On Thursday, as NASA’s Perseverance rover produced a effective landing on the Red Planet, it was Indian-American scientist Swati Mohan who led the guidance, navigation, and manage operations of the Mars 2020 mission.
“Touchdown confirmed,” mentioned operations lead Dr Swati Mohan at about 3:55 PM Eastern Time (2055 GMT), as mission manage at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena erupted in cheers. A video of the moment, released by NASA, shows Dr Mohan wearing a smaller bindi on her forehead – a detail that was rapidly picked up on and became a speaking point on desi Twitter.
The parachute has been deployed! @NASAPersevere is on her way to total her #CountdownToMars: pic.twitter.com/i29Wb4rYlo
— NASA (@NASA) February 18, 2021
Dr Mohan emigrated to the US from India when she was only a year old. Raised in Northern Virginia and Washington DC metro region, she completed her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, and her M.S. and Ph.D from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Aeronautics/Astronautics.
The tiny bindi she wore generated a substantial buzz on social media.
Big really like for Swati Mohan, rocking that bindi in the manage space ❤️ pic.twitter.com/cmNdBpWFKB
— Sumen Desktronaut Rai (@sumenrai79) February 18, 2021
“Touchdown confirmed” announced @DrSwatiMohan, ???????? origin GN&C operations lead as @NASA‘s #Perseverance landed inside a Mars crater.
No more the Hidden Figure in Space , ‘Lady with the Bindi’ Dr Swati has produced ???????? proud & inspired females across ???? to attain for ✨ ???? & Mars! pic.twitter.com/AFZYZzqyrA
— Lakshmi M Puri (@lakshmiunwomen) February 19, 2021
Congrats to #MARS2020 group, led by #SwatiMohan, 4 producing confident spacecraft carrying #PerseveranceRover was oriented in rt path. She offered commentary from mission manage at it is entry, descent at 12,000 mph & slowing it 4 soft landing. Beauty with brain, bindi & braids ! pic.twitter.com/c01aV2mgsA
— Seema Hakhu Kachru (@Seemahkachru) February 19, 2021
Many took to the microblogging platform to thank Dr Mohan for wearing a bindi, saying that they had been bullied for undertaking the identical
Gotta say I got feels seeing Dr. Mohan announce the rover touchdown. I wonder exactly where these little ones are who would tease me about my mom’s bindi back in the day (the Bay Area wasn’t usually a vast melting pot of diversity)https://t.co/PDratKUJ9O
— Chandan Narayan | ಚಂದನ್ ನಾರಾಯಣ್ (@GutStrings) February 18, 2021
I wore a bindi in elementary college till I was old sufficient to notice and really feel self conscious about people’s comments. Admittedly, I nevertheless hesitate to post childhood photos due to the fact of it. Swati Mohan’s produced me smile 🙂 https://t.co/wfmeoYk0Of
— Hema Mullur (@HemaMullur) February 18, 2021
listen.
i wore a bindi by means of key college and got bullied, physically bullied, for it. this is undertaking all types of items to me. ????
swati mohan in mission manage, thank you. #NASAPerseverance— Anuradha Damale (@anulikesstars) February 18, 2021
Others referred to as it a step towards creating more diverse and inclusive workspaces
– Love how my Twitter feed loves space wins
– Striking how considerably more diverse NASA is than the yrs of white-guys-in-a-specific-age-group
– That’s Dr. Swati Mohan, sporting a bindi no significantly less – esp resonant cuz memories nevertheless linger of racist/anti-immigrant “dotbusters”#Perseverancepic.twitter.com/wo3BRwHJ8w— Tanvi Madan (@tanvi_madan) February 18, 2021
REPRESENT! Dr. Swati Mohan @DrSwatiMohan. An inspiration for budding scientists about the planet. ???????? #Mars#Mars2020#CountdownToMars#NASAPerseverancepic.twitter.com/Z49S8uZSdl
— Vikram Barhat (@vikrambarhath) February 19, 2021
Dr. Swati Mohan (@DrSwatiMohan) has inspired a new generation of scientists today. ???????????????????????? #Mars2020pic.twitter.com/9oJY2wx3wF
— Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) February 18, 2021
Although her bindi captured most of the interest, significantly less apparent was Dr Mohan’s braid – the Indian-origin scientist got her hair dyed blue for the occasion
EDL household voted and I drew the straw for dyeing my hair per their request for landing day. 7 hours to entry. Landing about at 12:55pm. At JPL and prepared to go! pic.twitter.com/96n3U3NQEs
— Swati Mohan (@DrSwatiMohan) February 18, 2021
Over the course of her profession with NASA, Dr 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 because its starting in 2013.
She says her interest in space peaked just after watching Star Trek at the age of nine – and it only elevated when she took her initially 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,” Dr Mohan mentioned.
Commenting on her team’s part in the present mission, Dr Mohan mentioned for the duration of the cruise phase heading toward Mars, their job is to figure out how the spacecraft is oriented, and make confident it is pointed appropriately in space — “solar arrays to sun, antenna to Earth, and maneuver the spacecraft to get it where we want to go.”