BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//CiviCRM//NONSGML CiviEvent iCal//EN X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Chicago METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT UID:CiviCRM_EventID_2685_d3319be4f90071e87b81b1178ed41494@www.hgs.org SUMMARY:HGS E & E Meeting DESCRIPTION:Perseverance at the Frontier of Mars Exploration\n \n by \;Ellie Moreland\n \n October 15\, 2025 \n \n Location: Los Tios restaurant located at 952 7 Westheimer RD\, Houston.\n Social 5:30 p.m.\, Di nner 6:30 p.m.\, Presentation 7:30- 9:00 p.m.\n Co st: $35 Pre-registered members\; $40 non-members & amp\; ALL walk-ups\n To guarantee a seat\, you mus t pre-register on the HGS website and pay with a c redit card. \; You may walk up and pay at the door if extra seats are available. \; Please c ancel by phone or email within 24 hours before the event for a refund. Online &\; pre-registratio n closes Tuesday\, at 12:00 p.m.\n \n  \;\n \n Abstract\n \n Since landing in February 2021\, NA SA&rsquo\;s Perseverance rover has been exploring the ancient landscapes of Jezero Crater\, Mars &md ash\; a once-lake basin that preserves evidence of both igneous activity and aqueous alteration. Thr ough a series of directed campaigns\, Perseverance is investigating and sampling rocks that record t he planet&rsquo\;s magmatic and hydrologic evoluti on. The Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemis try (PIXL) on the rover&rsquo\;s arm provides the highest-resolution geochemical analyses ever obtai ned on another planet\, enabling mineral-scale ide ntification of textures and compositions. Using th ese data\, the Mineral Identification by Stoichiom etry (MIST) algorithm reveals distinct mineral ass emblages that trace water&ndash\;rock interactions and diagenetic processes. By comparing these Mart ian minerals to their Earth analogs\, we gain new insights into habitability and the geologic proces ses that continue to shape both planets.\n \n \n \ n  \;\n \n Bio\n \n \n \n Ellie Moreland is a Ph.D. candidate in Earth\, Environmental\, and Pla netary Sciences at Rice University\, where she stu dies Martian mineralogy and geochemistry as part o f NASA&rsquo\;s Mars 2020 Perseverance science tea m. She supports operations for the Planetary Instr ument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) and helps le ad the development of the Mineral Identification b y Stoichiometry (MIST) algorithm &mdash\; a new me thod for directly identifying minerals from geoche mical data. Before coming to Rice\, Ellie earned h er B.A. in Geology from Washington University in S t. Louis\, where she conducted research on the min eralogy of aeolian deposits in Gale Crater and iro n oxidation pathways in Mars-relevant fluids. Her broader research spans surface processes and paleo environments on Mars\, including studies of redox- driven mineral associations and climate modeling o f ancient lake systems\, aimed at understanding ho w water\, rock\, and climate have interacted over Martian history. CATEGORIES:Meeting CALSCALE:GREGORIAN DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20251015T173000 DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20251015T173000 DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20251015T210000 LOCATION:Los Tios Restaurant\n 9527 Westheimer Rd\n Houston \, TX 77063\n United States\n URL:https://www.hgs.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=2685 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR