Welcome to new MSSL Lecturer, Dr Louisa Preston

Dr Louisa Preston is a planetary geologist, astrobiologist and author who joins UCL MSSL from the Natural History Museum in London where she held a UK Space Agency Aurora Research Fellowship. She has a strong international reputation for applying Mid-IR and Vis-NIR spectroscopic techniques to the identification of geological materials in extreme environments on Earth and the characterisation of biosignatures within them. She is a key member of the science teams for the PanCam and ISEM instruments on the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover who launches September 2022, and is the Co-Chair for both the Astrobiology and Outreach Working Groups for the PanCam team. She is also on the science team for the first Canadian Lunar Rover.

Louisa has a proven track record of conducting fieldwork in planetary analogue environments as analogues for Mars, the Moon and Europa, having led teams of international multidisciplinary scientists on campaigns in remote regions of Iceland, New Zealand, Spain and the Canadian High Arctic. She has combined her expertise in geology, biology and spectroscopy to study impact craters, acidic rivers, hot springs, volcanic materials, caves, Antarctic cryptoendoliths and evaporites. In addition, she has extensive experience in mission simulations, space instrument design and development. Louisa was a Science Team Lead during the UK Space Agency and AirBus ExoFIT and MURFI field trials, Co-I and Flight Director for three Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Lunar Analogue Missions based at Mistastin, Labrador, and was invited to be on the Mission Control team for the inaugural NASA Hi-SEAS Mars Exploration analogue mission.

Louisa is also an avid science communicator and author. She has spoken about the search for life on Mars at the TED Conference in 2013, the Royal Observatory Greenwich, Cheltenham Science Festival, the RAS, The Royal Institution, The Lost Lectures and The British Science Association among others. She has contributed to four popular science books including publishing her first book Goldilocks and the Water Bears: The Search for Life in the Universe with Bloomsbury Sigma. She also regularly appears on the BBC’s The Sky at Night programme, has presented shows for BBC Radio 4 and created a short documentary film on her research for The Telegraph and Craghoppers.

We asked Louisa what she was looking forward to most in her new role:

I am incredibly excited to be joining UCL MSSL and to get to work with the brilliant scientists and engineers there. I am looking forward to continuing my research, meeting all the students, and working more closely with the PanCam team. Also, a fascination of mine is space instrument design and development so I am very much hoping to using my geological and astrobiological knowledge to help bring to life the next generation of space instrumentation.

Links

• Dr Louisa Preston's academic profile
• Dr Louisa Preston's website
• Short research documentary for The Telegraph/Craghoppers
• UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory