I work as a Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. My job is very interdisciplinary but generally revolves around operating rover missions on Mars – the ultimate remote work experience! I’m involved in two Mars rover missions: the Curiosity rover and the Perseverance rover. Curiosity has been on Mars since 2012 and is still going strong! I help make decisions about what the rover is going to do, for example: where to drive to, what to take photos of, what to shoot the laser at. Being able to see brand-new, never-before-seen images of Mars is by far the best part of being on the Curiosity team!
The Perseverance rover is NASA’s latest Mars rover that is scheduled to launch THIS summer and land on Mars in February 2021. We are very busy making preparations for surface operations for when Perseverance lands on Mars. This involves a lot of rover hardware testing to figure out how the rover will drill and collect rock and regolith samples. We’re also busy training the science team to be able to operate the rover smoothly once it lands. To do this, we’ve had a few field training exercises to simulate the rover operations procedures. Rover teams are made up of hundreds of scientists and engineers from all over the world, so teamwork and communication are the most important factors in making NASA missions successful.
Since we can’t send people to Mars just yet, sending car-sized rovers is the next best thing to help us get closer to answering fundamental questions about the Red Planet: Did Mars host environments that may have supported life in the past? Did life ever evolve on Mars? How has Mars’ climate evolved over time? What can the geologic rock record on Mars tell us about ancient environments and how they’ve changed over time? How can we prepare to send humans to Mars?
I first became interested in science and NASA when I was in high school and had the opportunity to attend Space Camp in Huntsville, AL. A lifelong athlete, I really enjoy teamwork-oriented jobs, which is why jobs in mission operations have always appealed to me. My advice to young, aspiring scientists would be that if you find something that truly inspires you, pursue it! Meet new people, ask questions, and never stop exploring!
Follow Rachel’s updates on her website, Twitter, or Instagram! Another website folks might be interested in: NASA’s Mars exploration website. It’s frequently updated with rover mission updates and has tons of info about past, present, and future missions to Mars: https://mars.nasa.gov/