Parsons Team Leads Effort to Identify and Extract Dinosaur Prints from NASA Site

Parsons, which is performing ongoing construction management for various NASA site projects, played a key role in the discovery and preservation of 100+-million-year-old dinosaur tracks on the grounds of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Following the discovery of the first print by dinosaur hunter Ray Stanford in August 2012, NASA officials assigned a Parsons team led by paleontologist Lee Monnens to provide follow-up investigation and removal. Heather Shinn, then Parsons manager of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Facilities, Construction, Engineering and Technical Services (FaCETS) program, coordinated the initial consultation.

Monnens surveyed the print, verifying it was made by a nodosaur — a spiky herbivore from the Cretaceous Period — and then led a survey of the surrounding area per Bureau of Land Management regulations. This broader survey uncovered two additional prints, identified as those of a three-toed ornithopod and a juvenile nodosaur, both also dating to the Cretaceous Period. As a result of these significant discoveries Monnens recommended removal and led the extraction of the entire find: a stone approximately 7 ft by 3 ft. The extraction process, conducted by Parsons personnel, involved wrapping the stone in multiple layers of plaster-soaked burlap and adding galvanized steel pipes for support (much like a cast with splints). The prints were successfully moved to a location on the Goddard campus for further study.

“I am proud of the way our team handled this unique situation at the NASA Goddard campus,” said Mary Ann Hopkins, Parsons group president. “Their ability to quickly assess the significance of the find and support NASA in determining a path forward demonstrates true professionalism.”

Parsons has provided continuous support of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center since 1995. As the prime contractor on the FaCETS program, the firm is executing a 10-year contract to provide program/construction management and information resources management in support of renovations, repair, modernization, upgrades and expansion of facilities on the 1,270-acre campus.