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" I'm actually a NASA brat. My father was a rocket scientist. He started working at NASA before it was NASA in 1959. "
Ellen Stofan
Rocket
Started
Working
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" When we go to explore, we do it as a globe. "
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" Communication is an issue where we can improve, and if I can do anything to help, I am happy to. "
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" There's a huge question of whether you really need water for life. "
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" If I had an unlimited budget, I would really be probing that question of life because we know what the questions are, and we know what the destinations are. "
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" To avoid congestion, I get up at 5:10, grab a slice of raisin toast, and leave the house at 6 A.M. My husband, Tim Dunn, who works for an environmental agency, is still asleep when I slip out, and I find that rather annoying. "
Ellen Stofan
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" Prior to Magellan, due to the fact that we knew it was so hot on Venus, we thought that the rocks at the surface would behave more plastically, more like Silly Putty than like solid rock in the way that we think of it, like the rocks that I'm sitting on. "
Ellen Stofan
Rock
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" You see countries like India really investing in their space program because they see it as inspirational and good for their economy. "
Ellen Stofan
Space
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" To unambiguously settle the questions of whether there was life on Mars, it will take scientists down on the surface. "
Ellen Stofan
Mars
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" Humans can actually read a landscape, go through a lot of rocks - crack them open, throw them, pick up the next one. Rovers are great - they do amazing science - but it is a lot more tedious process; they go much less far than a human can cover in a day. "
Ellen Stofan
Day
Amazing
Great
" We're not going to get humans to Mars until at least the mid-2030s, and the world is going to change by then. "
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Change
World
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" I wish someone would redo 'Dune.' "
Ellen Stofan
Would
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" I grew up in this business... A lot of my life has been centered around this question about how NASA is helping us to understand our own home planet... and to understand our place in the universe. "
Ellen Stofan
Place
My Life
Life
" As chief scientist, it's sort of my job to look at bridges between what we do and to see the connections. But when we try to understand how are planets around other stars habitable... to looking back at the Earth - how are the changes that are taking place, how are they going to affect humanity? "
Ellen Stofan
Place
Stars
Looking Back
" One of the big things about space exploration is that it is as expensive as it is complicated, and you need all the countries of the world to help if you want to accomplish big goals. "
Ellen Stofan
You
World
Space
" Everybody has busy lives, but you can tell people, 'Go outside and look at the night sky. We've been able to demonstrate that every star you see probably has a planet around it.' "
Ellen Stofan
People
Look
You
" Instead of being able to look at smaller interesting research projects, I am trying to see the links between all the research NASA does. For me, that's extremely fun because I get to go play and learn about areas of science that I know nothing about. "
Ellen Stofan
Know
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Fun
" The public has an incredible capacity for appreciating the wonder of our planet, our solar system, our universe. "
Ellen Stofan
Universe
Wonder
Planet
" We have to ask, 'How can we break a huge challenge like sending humans to Mars into a series of doable, affordable steps? How can we break that problem down into chunks in order to keep making progress?' "
Ellen Stofan
Down
Challenge
Problem
" I live an hour from NASA's HQ in Washington, D.C., and sitting in a jam stresses me out. "
Ellen Stofan
Me
Washington
Sitting
" I always like to say just think you were a doctor with only one patient. You might understand how that person gets sick, how they get better, but you understand nothing about the progression of disease or how humans in general get ill. Now take an Earth scientist: you only have one planet to study. "
Ellen Stofan
Think
Earth
Doctor
" As we visit Mars multiple times, we will build up infrastructure on the surface to expand the capabilities and reach of humans on Mars. "
Ellen Stofan
Infrastructure
Build
Mars
" With the mission to Mars, the whole world wants to get involved. So we actually have 13 different space agencies from around the world working on the global exploration road map. "
Ellen Stofan
Mission
Exploration
Road
" Being able to have a laboratory on Mars, being able to have some sort of sustained human presence on Mars in the future, I think, is critically important for science. "
Ellen Stofan
Future
Think
Science
" My key aim is to get man on the surface of Mars by the mid-2030s. "
Ellen Stofan
Key
Get
Surface
" We're going to understand that there is life on other bodies in the solar system. "
Ellen Stofan
Going
Solar
System
" It's part of the human character to want to know what's over the next hill, to want to know what's beyond. "
Ellen Stofan
Want
Hill
Human
" We actually look to the scientific community to kind of come back to NASA and tell us what the priorities should be. And then at NASA, we try to look within our budget and say, 'What can we accommodate, and what are the most important things for the nation?' "
Ellen Stofan
Priorities
Look
Important
" Every time I give a talk, I ask the audience - especially if it's kids - how many want to go to Mars. At least half raise their hands. I don't think there's going to be any shortage of volunteers. "
Ellen Stofan
Time
Talk
Think
" I'm so biased to this issue of the origins of life and the limits of life. "
Ellen Stofan
Origins
Biased
Issue
" People see space as a place where you go and cooperate. "
Ellen Stofan
Space
People
Go