Michaela Musilová (astrobiologist)

Michaela Musilová (born 11 October 1988) is a Slovak astrobiologist. She is currently the HI-SEAS director. She has commanded over 30 simulated missions to the Moon and Mars.

Biography
Musilová was born on 11 October 1988 in Bratislava. Her father is a diplomat and her mother is an archeologist.

She has a PhD degree from the University of Bristol specialising in extremophiles with applications to astrobiology, environmental science and glaciology. She graduated from the International Space University's (ISU) Space Studies Program in 2015, studied at the University College London, where she received a master's degree in planetary sciences in 2011, studied at California Institute of Technology as an exchange student in 2009, and graduated from the French Lycée Chateaubriand in Rome, Italy in 2007.

Her research as an astrobiologist has been wide-ranging, including stints at the University of London Observatory, the UK Space Agency for the NASA MoonLite project, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA, the Mars Desert Research Station, and the Institute for Food Research in Slovakia. She also is a 26 time published author.

Musilová has received multiple prizes and grants, including the Emerging Space Leaders Grant from the International Astronautical Federation (2016) and the Women in Aerospace – Europe Young Professional Award (2016), and she was selected as one of the most promising 30 under 30 by Forbes Slovakia (2015).