Who is Dr Swati Mohan, the Indo-American scientist behind NASA’s rover landing on Mars?
Dr Mohan is the Mars 2020 Guidance, Navigation and Controls (GN&C) Operations Lead in NASA.
She is the lead systems engineer and also led the attitude control system of Mars 2020 during operations.
She is the key communicator between the GN&C subsystem and the rest of the teams working on this project.
She completed her BS from Cornell University in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and later received her MS & PhD from MIT in Aeronautics.
The popular science fiction franchise ‘Star Trek’ inspired her to take an interest in space.
She wanted to become a paediatrician until she was 16 and later decided to pursue her interest in space exploration.
She has been working on Mars 2020 since the beginning (~ 7 years) and currently works from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA.
She has also been a part of several other successful NASA missions, such as Cassini and GRAIL.
"Touchdown confirmed! Perseverance is safely on the surface of Mars, ready to begin seeking the signs of past life," exclaimed Dr Mohan on the historic victory of NASA.
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