Michael H. Hecht is a research scientist, associate director for research management at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Haystack Observatory Haystack Observatory is a multidisciplinary radio science center, ionospheric observatory, and astronomical microwave observatory owned by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is in Westford, Massachusetts, in the United States, abo ...

, and former deputy project director of the

Event Horizon Telescope The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a Astronomical interferometer, telescope array consisting of a global network of radio telescopes. The EHT project combines data from several very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) stations around Earth, wh ...

. He served as lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer instrument on the Phoenix Mars lander, and as principal investigator for the

Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) was a technology demonstration on the NASA Mars 2020 rover '' Perseverance'' investigating the production of oxygen on Mars. On April 20, 2021, MOXIE produced oxygen from carbon dio ...

(MOXIE) instrument on the

Mars 2020 Mars 2020 is a NASA mission that includes the rover ''Perseverance (rover), Perseverance'', the now-retired small robotic helicopter ''Ingenuity (helicopter), Ingenuity'', and associated delivery systems, as part of the Mars Exploration Progra ...

rover.

Career

Hecht obtained an A.B. in Physics from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, an MS from the

, and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1982. Hecht joined the staff of

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

(JPL) in 1982, where he researched

microelectromechanical systems MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) is the technology of microscopic devices incorporating both electronic and moving parts. MEMS are made up of components between 1 and 100 micrometres in size (i.e., 0.001 to 0.1 mm), and MEMS devices ...

, surface and interface science, scientific instrument development, and

planetary science Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of ...

. He co-invented the

Ballistic Electron Emission Microscopy Ballistic electron emission microscopy or BEEM is a technique for studying ballistic electron transport through a variety of materials and material interfaces. BEEM is a three terminal scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) technique that was invent ...

system and published several highly-cited papers on metal-semiconductor interfaces, for which he received the newly-renamed Lew Allen Award for Excellence in 1990. At JPL, as the supervisor of the Microdevices Laboratory's In-Situ Exploration Technology Group, he developed the concept for the

Deep Space 2 Deep Space 2 was a NASA space probe, part of the New Millennium Program. It included two highly advanced miniature space probes that were sent to Mars aboard the Mars Polar Lander in January 1999. The probes were named "Scott" and "Amundsen", in ...

micro-landers, which flew to Mars in 1999. He was later named the project manager, co-investigator, and project scientist for the Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment (MECA) instrument for the cancelled

Mars Surveyor 2001 The Mars Surveyor 2001 project was a multi-part Mars exploration mission intended as a follow-up to Mars Surveyor '98. After the two probes of the 1998 project, Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander, were both lost, NASA's "better, faster, ...

mission. The MECA instrument was later flown as the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer on the Phoenix mission to Mars in 2007, with Hecht as lead scientist and co-investigator, and was instrumental in the discovery of

perchlorate A perchlorate is a chemical compound containing the perchlorate ion, , the conjugate base of perchloric acid (ionic perchlorate). As counterions, there can be metal cations, quaternary ammonium cations or other ions, for example, nitronium cat ...

in Martian soil. Based on that work, Hecht published highly-cited papers on the chemistry of Martian soil and the existence of water on Mars, and was awarded the

NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal The NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal is an award of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration established in 1991. The medal is awarded to both civilian members of NASA and military astronauts. To be awarded the medal, a NASA employee ...

in 2010. After almost 30 years at JPL, Hecht was appointed as an associate director of

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

. In 2014, the

MOXIE Moxie is a brand of carbonated beverage that is among the first mass-produced soft drinks in the United States. It was created around 1876 by Augustin Thompson as a patent medicine called "Moxie Nerve Food" and was produced in Lowell, Massa ...

instrument, for which Hecht is the principal investigator, was selected as one of the instruments on the ''Perseverance'' rover for the

mission. In 2019, Hecht was one of the scientists awarded the 2020

Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics The Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics is one of the Breakthrough Prizes, awarded by the Breakthrough Prize Board. Initially named Fundamental Physics Prize, it was founded in July 2012 by Russia-born Israeli entrepreneur, venture capit ...

for his work with the

to produce the first image of a

supermassive black hole A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions, of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hecht, Michael Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American physicists Jet Propulsion Laboratory faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology staff Mars 2020 American planetary scientists Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Princeton University alumni Stanford University alumni Recipients of the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal