DR. CARLTON C. ALLEN is the ARES Astromaterials Curator and Manager of the Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office. The Office is responsible for the curation and distribution of NASA's extraterrestrial samples including the Apollo Moon rocks, Antarctic meteorites, and cosmic dust. In the next few years, with new spacecraft missions, this responsibility is due to extend to samples of the solar wind, a comet, and the planet Mars.

Dr. Allen earned a Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences from the University of Arizona, studying the interactions between volcanoes and ice on the Earth and Mars. As a Postdoctoral Fellow in the University of New Mexico, he researched formation mechanisms for Martian soil. Dr. Allen has studied the underground storage of high-level nuclear waste and the extraction of oxygen from the soil and rock of the Moon. His current research is split between studies of bacteria in extreme environments and the unique requirements of a Mars sample return mission.