Pascal Lee

In May 2010, Lee led the second and final phase of the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition by driving the Moon-1 Humvee Rover from Resolute Bay, Cornwallis Island, to Domville Point, Devon Island. Accompanying Lee were veterans John Schutt, Joe Amarualik, Jesse Weaver, and Mark Carroll, and documentary director Jean-Christophe Jeauffre of Jules Verne Adventures. The 150 km journey, of which 60 km were on sea-ice, took 12 days. The Moon-1's arrival on Devon Island was hailed as in important success for the Haughton-Mars Project, as it opened the way for dual pressurized rover simulations using the two Humvee rovers working in tandem.

Moon-1 Humvee Rover during Northwest Passage Drive Expedition 2010

In April 2009, Lee led the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition to ferry a second Humvee, the bright yellow Moon-1 Humvee Rover, from Kugluktuk, Nunavut, to Devon Island, on sea-ice. Accompanying Lee were veterans John Schutt and Joe Amarualik, expedition technician Jesse Weaver, and cameraman Mark Carroll of Jules Verne Adventures. The team succeeded in driving 494 km in 8 days from Kugluktuk to Cambridge Bay, along the fabled Northwest Passage, establishing a record for the longest distance driven on sea-ice in a road vehicle. Plans to drive on from Cambridge Bay to Resolute Bay were abandoned due to extremely rough sea-ice conditions. At one point along the drive from Kugluktuk to Cambridge Bay, the Moon-1 partially fell through a lead (crack in the sea-ice), but was ultimately rescued by the expedition team. The Moon-1 was eventually flown from Cambridge Bay to Resolute Bay where it waited a year before completing its journey to Devon Island.

Lee also participated in field tests of NASA's Surface Exploration Vehicle (SEV), formerly known as the Lunar Exploration Rover (LER) or Small Pressurized Rover (SPR). In August 2008, Lee was pilot scientist of the first field test of the SEV, which was conducted under the auspices of the NASA Desert RATS project at the Black Point Lava Flow site in Northern Arizona. NASA Astronaut Rex Walheim was pilot commander of the 1-day mission. The SEV was developed at the NASA Johnson Space Center principally under the leadership of astronaut Michael Gernhardt and robotics engineer Robert Ambrose.

In 2006, Lee was Principal Investigator of the "Phobos Reconnaissance and International Mars Exploration" or PRIME Mars mission concept study proposed jointly by the Mars Institute, Optech Inc., and MDA to the Canadian Space Agency.

Haughton-Mars Project Research Station on Devon Island 2006

In 2004, Lee returned to Cornell to teach for a semester as Visiting Assistant Professor of astronomy.

In May 2003, Lee led an Arctic winter expedition to drive the Mars Institute's Mars-1 Humvee Rover from Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island, to Cape McBain on Devon Island across the Wellington Channel's 40 km of sea-ice. The Mars-1, bright red in color, is a modified M997 military ambulance Humvee manufactured by AM General of Mishawaka, IN. Accompanying Lee were American explorer John Schutt and Canadian Inuit field guides Paul Amagoalik and Joe Amarualik of Resolute Bay. The crossing was a success and the Mars-1 has since been serving on the Haughton-Mars Project as a mobile field lab and concept vehicle for future pressurized rovers to be used on the Moon or Mars. NASA's first simulated pressurized rover field traverse was conducted at the Haughton-Mars Project in July 2008 using the Mars-1. Lee commanded the mission while Andrew Abercromby of the NASA Johnson Space Center served as field lead of the rover traverse investigation.

In 2002, Pascal Lee and space entrepreneur Marc Boucher co-founded the Mars Institute, an international non-profit public benefit research organization dedicated to advancing the scientific study, exploration, and public understanding of Mars.

In 2001, Lee was Principal Investigator of the "H2O Mars Exploration Rover" or HOMER mission concept proposed jointly by the SETI Institute and the Boeing Company to NASA's Mars Scout program. HOMER was the first mission to Mars proposed by the Boeing Company.

In 1999, Pascal Lee collaborated as a Participating Scientist on the NASA Mars Polar Lander mission.

In 1998, Pascal Lee proposed the creation of a Mars Lander-like habitat at Haughton Crater on Devon Island to support field studies of requirements for future human Mars exploration. After co-founding the Mars Society, Lee led the development, establishment, and early operation of the "Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station" or FMARS, the world's first simulated Mars habitat. The FMARS was conceived by Lee to serve as a new research element of the Haughton-Mars Project. The Mars Society collaborated on the HMP through the 2001 field season, but since 2002, the society is no longer a partner of the HMP.

In 1997, Lee initiated the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP), an international multidisciplinary field research project centered on science and exploration studies at the Haughton impact crater and surrounding terrain on Devon Island, Arctic Canada, viewed as an analog site for the Moon and Mars. Lee has led over 18 HMP field expeditions to date, including the "Northwest Passage Drive Expedition" in April 2009 and May 2010, and continues to serve as the HMP's Director in support of research for NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

In 1993, Pascal Lee was awarded the Cornell University Department of Astronomy Eleanor Norton York Award.

In 1988, Lee wintered over for 402 days at Dumont d'Urville station, Adelie Land, Antarctica, where he served as the station's chief geophysicist. He also participated in five summer campaigns in Antarctica as a geologist and planetary scientist, in particular as a member of the US Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program.

From November 1987 to February 1989, Lee spent over a year in Antarctica on national service duty. Upon his return, he moved to the United States to begin graduate studies in astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

While in college in Paris, Pascal Lee was an active member of the Cosmos Club de France, a space exploration society founded by space scientist and author Albert Ducrocq. In 1982, Lee was elected the Cosmos Club de France's General Secretary and served in that position until 1987.

Pascal Lee was born in 1964 (Hong Kong) and attended St. Joseph's Primary School in Wan Chai. At age 8, he went to boarding school in France where he first attended Le Petit College de la Tournelle in Septeuil, Yvelines, then the Ecole Saint Martin de France in Pontoise, near Paris.