Darlene Lim

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Summary Profile

Dr. Darlene Lim is a researcher, explorer and science promoter based at the NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute.  Lim has been applying her geobiological research on historical lake records and environmental change in the High Arctic to Mars-related studies.  Over the past decade she has been involved with and led field studies in the Arctic and Antarctic, and she is currently conducting Mars analogue research in a variety of locations throughout Canada, U.S.A., and Chile.  She was chosen in 1999 to participate in the NASA/SETI Haughton Mars Project, an ongoing, multi-disciplinary, international effort to conduct Mars analogue studies at Haughton Crater, Devon Island, in the Canadian High Arctic. Lim was also selected to inhabit the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS), the world's first Mars simulation base, at Haughton Crater. She was a member of the FMARS inaugural crew in August 2000 and subsequently completed a second assignment in the summer of 2001.  She currently heads up the Pavilion Lake Research Project, a multi-disciplinary, international research effort to map and understand the existence of unusual microbialites in Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada and to investigate the Mars analogue potential of these interesting structures.  This project is supported by NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the National Geographic Society, and is currently the largest scientific SCUBA diving operation in Canada. 

Lim lectures extensively on her science, as well as the importance of human space exploration.  Lim has sat on the Board of Advisors (2002-2003) of the Mars Institute, an international NGO for the research and exploration of Mars, and is a member of the Steering Committee for The Mars Society, an international non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of human Mars exploration and research.  She has published extensively in peer-reviewed manuscripts, including papers concerning High Arctic climate change, Mars analogue applications, and science and exploration strategies for future human missions to Mars.

Lim is frequently asked to provide her expert opinion on Mars analogue research and the future of Mars exploration in general. In addition to her numerous speaking requests, Lim has been interviewed extensively on international television and radio programs and has also appeared on several Mars-related documentaries. These include a Channel 4 (UK) (2002) production titled 'Ascent of the Red Planet', which was filmed on a volcano on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean (Lim was one of five who simulated climbing the largest known mountain in our solar system - Mars' Olympus Mons). She's also appeared in 'A Bridge to Mars' (Discovery Channel Canada), 'Mars on Earth' (National Geographic) and 'Discovering Mars' (Discovery Channel USA).  In addition, Lim also finds time to provide editorial to Canada’s National newspaper, The Globe and Mail, and Maclean’s magazine on science and exploration matters. 

Lim completed her Doctorate (2004) at the University of Toronto, Canada, and also obtained her private pilot’s license in 1998.  She currently resides in San Francisco, California.