{"id":6520,"date":"2013-05-26T16:13:44","date_gmt":"2013-05-26T23:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planets.ucla.edu\/?p=6520"},"modified":"2021-01-18T01:37:19","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T09:37:19","slug":"ucla-alum-ashwin-vasavada-answers-questions-about-his-work-with-the-mars-science-laboratory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/planets.ucla.edu\/?p=6520","title":{"rendered":"UCLA Alum Ashwin Vasavada answers questions about his work with the Mars Science Laboratory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As Deputy Project Scientist of NASA\u2019s Mars Science Laboratory, Ashwin Vasavada works with other mission scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA to decide where the Curiosity rover will next travel on Mars.\u00a0 Vasavada, who received a B.S. in Geophysics and Space Physics from UCLA in 1992, describes what it is like to command a rover on Mars and gives advice to aspiring planetary scientists.<\/p>\n

What inspired you to study planetary science and Mars in particular?<\/strong>
\nThe late 1970s and early 1980s are sometimes referred to as the Golden Age of planetary exploration.\u00a0 NASA landed its first spacecraft on Mars, and the twin Voyagers began a \u2018grand tour\u2019 of the outer solar system.\u00a0 I remember being fascinated as a young kid by the pictures from these missions, especially those taken from the surface of Mars, as if one were standing right there and looking out at eye level.\u00a0 It was amazing to me that there were entire other worlds out there, exotic, but yet familiar, with rocks and soil and sky.\u00a0 Even though I grew up with the space shuttle, I never wanted to be an astronaut.\u00a0 It was these robotic probes that really took my imagination.<\/p>\n

What has been the most exciting part of working on the MSL mission?<\/strong>
\nAfter ten years working on MSL, I\u2019ve had practically every emotion.\u00a0 There\u2019s a deep satisfaction in working with a group of talented people who are at the top of their game.\u00a0 JPL has the best engineers around, and they give it their all to help us scientists conduct our experiments on other planets.\u00a0 In 2008, we had to make the difficult decision to delay our launch by two years.\u00a0 The complexity of the rover was proving too challenging for our schedule, and Mars only comes around every two years for a launch.\u00a0 That was tough, but fortunately NASA stuck with it.\u00a0 Given all the great media coverage, you might think I would say that the landing was the most exciting.\u00a0 But actually, the moment I will never forget is the launch of Curiosity from Cape Canaveral.\u00a0 Only then, staring at this massive rocket and hearing it thunder to the sky, did I fully grasp that we little humans were hurling a one-ton emissary to another planet.\u00a0 And my family and close friends were there with me, watching along.<\/p>\n

What is your favorite image returned by Curiosity so far?<\/strong>
\nProbably my favorite images are the distant panoramas of Mt. Sharp, the 3-mile-high mountain that is the main scientific target for Curiosity.\u00a0 It\u2019s a gorgeous mountain, with canyons carved into its slopes by wind and water.\u00a0 The foothills form layered buttes, like the badlands in the Dakotas.\u00a0 You can follow ancient stream beds uphill until they wind around some corner between sheer walls.\u00a0 If we\u2019re fortunate, we\u2019ll be there in a year or so, dwarfed by those hills.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The base of Mt. Sharp, the Curiosity rover\u2019s final destination on Mars. Image Credit: NASA\/JPL\/Caltech\/MSSS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What was your best experience at UCLA? \u00a0<\/strong>
\nAttending UCLA couldn\u2019t have worked out better for me.\u00a0 Like many students, I wasn\u2019t exactly sure where I was headed when I arrived.\u00a0 I chose UCLA because, of the schools that gave me admission, it alone excelled in both the sciences and the arts.\u00a0 I was seriously contemplating a career in music back then, and UCLA gave me the chance to continue to perform alongside music majors while studying science.\u00a0 Grad school at Caltech was five years locked in a laboratory, so I\u2019m so grateful that at UCLA I had the classic college experience–weeknights studying hard, then playing in the marching band at the Rose Bowl on Saturday!<\/p>\n

What advice would you give to aspiring planetary scientists?<\/strong>
\nProbably my favorite piece of advice is to not let the \u2018planetary\u2019 distract from the \u2018scientist\u2019.\u00a0 Many young scientists want to immediately join the current, big mission, almost like running away to the circus.\u00a0 And like the circus, it\u2019s exciting, but somewhat career-limiting!\u00a0 My advice would be to find a research topic you love, maybe even in Earth science, since that\u2019s often where the state of the art resides.\u00a0 Dive into it for graduate school and a few postdocs, and let NASA come knocking on your door to ask you to join the next mission, because you\u2019re now the expert.\u00a0 Stay focused on being the best scientist you can be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Deputy Project Scientist of NASA\u2019s Mars Science Laboratory, Ashwin Vasavada works with other mission scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA to decide where the Curiosity rover will next travel on Mars.\u00a0 Vasavada, who received a B.S. in Geophysics and Space Physics from UCLA in 1992, describes what it is like to … <\/p>\n

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