Benton C. Clark III
Co-Investigator
Lockheed Martin Space Systems

Chief Scientist of Flight Systems, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Astronautics Operations

Benton C. Clark has LMA project scientist responsibility for Discovery and Mars programs.

Clark also is the director of the Advanced Planetary Studies group, where flight designs for the Discovery and Mars missions are conceived and developed, including the fabrication of prototypes for unique applications. For the Cassini mission, he serves as a co-investigator for the Surface Science Package (SSP) experiment on the Huygens probe. He is also a Co-I on the Stardust and Genesis Discovery missions.

Previously, Clark was the project manager for the Manned Mars Systems Study for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center from 1987-1990 and was responsible for developing advanced concepts, trade studies, mission timelines and accommodations for human exploration missions to the moon and Mars. He was the LMA's technical director of the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) from 1989-1991.

Clark earned the bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma (Physics), the master's degree from the University of California (Physics and Nuclear Engineering) and a doctorate from Columbia University in Biophysics.

Dr. Clark was responsible for conceiving and developing the x-ray fluorescence spectrometers for the first geochemical analyses of Martian soil onboard the Viking landers. He was also co-investigator and project manager for development of the lightflash detector and sunshade for the Particle Impact Analyzer (PIA) experiment flown successfully on the European Space Agency's Giotto mission to Halley's Comet. In analyzing PIA data, he discovered organic particulates which he named "CHON" particles. He originally conceived the "comet pond" scenario for the origin of life.

Clark currently chairs the External Advisory Committee for the NASA Center for Research and Training (NSCORT) in Exobiology at the University of California in San Diego and Salk Institute. He was a panel co-chairman on the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) committee on International Mars Exploration and has served on NASA's comet science working groups; the Space Station Science and Applications Advisory Subcommittee for reviewing science and applications utilization of Space Station; the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Space Sciences/Astronomy and Life Sciences Committees; the Planetary Geosciences advisory committee for Space Station; the Exobiology Discipline Working Group; the Mars Exploration Long-Range Strategy Working Group; and the AIAA Man-In-Space panel of the Military Space Systems Technology Model (MSSTM) project. He was a member of the Governor's Science and Technology Advisory Committee and was responsible for conceiving and technically implementing the Governor's Award of Honor, which was presented to six outstanding scientists and engineers in Colorado.

Dr. Clark has written more than 130 publications, reports, abstracts and presentations covering instrumentation, planetary missions, radiation, space science, planetary geochemistry, exobiology and other fields of research and development. He also owns five patents. In 1974, Clark was selected as "Inventor of the Year" by Martin Marietta; in 1977, he was awarded the NASA Public Service Medal; in 1989, he was selected as Astronautics' "Author of the Year" and Wright Brothers Award winner; in 1999, he was awarded "Author of the Year" for Astronautics for the paper "Surviving the Limits to Life at the Surface of Mars." Prior to joining Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin), he worked at Los Alamos National Lab, IBM and Avco Corp. During his military service, Clark achieved the rank of Captain and was awarded the Air Force Service Medal.