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Mahesh Anand's OpenLearn Profile

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Profile: Mahesh Anand

Mahesh Anand

Biography

Professor ofPlanetary Science and Exploration in the School of Physical Sciences at The Open University. Mahesh is a Professor ofPlanetary Science and Exploration in the School of Physical Sciences at The Open University. Research Mahesh'sresearch is about understanding the origin and evolution of water and other associated volatiles in the Solar System. In order to address these questions, heleads a team of researchers comprising of PhD students, postdocs and international collaborators to analyse samples from Moon, Mars and asteroids for their elemental and isotopic composition using modern analytical instrumentation. In particular, hiswork on Moon rocks returned by all 6 Apollo missions have transformed our understanding of the history of water in the lunar interior. His research findings are making significant contributions towards informing various lunar exploration missions being planned by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA). Apart from his scientific research, he has coordinated the UK-node of NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) since its inception in 2009, and led the establishment of an annual European Lunar Symposium (ELS). Healso serves on several ESA committees and the European Space Sciences Committee (ESSC) in hiscapacity as a leading expert in Europe in the field of lunar sample science. Healso led a Topical Team for ESA on the exploitation of local planetary materials that brought together planetary scientists and material scientists to evaluate the resource potential of the Moon. The work of this team was instrumental in generating significant momentum in the European science and industry communities which resulted in an enhanced level of activity in the area of In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU) of the Moon as evidenced by a highly successful recent workshop at ESA which hehelped to co-organise. Teaching His work is closely connected to OU teaching in the field of Earth and Planetary Sciences. The highly successful Moons MOOC, the second level planetary science module S283, and the postgraduate module S818, all include significant contents based around our scientific understanding of the Moon and Apollo missions. Public Engagement He is passionate about communicating science to the wider audience and stakeholders and has hosted summer interns from schools and universities as well as organised dedicated public events such as the Moon Night event in Dec 2017. He has also written for The Conversation and have been involved in producing various media outputs associated with my lunar science activities.