NASA Mars scientists inspire girls to ‘reach for the stars’

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – With “one of the coldest jobs in the world”, NASA rover operator Vandi Verma hopes high image of women in the latest Mars mission will inspire a new generation to pursue careers in a region traditionally dominated by men.

Her Verma colleague, Swati Mohan, made headlines around the world when she reported on how the Perseverance roller came to the Red Planet after its dangerous descent through a Martian atmosphere.

“It has definitely inspired girls everywhere. It has opened up people’s views on who can be a space engineer, ”Verma told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on International Women’s Day on Monday.

The space robot is operating the Perseverance – the most advanced astrobiology laboratory ever sent to another world – as it moves away from Mars looking for signs of a microbial past.

“I really think I have one of the coldest jobs in the world,” said Verma, who had an interest in space – like Mohan – inspired by childhood love from the TV series Star Trek.

“When Mars is visible in the sky you look at that little dot and you think right now that there is a robot out there doing commands that I asked it to to do. That’s pretty crazy. ”

Verma, which has been driving rovers on Mars since 2008, said the latest mission would help answer questions “that will change what we know about our place in the universe. ”.

Born in India, Verma studied electrical engineering at Punjab College of Engineering in Chandigarh before moving to the United States, where she received a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.

When she joined NASA in 2004, female engineers often found themselves the only woman in the room, she said. But things are changing.

NASA, which aims to land the first woman on the moon by 2024, has a mission to promote diversity. Women made up 34% of the workforce in 2019, holding 18% of senior scientific positions, about three times the figure for 2009, according to the group.

Verma said it was very interesting to see more and more applications from women, adding that diverse teams were leading to more “creative thinking, outside the box”.

But she said there was a long way to go to encourage more women into the STEM professions – science, technology, engineering and math.

ROLE MODES

British space engineer Vinita Marwaha Madill – founder of Rocket Women, which aims to encourage women to choose STEM careers – said role models were crucial.

“You can’t be the things you don’t see,” she said, picking up astronaut Sally Ride, the first U.S. woman in space.

“Seeing someone like you will make you believe that it is possible to achieve your goals,” said Marwaha Madill, who took her own passion after viewing Helen Sharman as the first British astronaut. in space in 1991.

Women like Mohan, the director of leadership and operations of the Mars mission, “inspire the next generation to reach for the stars,” she said.

In Britain, women make up about a quarter of people working in STEM subjects, excluding medicine and related fields where women outnumber men, according to WISE, an organization that aims to increase the number of women in STEM professions.

For engineering, the even more relaxed ratio with women makes up just over 10% of the workforce.

Marwaha Madill, project manager at a space exploration and robotics company in Ottawa, Canada, said it was crucial to change stereotypes as many girls decided to move away from science as young as 11 years old.

One way to get more girls into STEM subjects was to exercise their desire to change the world for the better.

“Young women seem to be disconnected … wanting to make a difference in the world, and knowing that they can make a positive impact through a career in science and engineering,” she said.

WISE spokeswoman Ruth Blanco said images of “men in hard hats and high-visibility clothing” may have put some girls off engineering and did not reflect the breadth of the outdoor jobs. there.

NASA’s Verma, who mocks driving the rover by raising a one-year-old couple – a boy and a girl, said unconscious bias is also a factor in shaping desires.

“Don’t speculate about what a child might be interested in because of their gender or race,” she said. “Don’t buy the Lego just for the boy. ”