Questions? Contact us
Work Biography for Dr. Scott Sandford
Dr. Sandford is a member of Ames'
Astrophysics Branch and a senior member of Ames' Astrochemistry Laboratory. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Meteoritics and Planetary
Science and has helped find many meteorites in Antarctica, some of
them quite famous [or perhaps infamous is a better
word]. Click here to see some pictures from his 1998-1999 trip to the Graves Nunataks in Antarctica. Dr. Sandford also does extensive work in the areas of laboratory astrophysics and astrochemistry, and infrared astronomy (ground-based and airborne). He has used the combined techniques of infrared astronomy and laboratory astrophysics to identify a number of new molecular species in space, many of interest to exobiology (for example, organic compounds in the diffuse ISM). Current laboratory interests include the study of the physical, chemical, and spectroscopic properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and astrophysical ice analogs relevant to interstellar, cometary, and planetary environments. If you would like to know more about how Scott became a scientist, consider visiting his Live from the Stratosphere biography page, or click here if you'd like know more about his hobbies, fiction and humorous writing,etc.
Dr. Sandford is a Co-Investigator on several sample return missions. He is an original Co-Investigator on the STARDUST Discovery Mission, that collected a sample from Comet Wild-2 and returned it safely to Earth! The STARDUST spacecraft was launched on February 7, 1999 and intercepted Comet Wild-2, in December of 2004 and images of the comet's nucleus can be seen here. The collected sample was returned to Earth for study on January 15, 2006. Dr. Sandford was on the Recovery Team that located and recovered the Sample Return Capsule after it fiery reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. He also escorted the capsule to Johnson Space Center and assisted with the removal of cometary samples from the collector. Dr. Sandford is also responsible for the team of international scientists that is carrying out a preliminary examination of the organics in the returned samples. For images of the capsule recovery, transportation, and opening, click here
You can read his interview on Astrobiology: the living universe where he talks about the Stardust Mission or click here to hear Dr. Sandford answering questions about the STARDUST mission on an official NASA page. At left is an image of Scott showing off a piece of aerogel, the material used in the Stardust Mission to catch the comet dust particles.
Dr. Sandford was there when they recovered the sample return capsule, quite literally he was one of the first off the helicopter. His informal emails sent back to his friends and co-workers about his experience from landing to clean room were forwarded from one person to another until they gained international noteriety. They were quoted nationally, giving him more readers than he ever imagined. His emails have appeared in the Boston Globe, Florida Today, Earthtimes, and MS-NBC. You can read excerpts and more in a New York Times article entitled 'Sleepless Nights Pay Off in Giddy Joy at Stardust's Success.' Dr. Sandford is the head of the preliminary examination team for organics so he has been very busy lately doing stardust science. He sometimes takes a break from this technical work to speak about the mission to the public and to scientists. In recent months he has given the NASA Ames Director's Colloquium, the NASA Astrobiology Institute Director's Colloquium, a plenary talk at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Washington D.C., and presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference from which recordings were made, so you can listen to Sandford on a podcast from 'Planetary Radio' about the 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
Dr. Sandford is also a Co-Investigator on the Japanese led Hayabusa Mission. This mission was designed to obtain a sample from the asteroid Itokawa and is currently in flight. It made several sampling attempts from the asteroid in November 2005 and obtained spectacular images of this small asteroid. For the latest information on the status of the mission, click here.
Dr. Sandford is the Principal Investigator on several concept missions designed to determine the nature, abundance, and distribution of organic materials in space. These include the AstroBiology Explorer (ABE) MIDEX Mission and the Astrobiology SPace IR Explorer (ASPIRE) Origins Concept Mission. ABE and ASPIRE are cryogenically cooled infrared telescopes capable of measuring the mid-infrared spectra of a wide variety of objects and environments in space. These spectra will be used to understand the origin and evolution of organic compounds in space. Also, visit the Astrochemistry Laboratory's amateur astronomy page. It
contains astrophotos of Hale-Bopp, the Moon, the Galactic
Plane, etc. taken by Scott and other folks associated
with the Astrochemistry Laboratory Here is a fairly out-of-date list of Dr. Sandford's major publications., you can see the astrochem lab current publications page for the latest papers. You can reach Dr. Sandford by phone at (650) 604-6849,
by Fax at (650) 604-6779, electronically at ssandford@mail.arc.nasa.gov,
or by post at M/S 245-6, Moffett Field, CA
94035-1000. Please feel free to contact him if you would like to
receive a reprint of any of his publications.
An image of the Stardust sample return capsule lying in the mud in Utah after 7 years and billions of miles. Click to expand