NASA aerospace engineer says question of 'are we alone?' inspires work

Adrian Southard, one of NASA's aerospace engineers, says wondering if humans are alone in the universe has inspired his work at Goddard Space Flight Center.

"I always thought that the question 'Are we alone?' was fascinating, and this has inspired my work on instruments for detecting signs of life," he said in the profile.

Southard came to NASA because of his skills with small electrical devices, a recent profile on him published by NASA states. Southard is one of the only ones that gets to design and test instruments and tools that go to Mars and other planets.

"I do instrument research and development mainly focused on mass spectrometers and their interfaces," Southard said in the profile. "I have branched out into instruments for elemental composition analysis of mineral targets and flight qualification of pressure sensors. I mainly design and test instruments for use on Mars or other bodies of the solar system like Jupiter’s moon Europa."

Southard went to the New College of Florida and received an undergraduate degree in physics. He also attended the University of Maryland, College Park and received a degree in theoretical chemical physics.