Dyar is on a team of about 40 scientists responsible for a complex instrument called a ChemCam, which is perched on the rover.
Darby Dyar, professor of astronomy at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, is on a team of about 40 scientists responsible for the ChemCam, one of the instruments to be used by the Mars rover Curiosity, which landed this week on the red planet.
This image released on Tuesday Aug. 7,2012 by NASA shows the first color view of the north wall and rim of Gale Crater where NASA's rover Curiosity landed Sunday night. The picture was taken by the rover's camera at the end of its stowed robotic arm and appears fuzzy because of dust on the camera's cover. (AP Photo/NASA)SOUTH HADLEY — It’s a good thing Darby Dyar is able to sleep on planes, because the Mount Holyoke astronomy professor will be shuttling back and forth to Pasadena, Calif., for the next few months as a member of the scientific team studying information sent back to earth from the just-landed Mars rover Curiosity.
Dyar is playing an important role in the NASA mission.
“My job is to look at chemistry,” said Dyar, in a phone interview from Pasadena, where she and 405 other scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory watched Curiosity land on the red planet.
Dyar is on a team of about 40 scientists responsible for a complex instrument called a ChemCam, which is perched on the rover. Equipped with a camera, laser and spectrometer, the ChemCam is designed to collect and send data long-distance on the composition of soil and thousands of rocks on Mars.
Part of her team is back home at Mount Holyoke, creating a database of rocks on earth to compare with those on Mars. Her team includes research lab manager Elly Breves, computer scientist Paul Dobash, UMass graduate student Marco Carmosino, Mount Holyoke student Melissa Nelms, and other students from the Five Colleges area.
NASA awarded Dyar a grant for $476,000 in June.
The data she and her team receive will reveal facts about geology and climate on Mars – and even whether Mars could sustain life.
It’s no joke, said Dyar. “There are some very credible scientists who believe that one day humans will live on Mars,” she said.
In the shorter term, she said, “the work we’re doing on Mars is also going to enhance the abilities of geologists on earth to find minerals that we need to survive.”
But the biggest benefit of the $2.5 billion Mars project, she said, is that it gets people excited about science – an excitement that has long-term effects.
Dyar said all the scientists working on the Mars project have to be in Pasadena for the first three months of the mission. They are meeting twice a day to discuss data and provide support. The rover will be sending back information for years.
“During the first 90 days, I’ll be living on Mars time,” said Dyar. “Daylight on Mars is not the same as daylight on earth. A day on Mars is 40 minutes longer.
“In theory,” said Dyar, “it means I’ll have extra time every day!” In practice, it means the natural cycles of sleep and waking are disrupted.
While scientists in Pasadena make sure the spacecraft remains in good shape after landing, Dyar will return to South Hadley for a few days this week. In September she will begin dividing her time between two coasts so she can keep teaching her classes in South Hadley.
“I have a very big commitment to teaching,” said Dyar, “and I have a very big commitment to this program.”
This photo made available by NASA shows the Curiosity rover, bottom, and its parachute descending to the surface from the vantage point of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (AP Photo)Dyar was thrilled with the picture of the rover landing on Mars by parachute, a picture taken by an orbital camera circling Mars. “It’s amazing,” she said.
She is also glad of the attention her role is focusing on her liberal arts women’s college in South Hadley.
“We do great, world-class research at Mount Holyoke,” said Dyar, “and I am one of many. I have fantastic, wonderful faculty colleagues!”
Dyar has taught at Mount Holyoke for 13 years. She grew up in Indiana, graduated from Wellesley College and got her Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
“I moved to Massachusetts when I was 18,” she said, “and I never wanted to leave.”
The feeling is mutual. “Oh my goodness, I am SO proud of her,” said Mount Holyoke College president Lynn Pasquerella. “She has provided our students with such an opportunity to transform the way we see the world – and the universe!”