Meet NASA’s Swati Mohan, Indian-American who led Perseverance rover landing on Mars

Indian-American engineer Swati Mohan was among the team of scientists responsible for the successful landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover on February 18.

“Touchdown confirmed! Perseverance is safely on the surface of Mars, ready to begin seeking the signs of past life,” exclaimed Mohan, who played a crucial role in the landing.

The Perseverance rover will collect samples from Mars, which could possibly help scientists determine signs of past life on the planet.

Mohan is the Mars 2020 Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Operations Lead, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

According to a NASA website, Mohan completed her B.S from Cornell University in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and her M.S. and Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Aeronautics/Astronautics.

Mohan moved to the United States from India when she was one-year-old, and grew up in the Northern Virginia / Washington DC metro area.