Alien Worlds on Earth

Astrobiologist Chris McKay searches extreme landscapes for clues about life on other planets. 

By Steve Nadis
Feb 4, 2014 9:30 PMNov 12, 2019 5:35 AM
chris-mckay.jpg
NASA astrobiologist Chris McKay in the Mojave Desert, a frequent research destination in his search for extraterrestrial life.  | Ian White

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Chris McKay likes to travel, preferably to exotic, faraway lands. Mars is the usual destination, but Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moons Enceladus and Titan are also on his itinerary.

McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, ventures to some of Earth’s most extreme environments to study the closest facsimiles he can find to Mars and other distant outposts, on a mission to learn how life might exist beyond our planet. 

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