, as a joint article, "Do Indigenous Martian Bacteria have Precedence over Human Exploration?" (pp. 177-182)

[edit] Sample research papers

Astrobiology: All Alone After All? Book review of Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe by Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee, by Christopher McKay in the journal Science, Vol. 28 no. 5466, p. 625; 28 April 2000
Organic Synthesis in Experimental Impact Shocks, Christopher P. McKay and William J. Borucki, Science, Vo. 276 pp. 390-392, 18 April 1997
Photochemically Driven Collapse of Titan's Atmosphere, Ralph D. Lorenz, Christopher P. McKay, and Jonathan I. Lunine, Science, Vol. 275 pp. 642 - 644, 31 Jan. 1997
Microbial Life in the Atacama Desert, R. M. Maier, K. P. Drees, J. W. Neilson, D. A. Henderson, J. Quade, J. L. Betancourt;, Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez, Fred A. Rainey, and Christopher P. McKay, Science, Vol. 306 pp. 1289-1290, 19 November 2004

[edit] Popular articles

Anon, "Interview with NASA's Chris McKay: Terraforming Mars in The Second Age of Exploration," 21st Century Science and Technology, 5(2), 35-40 (1992).
C.P. McKay, "Terraforming: Making an Earth of Mars," The Planetary Report, VII(6), 26-27 (1987).
C.P. McKay, "Let's Put Martian Life First," The Planetary Report, XXI(4), 4-5 (2001).
R.M. Zubrin and C.P. McKay, "A World for the Winning: The Exploration and Terraforming of Mars," The Planetary Report, XII(5), 16-19 (1992).
R.M. Zubrin and C.P. McKay, "Pioneering Mars," Ad Astra, 4(6), 34-41 (1992).
R.M. Zubrin and C.P. McKay, "Terraforming Mars," Analog, CXIV(5), 70-87 (1994).
The Terraforming of Planets, Man-made Biospheres and The Future Civilization, Yazawa Science Office, Tokyo (1992) (in Japanese with sections by McKay).

[edit] Research papers on terraforming

R.H. Haynes and C.P. McKay, "The Implantation of Life on Mars: Feasibility and Motivation," Adv. Space Res., 12, (4)133-(4)140 (1992).
M.M. Marinova, C.P. McKay and H. Hashimoto, "Warming Mars using Artificial Super-Greenhouse Gases," JBIS, 53, 235-240 (2000).
M.M. Marinova, C.P. McKay and H. Hashimoto, "Radiative-Convective Model of Warming Mars using Artificial Super-Greenhouse Gases," J.Geophys.Res., 110, E03002, doi:10.1029/2004JE002306 (2005).
C.P. McKay, "On Terraforming Mars," Extrapolation, 23(4), Kent State University Press (1982).
C.P. McKay, "Terraforming Mars," JBIS, 35, 427-433 (1982).
C.P. McKay, "Using Microorganisms to Make an Earth of Mars," in Biotechnology on the Threshold of the XXI Century, Conference Proceedings, pp. 89-91, Moscow, (1989).
C.P. McKay, "Does Mars Have Rights? An Approach to the Environmental Ethics of Planetary Engineering," in D. MacNiven (Ed.), Moral Expertise, pp. 184-197, Routledge, New York (1990).
C.P. McKay, and R.H. Haynes, "Should We Implant Life on Mars?" Sci. Am., 263(6), 144 (1990).
C.P. McKay, O.B. Toon, and J.F. Kasting, "Making Mars Habitable," Nature, 352, 489-496 (1991).
C.P. McKay and C.R. Stoker, "Gaia and Life on Mars," in S.H. Schneider and P.J. Boston, (Eds), Scientists on Gaia, pp. 375-381, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, MA (1991).
C.P. McKay, "Restoring Mars to Habitable Conditions: Can we? Should we? Will we?" Journal of the Irish Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, 22(1), 17-19 (1993).
C.P. McKay, and R.H. Haynes, "Implanting Life on Mars as a Long Term Goal for Mars Exploration," in T.R. Meyer (Ed.), The Case for Mars IV, AAS Science and Technology Series, Vol. 90, pp. 209-216, Univelt, San Diego (1997).
C.P. McKay, "Bringing Life to Mars," in The Future of Space Exploration., Sci. Am. Quarterly, 10(1), 52-57 (1999).
C.P. McKay and M.M. Marinova, "The Physics, Biology and Environmental Ethics of Making Mars Habitable," Astrobiology, 1, 89-109 (2001).
C.P. McKay, "Biology and the Future of Mars," in Abstracts from the Astrobiology Science Conference 2004, International Journal of Astrobiology Supplement, p.8 (2004).
T.L. Segura, C.P. McKay and O.B. Toon, "An Impact-Triggered Runaway Greenhouse on Mars," in Abstracts from the Astrobiology Science Conference 2004, International Journal of Astrobiology Supplement, p.78 (2004).
R.M. Zubrin and C.P. McKay, "Technological Requirements for Terraforming Mars," JBIS, 50, 83-92 (1997).