Alumni Spotlight - Jared Long-Fox (Geol 17, Geol 20)

Jared Long-Fox receives prestigious NASA research award

NASA has a rich history in developing technologies that benefit space travel and exploration but that also contribute value back to life on Earth. For example, Velcro was a NASA-developed technology created to resist vibrations during launch and flight. Of course, now it is used on Earth for everything from hanging pictures to kids’ shoes. 

Jared Long-Fox (Geol 17, Geol 20) aims to continue this tradition of technology development through his NASA-sponsored research that he thinks will benefit Earth one day, too.

Jared, a PhD student at the University of Central Florida (UCF), was accepted this year as a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity (NSTGRO) Fellow, a competitive program that accepts students with the potential to support NASA’s goal to establish permanent human and robotic presence on the moon and beyond. 

His planetary surface excavation research will help develop technologies that will make it more efficient and safer to build infrastructure and acquire resources on the lunar surface. This will be key for NASA, because the tough-to-work-with physical properties of the Moon’s surface material (regolith), combined with its having only 1/6 the amount of gravity as Earth, present quite the challenge when it comes to excavation and surface operations in general. 

“The first upper centimeter or two of the lunar surface is really loose, ground-up rock, and below that is super-compacted,” he said. “So, I’m looking at the tools we use and trying to reduce the force it takes to dig, as well as being mindful of how heavy the equipment is.” 

As Jared puts it, the cost to launch materials from Earth is “astronomical” – no pun intended.

“When we’re mining here on Earth, it usually takes really heavy equipment to excavate or build infrastructure, so we use machines with massive buckets and big arms. But on the Moon, we need to be able to maintain traction and acquire material for infrastructure development such as launch and landing pads, roadways, as well as to acquire resources like water ice, metals, and oxygen in lower gravity with machines that are light enough to cheaply launch.” 

He hopes his excavation predictive modeling technology will assist with developing more efficient equipment for mining on our planet. 

Jared participates in a low-gravity flight to test scientific instruments he built. 

When Jared was growing up in Rapid City, he got really interested in Earth Science through middle school and high school courses. He initially thought he would go into volcano and earthquake studies, and he knew South Dakota Mines was going to be the best fast-forward into that field. 

“During my time at Mines, the curriculum itself – whether it was basic calculus or advanced geodynamics – taught me the different ways in which nature works together,” he said. “Learning how nature behaves, as learned on Earth, can really inform what we see in space, so my coursework at Mines prepared me very well for my career,” he said.   

He is thankful for Tom Durkin and Dr. Ed Duke at Mines who encouraged him to pursue fellowships and scholarships through the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium, which he said “really spurred my interest in NASA.” 

Before entering the PhD program, Jared spent three years as a planetary research scientist at UCF. During that time, he began several collaborations with Mines professors. He’s working with Drs. Gokce Ustunisik and Roger Nielsen to study how geologic material melts and what happens when the composition of those melts change. The research is aimed at learning more about extracting oxygen from the lunar regolith simulants that can be used for rocket fuel, breathable air, and more. 

He's also worked with Dr. Duke and the Engineering and Mining Experiment Station (EMES) at Mines. EMES has taken some of Jared’s samples of lunar regolith simulants and characterized their chemical composition using return samples from the moon. 

Jared, 29, said he is thankful to Mines for fostering a naturally curious mindset and for teaching him that not everything works the first time, both of which are helpful as a researcher. He’s also blown away when he considers the research and experiences he was involved in as an undergraduate. 

“I really feel like Mines gave me everything I needed to be successful in whatever I wanted,” he said. “That said, it’s not handed to you – have to stand up and get it. Mines rewarded that “get up and go” attitude, and I’ve had a lot of opportunities as a result of that.”

His advice to current students is to remember that the opportunities you grab in college can change your trajectory. 

“When I got to college, I knew that ‘This is where I can make a difference. Everything I do here has a direct impact on my future, and I don’t want to waste this opportunity.’” 

He hasn’t wasted any opportunities yet, that’s for sure. 

Jared at the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building during a tour from his NASA Research Collaborator, Mr. Robert (Rob) Mueller.