Cecily Sunday

Recognized under Tier 2 — In-Situ Resource Utilization, Cecily Sunday conducts research into the geotechnical and mechanical behavior of planetary regolith and its implications for surface operations and resource extraction at TU Delft. Sunday's work on the physical properties of extraterrestrial soils — how they behave under compression, excavation, and processing — provides the fundamental engineering data needed to design reliable ISRU and construction systems for Mars. Without a sound understanding of how Martian regolith will actually respond to mechanical interaction under Mars conditions, it is impossible to design the excavators, foundations, and processing equipment a Mars colony will depend upon.