Inspired by Star Trek, this Indian-American led the NASA rover to land on Mars

Swati Mohan, an Indian-American scientist, was in-charge of handling the controls and landing system of Mars Perseverance Rover when it landed on the Martian surface.

Mohan navigated a particularly difficult touchdown leading the landing system of the rover.

As it made the historic landing, Mohan announced “Touchdown confirmed!” She has been associated with Perseverance Rover since its establishment, and was working on the project for over seven years.

She was also a part of Nasa’s Cassini mission to Saturn.

Mohan moved to America when she just a year old. She spent her childhood in the Northern Virginia-Washington DC metro area.

After watching ‘Star Trek’ for the first time at the age of 9, she was amused by the beautiful depictions of the new regions of the universe. She realised she wanted to find a new and beautiful place in the universe.

Though Mohan wanted to be a pediatrician initially, her first physics class and teacher changed her mind and made her consider engineering as a means to pursue her interest in space exploration.

After working on several projects, Mohan led one of the most ambitious missions to bring back rocks from Mars to find signs of ancient life on the Red Planet.

The independently led procedure was completed more than 11 minutes earlier, which is the period required for the radio signals to reach the Earth.

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