As NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on the surface of Mars after seven months in space, an Indian-American named Dr Swati Mohan, first confirmed that the rover had survived a particularly tricky plunge into the Martian atmosphere.
This Indian American Swati Mohan virtually spearheaded the successful landing of Perseverance that will search for signs on life on the Red Planet.
Swati Mohan has participated in several key NASA missions like the Cassini (a mission to Saturn) and GRAIL (a pair of spacecrafts in formation on the Moon).
She immigrated to the US from India when she was just age one and was inspired by ‘Star Trek’ series at age 9.
Mohan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University and has completed her MS and PhD from MIT in Aeronautics/Astronautics.
Mohan wanted to be a pediatrician but she was inspired by her first physics class and saw “engineering” as a way to further her interest in space exploration.
She has been a member of the Perseverance Rover mission since its inception at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.