Dr. Michael Zanetti

Planetary Scientist · NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center · company speakers →

Dr. Michael Zanetti, a lunar and planetary geologist, will discuss NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024, as well as their goal to have sustainable lunar exploration by 2028 in preparation for future Mars missions. The target is the Moon’s South Pole, an area of strategic importance that presents significant benefits and challenges, both related to persistent sunlight and shadows. Dr. Zanetti will introduce the Artemis program and examine the role for lidar in reconnaissance, landing hazard avoidance, and terrain navigation and mapping in aiding exploration of the Moon and Mars. Dr. Zanetti specializes in Comparative Planetology, using field investigations on Earth as analogs to better understand geologic processes and features seen in remote-sensing data from the Moon and Mars. He is currently the project manager and principal investigator for the Kinematic Navigation and Cartography Knapsack (KNaCK) lidar system, a mobile Doppler lidar terrain mapping and navigation technology development project funded by NASA’s Science and Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Early Career Initiative (ECI).

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