Carina Umaña has been with JPL for five years.
Photo: Carina Umaña / Courtesy
Carina Umaña, 34 years old, was part of the working group of the NASA who made history this week by getting a rover to Mars.
The resident of Santa Ana, The Savior, works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is located in Pasadena and followed the process of the Perseverance mission that successfully brought this spacecraft to the Red Planet.
She says that when she saw the device land couldn’t hold back the tears of emotion and confesses that it took nearly three and a half years of work to make this happen
Umaña says she started studying criminal law at Pasadena City College (PCC). “Just out of curiosity, I took an electronics elective and fell in love [de esta profesión]”, reveals.
Today she is an electronic development engineer on the NASA team. That is, it works by building the electronic part of the prototypes.
“Engineers are the ones responsible for research and design. They come up to me and say, “Do you think you can make this work?”So I find the parts and build it ”.
“I’m very proud. Not all of us have the opportunity to work in a place like JPL. It’s an incredible thing, because they are projects where we only have one chance. [para que salgan bien]”, Explains Umaña.
He tells them to young Latinos who would like to work in that career “Don’t give up because if you want to achieve it, you have to be patient and persistent”In fact, it indicates that there are engineers who have asked for the entity to be entered “more than 200 times”. “We have to insist,” she says confidently.
Related: José Hernández, the astronaut who was a farmer in California, is motivated by the mission
Carina believes it is important to have Latino represented in important institutions, such as in her case at NASA: “You have to believe in yourself. Sometimes there are no opportunities where we come from ”.
She is the mother of three children and when asked if she has the time to develop her role as a mother and make history as a professional, she says: “Yes, anything is possible … Someone as a woman always has the power to do anything “
And he adds, don’t believe that because you have babies, you can’t. “There is always a way to do things. What can a woman not do? We are invincible ”, he laughs.
What was sent to the Red Planet?
The Perseverance is a reconnaissance vehicle, something like an all-rounder for navigating space. It took off from Earth more than six months ago, reaching Mars on January 18 after traveling nearly 300 million miles.
The goal is to investigate and see if there are microfossils and signs of a past life on the site, CNN reported. The ultimate goal is to collect rock and soil samples; in addition, record audio during the months that the astromobile remains in place.