Director of UA lunar/planetary lab dies

[Ptah]

Michael Drake, director of the University of Arizona’s
Lunar and Planetary Lab and head of a NASA space mission
to sample an asteroid and return a sample to Earth by 2023, died Tuesday.

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Ruiz said Drake was a guiding force in the university’s Phoenix Mars Lander
mission before landing the NASA grant for the asteroid rendezvous.

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He continued to chalk up accomplishments, said Ruiz, even after
an illness last year that led to a liver transplant.

“The man was ill. He was running the planetary science department
and was still able to secure an $800 million grant for the UA,” said Ruiz.


http://azstarnet.com/news/local/education/article_f20d7f4e-e49d-11e0-bea9-001cc4c03286.html