{"id":77486,"date":"2026-03-30T15:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T22:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77486"},"modified":"2026-03-30T16:22:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T23:22:31","slug":"artemis-iv-bennett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/artemis-iv-bennett\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU geologist set to advise NASA astronauts on the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span>Kristen Bennett<\/span><\/b>, NAU\u2019s newest planetary scientist, has been selected to lend her\u00a0expertise\u00a0on NASA\u2019s first\u00a0crewed\u00a0Moon mission since the 1970s.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NASA shared on March 24 that Bennett was one of just 10 scientists from throughout the United States who were chosen to\u00a0advise astronauts on the mission\u00a0<\/span>Artemis IV<\/span><\/a>, scheduled to launch no later than 2028. After flying in low Earth orbit, the spacecraft\u00a0will\u00a0navigate to\u00a0and land on the Moon. From their lunar landing spots, the astronauts will venture out on extravehicular activities, or EVAs.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0where Bennett comes in.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/a>
Kristen Bennett joined NAU\u2019s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science in December 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOur job is to be the scientists\u2014and specifically geologists\u2014sitting in the back room at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center giving the astronauts feedback during their EVAs,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cWe\u2019ll help them figure out which direction to walk, which rocks to take as samples and how many samples to take.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An associate research professor who joined NAU\u2019s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science and the new\u00a0<\/span>Radiant Center for Remote Sensing<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in December 2025, Bennett is a seasoned expert in planetary geology. Over seven years at the U.S. Geological Survey, she played crucial roles in a wide array of space missions, including the long-running\u00a0<\/span>Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment<\/span><\/a>\u00a0measuring surface temperatures on the Moon. Bennett is\u00a0perhaps best\u00a0known for\u00a0operating\u00a0the camera aboard the\u00a0<\/span>Mars Curiosity\u00a0rover<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve seen the selfies from the Mars rover\u201d\u2014and trust us,\u00a0<\/span>you have<\/span><\/a>\u2014\u201dthat\u2019s me,\u201d Bennett said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bennett is\u00a0keenly interested in lunar volcanic deposits. Studying that material, she said, reveals crucial\u00a0information\u00a0about what materials make up the inside of the Moon. As part of\u00a0<\/span>another planned space mission<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0she\u2019ll\u00a0explore a rare lunar\u00a0silicic\u00a0volcano.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the volcanoes on the Moon are basaltic, like Mauna Loa and Sunset Crater,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cBut some domes are silicic, like Mount Saint Helens or Mount Elden. On Earth, silicic volcanoes erupt because of plate tectonics. The Moon\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0have tectonic plates, so why does it have silicic volcanoes?\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0what\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0hoping to find out.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is Bennett especially over the (ahem) moon\u00a0about\u00a0participating\u00a0in Artemis IV?\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0the first crewed lunar mission in 54 years, and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0the\u00a0first time\u00a0astronauts will collect lunar rocks and dust from the south pole, a permanently shadowed region that traps volatiles like ice. With those samples at their disposal, Bennett and her peers could tackle towering unanswered questions about how the Moon was born.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSamples enable us to investigate the Moon\u2019s formation, geological history and internal structure in ways that aren\u2019t possible through remote sensing,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cThis is big.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other scientists on the Artemis team include Aleksandra\u00a0Gawronska\u00a0from The Catholic University of America, Timothy\u00a0Glotch\u00a0from the State University of New York in Stony Brook, Paul Hayne from the University of Colorado Boulder, Erica Jawin from the Smithsonian Institution, Jeannette Luna from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Sabrina Martinez from the NASA Johnson Space Center and Jamie Molaro,\u00a0Hanna Sizemore and Catherine Weltz\u00a0from the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>
\n\"Northern<\/span><\/p>\n


\nJill Kimball | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Kristen Bennett, NAU\u2019s newest planetary scientist, has been selected to lend her\u00a0expertise\u00a0on NASA\u2019s first\u00a0crewed\u00a0Moon mission since the 1970s.\u202f\u00a0 NASA shared on March 24 that Bennett was one of just 10 scientists from throughout the United States who were chosen to\u00a0advise astronauts on the mission\u00a0Artemis IV, scheduled to launch no later than 2028. After flying in…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":77488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}