India's women scientists breaking barriers in space exploration

New Delhi , March 2 : A video of NASA's Perseverance rover landing went viral early this month. The video making rounds on the internet featured a bindi-sporting Indian-American aerospace engineer named Swati Mohan, who was one of the many people who spearheaded the development and the landing system for the rover.

Swati, who skilfully landed the spacecraft, works at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). She is one of the many Indian women scientists, engineers and missile developers, who are leaving a trail for future generations. "Every day, there are so many exciting things happening that I am always in constant awe of what we get to do, and see, and learn, and the wonderful, incredibly talented people who make it possible. All the projects at JPL seek to expand human understanding, and are almost always first of a kind in some way," Swati said.

Neeta Lal, writing for the South China Morning Post, said there are many other Indian women shooting for the skies as successful space scientists, engineers, satellite launchers, missile developers and project heads of complex interstellar missions.

"Tessy Thomas is one of them. Known as the 'missile woman' of India, the 57-year-old, who has a doctorate in missile guidance, was the first woman scientist to helm an Indian missile project," Neeta said.