Jim Bell

Jim Bell

Professor of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State Universit

Jim Bell is a planetary scientist, educator, author, public speaker, and past President (2008-2020) of The Planetary Society. He works at Arizona State University and is heavily involved in NASA solar system exploration missions like those of the Mars rovers Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity. In 2011 he received the Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication from the American Astronomical Society. He is an avid writer for space-related magazines and blogs, and often appears in media interviews on space-related topics (check out Jim Bell's YouTube channel). His popular science and space photography books include Postcards from Mars (2006), Mars 3-D (2008), Moon 3-D (2009), The Space Book (2013), The Interstellar Age (2015), The Earth Book (2019), and most recently Hubble Legacy: 30 Years of Images and Discoveries (2020). Jim is a Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU, an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University, and a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Latest articles by Jim Bell

An artist's depiction of the metal-rich asteroid Psyche.

NASA's Psyche mission to a metal world may reveal the mysteries of Earth's interior

By Jim Bell published

Can what we learn about the metal asteroid Psyche with NASA's upcoming mission of the same name be extrapolated to solve some of the mysteries about the Earth's core?

Asteroid & Comet Missions
Getting Martian rocks and samples back to Earth is the primary goal of the Mars 2020 mission.

Bringing Mars rocks to Earth: With NASA's Perseverance Rover landing soon, a lead scientist explains its tech and goals

By Jim Bell published

What we’re looking for is evidence of past life, either direct chemical or organic signs in the composition and the chemistry of rocks, or textural evidence in the rock record.

Mars Rovers