Planetary scientist to lecture at IHMC in Ocala
Dr. Pascal Lee will talk about the US Space Program and establishing a base on the Moon.

Dr. Pascal Lee
Dr. Pascal Lee is a planetary scientist with the SETI Institute, Mars Institute and NASA Ames Research Center in California. He also is a professor of planetary sciences at Kepler Space University. Lee will be the guest lecturer at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, or IHMC, in downtown Ocala on Feb. 11.
Lee noted that when he first arrived at NASA Ames to start his postdoctoral research, Ken Ford, the future founder and director of IHMC, was there.
“He expressed early interest and support for my research and, a few years later, invited me to participate in a NASA Blue Sky think tank meeting he was organizing at IHMC. Since then, I have been so impressed to see IHMC grow. The place is like a time machine. When you step in, you step right into the future,” Lee said of his connection to IHMC, which is headquartered in Pensacola.
During his talk at the Ocala campus, Lee said he will “be talking about the strategic importance for the US Space Program to establish a base on the Moon as soon as possible. And I will discuss good locations to set it up, in particular Clavius crater. Historically, Clavius is the location of the Moon base in the movie and book “2001: A Space Odyssey.” In hindsight, the site is actually exceptionally interesting, so setting up a base there could be an amazing case of fiction turning into reality.”
Lee studied physics at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and holds an M.E. in engineering geology and geophysics from Polytech-Sorbonne. He earned master’s and doctorate degrees in astronomy and space sciences from Cornell University, where he was Carl Sagan’s last teacher assistant, according to materials provided by IHMC. His research focuses on the Moon and Mars, in particular the history of water and ice, and planning future human exploration of these worlds. He and his student Sourabh Shubham recently announced the discovery of a previously unrecognized giant volcano on Mars, the Noctis Volcano.
Pascal has led more than 30 expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica to study Mars by comparison with Earth. He wintered-over for 402 days at the French Antarctic base, Dumont d’Urville, and led the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition, a record-setting vehicular drive across the Arctic along the Northwest Passage, which is now the subject of the award-winning motion picture documentary film, “Passage To Mars.”
Lee is a member of the US National Academies’ steering committee on “A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars.” He is a recipient of the United States Antarctica Service Medal, the National Space Society Space Pioneer Award for Science and Engineering, the Space Frontier Foundation’s Vision to Reality Award and the Sagan Prize for the Popularization of Science.
Lee offered that his interest in space came at an early age.
“As a kid, I was fascinated by space travel. I watched a lot (too much) of TV, mostly science fiction series’ like ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Lost In Space.’ I also loved bicycling, which is probably where I got the bug for motorcycling and riding ATVs. The latter is at the heart of the remote fieldwork we now do in the Arctic in preparation for future human missions to the Moon and Mars,” he shared.
“When I was an early teenager, I knew I wanted to work in space, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be an engineer working on rockets or a scientist working on planets. After reading Carl Sagan’s wonderful book ‘The Cosmic Connection,’ I decided I wanted to become a planetary scientist,” Lee added.
In his free time, Pascal likes to be walked by his dog Apollo, fly and paint. He is an FAA-certified helicopter commercial pilot and flight instructor. His oil paintings on Mars exploration and spacetime travel are in collections worldwide.
IHMC is located at 15 SE Osceola Ave., Ocala. The evening lectures are free to attend and begin with a reception. Seating is limited, however, so attendees are urged to RSVP in advance.
To register, go to https://ihmc-20250211.eventbrite.com