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About

Paul Abell is a planetary scientist whose research sits at the intersection of near-Earth object (NEO) science, human spaceflight, and planetary defense. His work has been instrumental in shaping NASA's strategic approach to asteroid exploration, most notably through his early contributions to assessing the feasibility of crewed missions to near-Earth asteroids using the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle — a 2009 study that garnered 37 citations and helped lay the conceptual groundwork for deep-space human exploration beyond the Moon. Abell's compositional analysis of asteroid 2008 EV5 (24 citations) provided critical scientific justification for selecting it as a candidate target for both robotic and human missions. His sustained involvement with NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) — spanning mission architecture, planetary defense applications such as the Enhanced Gravity Tractor technique, and extensibility toward Mars — demonstrates a rare ability to bridge fundamental science with operational mission planning. Across his body of work, Abell has consistently argued that asteroid missions are not merely scientific endeavors but essential stepping stones for developing the technologies and experience needed for humanity's eventual journey to Mars and beyond.