The University of Arizona Press

Michael E. Zolensky is a space scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He received his PhD in mineralogy and geochemistry from the Pennsylvania State University in 1983. He has forty years of experience in astromaterial research and development of sample return spacecraft missions. Zolensky’s planetary research has focused on the origin and evolution of water and organics in the early solar system, and the mineralogy of comets and primitive asteroids and their interactions with the terrestrial planets. His publications have been featured in Science, Nature, Scientific Reports, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He currently serves as the associate curator for Stardust, Hayabusa, and the Microparticle Impact Laboratory. Other professional activities include his past service as president of the Meteoritical Society, as associate editor of Meteoritics and Planetary Science, and as a member of the Science Teams of NASA Long Duration Exposure Facility, Stardust, Hayabusa, and Hayabusa2 Missions. He has been awarded the Meteoritical Society’s Leonard Medal and is the namesake of Asteroid (6030) Zolensky and the mineral Zolenskyite.