"Touchdown confirmed," exclaimed Swati Mohan, the Indian-American scientist at NASA, as 2020 made a historic landing on the Mars. The rover had survived a particularly tricky plunge through the Martian atmosphere. And it was Swati Mohan who led the guidance, navigation and control operations of the Mars 2020 mission.
The Guidance, Navigation and Controls Operations (GN&C) are "eyes and ears" of the spacecraft, said Swati, who emigrated from India to the US when she was only a year old. Raised in Northern Virginia and Washington DC metro area, Swati Mohan completed her bachelor's degree from Cornell University in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and her Masters in Science and Ph.D from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Aeronautics/Astronautics.
Over the course of her career with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Swati Mohan has worked on the Cassini mission to Saturn and GRAIL — a pair of formation flown spacecraft to the Moon, and has been a mainstay with the Mars 2020 mission since its beginning in 2013. According to Swati Mohan, her interest in space was peaked after watching the popular TV show Star Trek when she was nine.
"Seeing the beautiful depictions of the new regions of the universe that they were exploring. I remember thinking 'I want to do that. I want to find new and beautiful places in the universe.' The vastness of space holds so much knowledge that we have only begun to learn," she had told NASA.
Swati Mohan noted that her passion for space increased further when she took her first physics class. "I was lucky enough to have a great teacher, and everything was so understandable and easy. That was when I really considered engineering, as a way to pursue space," she added.
Commenting on her team's role in the current mission, Mohan said during the cruise phase heading toward Mars, their job is to figure out how the spacecraft is oriented, and make sure it is pointed correctly in space -— "solar arrays to sun, antenna to Earth, and manoeuvre the spacecraft to get it where we want to go."
Watch: Swati Mohan announcing the touchdown
Touchdown confirmed. The #CountdownToMars is complete, but the mission is just beginning. pic.twitter.com/UvOyXQhhN9
— NASA (@NASA) February 18, 2021
She said during the "seven minutes of terror" leading to the entry, descent, and landing on Mars, GN&C determines the position of the spacecraft and commands the maneuvers to help it land safely. "As the team's operations lead, I am the primary point of communication between the GN&C subsystem and the rest of the project. I am responsible for the training of the GN&C team, scheduling the mission control staffing for GN&C, as well as the policies/procedures the GN&C uses in the mission control room," Swati Mohan noted.
"@NASAPersevere is still in space right now, about 9,000 miles from Mars. So far, she is healthy and on course."
— NASA (@NASA) February 18, 2021
Swati Mohan, @NASAJPL engineer on the rover's landing team, provides a status update on the #CountdownToMars: pic.twitter.com/g5lSdyPPkW
Political leaders, scientists, academicians and others lauded Swati Mohan following the success of the mission.
Congratulations to @DrSwatiMohan, Guidance, Navigations and Control Operations Lead for @NASAPersevere.
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) February 19, 2021
Proud moment for India and the world.
Thrilled to see @NASAJPL and its scientists break new frontiers in science and expand our scope of knowledge. pic.twitter.com/XuqGq0BsZ8
For anyone else who wondered who that fabulous scientist was on the NASA live feed today https://t.co/2v8gIhDamK
— Dr. Michelle I. Turner (@Chaco_arch) February 19, 2021
A proud moment for India her daughter Swati Mohan is one of the leaders leading NASA’s mission to Mars.
— Lord Rami Ranger CBE (@RamiRanger) February 18, 2021
- Love how my Twitter feed loves space wins
— Tanvi Madan (@tanvi_madan) February 18, 2021
- Striking how much more diverse NASA is than the yrs of white-guys-in-a-certain-age-group
- That's Dr. Swati Mohan, sporting a bindi no less - esp resonant cuz memories still linger of racist/anti-immigrant "dotbusters"#Perseverance pic.twitter.com/wo3BRwHJ8w
Dr. Swati Mohan (@DrSwatiMohan) has inspired a new generation of scientists today. #Mars2020 pic.twitter.com/9oJY2wx3wF
— Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) February 18, 2021