Moogega Cooper Stricker

Moogega Cooper (born 1985) is an American astronomer, and the Lead of Planetary Protection for the Mars 2020 Mission and is involved with the InSight Mission. Cooper also takes part in programs and speaking engagements to encourage young women and others from underrepresented communities to pursue careers in science and technology.

Early life Cooper was born in 1985 in New Jersey to a Korean mother and African-American father, and World War II veteran. She received a B.S. degree in Physics (minor in Space, Earth, and Atmospheric sciences) from Hampton University in 2006, followed by an M.S. degree in 2008 and a Ph.D. in 2009, both in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in thermal fluid sciences from Drexel University College of Engineering. Cooper's dissertation focused on non-equilibrium plasma sterilization of spacecraft materials, enabling her to obtain a position with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) Planetary Protection Group in 2011. She possesses eleven different research publications. Cooper is the Lead of Planetary Protection for the Mars 2020 Mission and is Group Supervisor for the biotechnology and planetary protection team for InSight Mission. Planetary protection is the practice of protecting solar system bodies from contamination by Earth life and protecting Earth from possible life forms that may be returned from other solar system bodies. In 2019, Cooper co-authored a study with scientists Ganesh Babu Malli Mohan and Kasthuri Venkateswaran, examining microbial contamination in NASA spacecraft assembly clean rooms using microscopy and molecular techniques to evaluate the biological particles relevant to planetary protection.

Career In her talk at the Yakima Town Hall in October 2022, Cooper attributed her passion for exploring space to Carl Sagan's 1980s "Cosmos" series, which included a book and a TV show. She is a strong advocate for increasing the representation of women and minority communities in STEM fields.

Cooper worked in collaboration with Drexel University to develop a plasma sterilization technology contender that would sterilize the returning container. Cooper was a panelist in "The Original Martian Invasion", a 2017 episode of the television series Bill Nye Saves the World. She also appeared in 33 episodes of How the Universe Works from 2015 to 2023. She has also delivered a TEDxMarin talk titled "How to Find Life on Mars While Protecting Earth."

Selected publications Cooper, M. (2004). Validation of SABER temperature measurements using ground-based instruments. IGARSS 2004. 2004 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 6, 4099–4101 vol.6. Exton, R. J., et al. "Levitation using microwave-induced plasmas." Applied Physics Letters 86.12 (2005): 124103.

Kalghatgi, S. U., Fridman, G., Cooper, M., Nagaraj, G., Peddinghaus, M., Balasubramanian, M., Vasilets, V. N., Gutsol, A. F., Fridman, A., & Friedman, G. (2007). Mechanism of Blood Coagulation by Nonthermal Atmospheric Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 35(5), 1559–1566. Nagaraj, Balasubramanian, M., Kalghatgi, S., Wu, A. S., Brooks, A. D., Fridman, G., Cooper, M., Vasilets, V. N., Gutsol, A., Fridman, A., & Friedman, G. (2007). Mechanism of Blood Coagulation by Non-Thermal Atmospheric Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma. Blood, 110(11), 3162–3162. Cooper, M., Fridman, G., Staack, D., Gutsol, A. ., Vasilets, V. ., Anandan, S., Cho, Y. ., Fridman, A., & Tsapin, A. (2009). Decontamination of Surfaces From Extremophile Organisms Using Nonthermal Atmospheric-Pressure Plasmas. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 37(6), 866–871. Cooper, M. La Duc, M. T., Probst, A., Vaishampayan, P., Stam, C., Benardini, J. N., Piceno, Y. M., Andersen, G. L., & Venkateswaran, K. (2011). Comparison of Innovative Molecular Approaches and Standard Spore Assays for Assessment of Surface Cleanliness. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 77(15), 5438–5444. Kwan, K., Cooper, M., La Duc, M. T., Vaishampayan, P., Stam, C., Benardini, J. N., Scalzi, G., Moissl-Eichinger, C., & Venkateswaran, K. (2011). Evaluation of Procedures for the Collection, Processing, and Analysis of Biomolecules from Low-Biomass Surfaces. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 77(9), 2943–2953. Robinson, Rakhmanov, R., Cooper-Stricker, M., & Dobrynin, D. (2019). Subatmospheric Pressure Microsecond Spark Discharge Plasma Jet for Surface Decontamination. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 47(10), 4677–4682. Bhartia, R., Beegle, L. W., DeFlores, L., Abbey, W. J., Hollis, J. R., Uckert, K., Monacelli, B., Edgett, K. S., Kennedy, M. R., Sylvia, M., Aldrich, D., Anderson, M. S., Asher, S. A., Bailey, Z. J., Boyd, K., Burton, A. S., Caffrey, M., Calaway, M. J., Calvet, R. J., … Zan, J. A. (2021). Perseverance’s Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) Investigation. Space Science Reviews, 217(58). Shallcross, G. S., Hoey, W. A., Anderson, J. R., Soares, C., & Cooper, M. (2024). Modeling adhesion and aerodynamic removal of particles and spores from substrates. Journal of Aerosol Science, 176, 106294-.

Awards KTLA Black History Month Visionaries (2021) The Root 100 Most Influential African Americans (2020) Charles Elachi Award for Exceptional Early Career Achievement (2018) NASA Group Achievement Award, “For exceptional performance in the rigorous evaluation and rapid synthesis of a development strategy for the Mars Sample Return Planetary Protection technology.” October 2012.