Meet Dr.Swati Mohan, star of NASA’s epic Mars mission

Swati Mohan is the guidance and control operations lead for NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, meaning she has basically been in charge of making sure the spacecraft carrying the Perseverance rover is oriented in the right direction. As Perseverance came in for its high-stakes landing Thursday, Mohan also provided much of the commentary from mission control during its tense entry, descent and landing.

“Touchdown confirmed! Perseverance is safely on the surface of Mars, ready to begin seeking the signs of past life,” Mohan announced after the landing, as cheers erupted in the mission control room.

Numerous people took to social media to praise Mohan during and after NASA’s coverage of the landing. Follow Spotlife Asia for the latest news and updates.

Prior to the landing, Mohan provided several updates on the status of the rover. For example, at one point she said: “The spacecraft Perseverance is currently transmitting heartbeat tones. These tones indicate that Perseverance is operating normally and has nothing significant to report.”

Mohan led the attitude control system of the Mars 2020 mission during its nearly seven-month, 293-million-mile journey, and was also the lead systems engineer throughout the development phase.

Born in India, Swati Mohan grew up in the United States, in the North Virginia – Washington DC metropolitan area. With a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering and a PhD in aeronautics/astronautics, the scientist has worked on several NASA missions, including the Cassini space probe (launched in 1997) to explore Saturn and the two GRAIL spacecraft sent to the Moon (2012). She joined the “Mars 2020” project in 2013, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, California).

According to information on the NASA website, her passion for the world of space started at the age of 9, after watching an episode of the famous science fiction series “Star Trek.”