RESEARCHER IS SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR
AS ONE of our closest planetary neighbours, Mars has served as a source of legends since the first storytellers slept under the stars.
Dr Graziella Caprarelli’s fascination with the Red Planet has forged more than 20 years of research and resulted in her joining a team to discover lakes of salty water on Mars.
This month, representing the University of Southern Queensland, Dr Caprarelli was named “Scientist of the Year” at the 2021 Australian Space Awards.
“I am over the moon, or should I say Mars, that the fruits of so much work, determination, grit and perseverance were recognised by my colleagues and other Australian professionals working across the space sector,” Dr Caprarelli said.
“I hope with this recognition comes the possibility to take more people with me to Mars, by motivating them and paving the way for their direct participation in Mars exploration missions.”
For Dr Caprarelli, the love for space started as a child rugged up during long Italian winter nights armed only with a pair of binoculars on her family’s balcony.
“I have always dreamt of setting foot on the moon or on Mars,” Dr Caprarelli said.
The geophysicist grew up in a world of sci-fi stories, and it was the tantalising feeling that Mars was within reach that spurred decades of research.
“I started working in space research almost 20 years ago when I started researching the Columbia River Group Basalt in North-West America as analogues of Martian volcanic rocks,” she said.
From there, the research took her to the NASA Johnson Space Centre in Houston and the International Research School of Planetary Sciences (Italy) where she joined the Mars Express Co-Investigator Team for the High Resolution Stereo Camera experiment.