In the mid-1980s, Boston (then a graduate student at the
University of Colorado Boulder) was one of the founders of the Mars Underground and helped organize a series of conferences called The Case for Mars.[3][4][5] She was the last director of the
NASA Astrobiology Institute before the Institute was suspended.[6]
Biography
She has a B.S. in microbiology, geology, and psychology, and a M.S. in microbiology and atmospheric chemistry. She completed her Ph.D. from University of Colorado Boulder in 1985. During 2002–2004, she was Principal Investigator on the
Caves of Mars Project, which, among other things, studied the effects on mice of an
atmosphere rich in argon, and "flat crops" that might be grown in Martian caves.[7][8]
Her interest is in
extremophiles (organisms which prefer or thrive in the extremes of altitude, cold, darkness, dryness, heat, mineralized environments, pressure, radiation, vacuum, variability, or weightlessness) which may be found in caves and karst on Earth, and she thinks should be looked for in equivalents of other objects in space from asteroids to planets.
An only child of theatrical parents, she writes poetry reflective of her world travel and uncommon specialty.[12] In 2010 she was featured in
Symphony of Science.[13] She continues to work with NASA on the
Atacama Field Expedition.[14]
Boston, Penelope (April 1984). The Case for Mars: proceedings of a conference held April 29-May 2, 1981 at University of Colorado Boulder (Science and Technology Series). American Astronautical Society.
ISBN978-0-87703-197-0.
"Penelope J. Boston". Spaceward Bound! Planning and Executing Planetary Analog Field Expeditions: Atacama Field Expedition.
NASA. 2006. Archived from
the original on 2006-09-29. Retrieved 2010-07-01.