Sandra Faber is University Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Neighboring Lancaster has increased its population since the early 1980s to around 3 times its former level. Major retail has followed the population influx, centered around Palmdale's Antelope Valley Mall. The Antelope Valley is home to over 475,000, and is expected to reach 1,000,000 people by the year 2020.
(Text that appears in red indicates basic characteristics of the various culture periods. Although there is increasing evidence that human occupation of the Mojave Desert may have taken place much earlier, it is known that the Antelope Valley has been inhabited for at least the past twelve to thirteen thousand years.