The concept of space and planets prompts a lot of questions and curiosity in students.

Dr. Pascal Lee knows this as well as anyone. He recently visited Marymount of Santa Barbara’s Riviera campus to talk to Lower and Middle School students about his work at NASA, which focuses on the history of water on Mars and on the possibility of human exploration of the planet.

Dr. Lee’s visit was a part of the school’s annual fall Book Fair during which published authors visit Marymount to share their passions, professional expertise, and experience as writers with the students.

Dr. Lee’s recent children’s book Mission: Mars won the 2015 Prize for Excellence in Children’s Science Books from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Lee is a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute. He is also chairman of the Mars Institute, and director of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View.

During his discussion with students, he talked about Mars and the surface of the planet in detail and helped make the terrain more relatable by comparing it to the Atacama Desert in Chile and some parts of Africa.

He described how space suits work and how they feel to wear. He also examined life on a HAB and how human bio-waste is used/stored in space.

After the lecture, fifth-grade students went to Marymount’s new Center for Creative Design and Engineering to design animals or other beings that might survive on Mars, given what the students learned about conditions on the planet.

— Molly Seguel for Marymount of Santa Barbara.