Kelly Fast

Kelly Fast is the acting Planetary Defense Officer for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office and leads NASA’s efforts to “find asteroids before they find us!” Building on a childhood passion for Star Trek and Space:1999, she earned her B.S. in Astrophysics from UCLA and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Maryland. She investigated ozone and atmospheric chemistry on Mars, winds on Titan, and the effects on Jupiter’s stratosphere of  small body impacts as an astronomer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center before coming to  NASA Headquarters in 2011. Dr. Fast previously served as Program Scientist for the MAVEN  mission to Mars, and she led NASA’s Solar System Observations, Planetary Astronomy, and  Planetary Atmospheres research programs. Main-belt asteroid 115434 (2003 TU2) was renamed Kellyfast in recognition of her contribution to planetary science.