NASA’s Perseverence rover is finally on Mars, and on Earth, two scientists of Indian descent are over the moon: Swati Mohan and Vandi Verma.
“When Mars is visible in the sky, you look at that little dot and you think there is a robot right now that is executing commands that I have commanded it. That’s pretty wild, ”said NASA rover operator Vandi Verma Reuters.
Verma, who describes her job as “one of the coolest jobs in the world,” is the NASA rover operator for Perseverence. She hopes the prominent profile of women in the latest Mars mission will inspire a new generation to pursue careers in an industry traditionally dominated by men.
Verma’s colleague Swati Mohan made headlines around the world when she talked about the bloodcurdling landing of the Perseverance rover on the Red Planet after its dangerous descent through the atmosphere of Mars.
“They are absolutely inspired girls everywhere. It has opened people’s perceptions of who can be an aerospace engineer, ”Verma continued Reuters.
Indian-American Dr. Swati Mohan led the development of attitude control and landing system for the rover – “Touchdown confirmed! Perseverance is safe on the surface of Mars, ready to begin looking for the signs of a past life, ”exclaimed NASA engineer Dr. Swati Mohan.
The Perseverance Rover was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on July 30, 2020 and landed on an ancient river delta in a lake that once filled the Jezero Crater.
According to NASA, Dr. Mohan emigrated from India to the United States at the age of 1. She grew up in the Northern Virginia-Washington DC metro area and later completed her BS from Cornell University in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. She received her MS and Ph.D from MIT in Aeronautics / Astronautics. She has worked on multiple missions, such as Cassini (mission to Saturn) and GRAIL (some spacecraft flown in formation to the moon). She has been working on Mars 2020 since nearly the project’s inception in 2013 and currently works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA.
At the age of 9, after seeing “Star Trek” for the first time, Dr. Mohan was quite amazed at the beautiful images of the new regions of the universe they were exploring. She had immediately realized that she wanted to do that and “find new and beautiful places in the universe”. At the same time, Mohan also wanted to become a pediatrician until she was 16 years old. However, it was her first physics class and the “great teacher” she received that she saw “engineering” as a way to pursue her interest in space exploration.
Verma, who has been riding rovers on Mars since 2008, said the latest mission would help answer questions “that change what we know about our place in the universe.”
Born in India, Verma studied electrical engineering at Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh before moving to the United States where she obtained her PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.
When she joined NASA in 2004, female engineers were often the only woman in the room, she said. But things are changing.
NASA, which aims to land the first woman on the moon by 2024, is on a mission to increase diversity. According to the agency, women constituted 34% of the workforce in 2019, with 18% of senior academic positions, roughly tripling from 2009.
Verma said it was very exciting to see an increasing number of applications from women, adding that diverse teams led to more “creative, out-of-the-box thinking”.
British aerospace engineer Vinita Marwaha Madill – founder of Rocket Women, which aims to inspire women to choose STEM careers – said role models were vital.
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” she said Reuters, citing astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.
“Seeing someone like you can make you believe it is possible to achieve your goals,” said Marwaha Madill, whose own passion took flight after seeing Helen Sharman become the first British astronaut in space in 1991. .
Women like Mohan, the guide and chief of Mars’ mission, will “inspire the next generation to reach for the stars,” she said.
A 2018 NITI Ayog report ‘Status of Women in Science Among Select Institutions in India’ finds that more women than ever enroll in science. However, women don’t stay in the field of science long.
(With input from Reuters)