“With fries, cake and everything,” Diana Trujillo celebrated the arrival of the robot Perseverance on Mars at her home last Thursday. A great event for humanity that she, one of the leaders of this mission, had the opportunity to broadcast in Spanish to the Spanish-speaking community live and direct, through the program ‘Together we will persevere’, by networks social media and NASA JPL.
The amartizaje without mishaps has joyful it, since this aerospace engineer and her equipment were the ones in charge to integrate all the physical, electrical and computer parts of the robot, so that it does all tasks in the red planet.
On her own initiative, the “deputy leader of the robotic arm and science of the arm and leader of the program of examinations of travel operations,” positions she holds at NASA, wanted that for the first time in the history of the agency, a space mission would be broadcast in Spanish.
That is why, for a long time, he insisted to the Director of Communications of NASA JPL to allow him to make the transmission of such an event. In October last year she was given the green light and Diana began writing the script for the show and looking for people and characters who could go to the show. Later it was united to the professionals of Communication of the NASA in Spanish to produce, to finish recording and later to transmit the amartizaje live.
About this experience as a presenter, the mission of Perseverance and some curiosities, Diana Trujillo, a former student of Colegio Canyars de Cali, spoke with El País:
Since when did the idea of transmitting a space mission come to you?
Seven years ago, when we arrived with Curiosity (another mission to Mars where Diana participated). I was having lunch with a friend who is married to a Mexican woman and he told me, “you should do a broadcast of these missions in Spanish.” That stuck in my head, until I was able to get it (laughs).
Was he able to sleep peacefully last Wednesday?
(Laughs). Yes, you know what? She was not nervous. You know when you give it your all and when you’ve done things half-heartedly. I wasn’t nervous, because I’ve worked with the people I’ve been working with for a very long time, I’ve known them since the previous mission. I’ve been there with them doing the exams, I’ve done the exams myself, I’ve evaluated what we’ve done myself and I was convinced at this point, that we had done everything we had to do and that’s why it turned out so well.
Where did it transmit from?
From a NASA office, where I was alone. I was connected directly to the line of communication of the flight director I was listening to.
On Thursday, two important events took place: the transmission and the landing. What made her more nervous?
You know? I’m not a person who gets nervous like that. For the transmission I prepared, I did everything I had to do to help myself in whatever way I could and I wasn’t nervous. Not even when we had two small technical problems, by audio, in the program.
What did it mean for you to know that Perseverance had touched Mars? His joy was overflowing …
It made me laugh because I was conveying everything I was translating and then when we already received the photo sent by the robot it was when I said, “ok, my God, we’re here.” Because, that’s how you touched the floor, there may be things that went wrong. The photo helps a lot to know the distance you are at or at least to know if the perspective is correct. That the rockets flying over the robot have not fallen on him. Then, when the photo came, here yes, I already relaxed.
In this image the Rover Perseverance was about to touch the ground of Mars.
NASA’s Twitter Perseverance Mars Rover
Was the planned schedule met? Is the mission going well?
Yes, it’s amazing how we got in, no problem, without anything telling us to worry. I’m sure when we start doing the reconstruction, we’ll be able to find one or two things, because perfect in itself, nothing. But during the time we were receiving the information, we received it as we needed it and at the time we needed it. Noooo, I still don’t believe it. It’s just that this doesn’t even happen in the movies … All right here: the robot touched the floor and then came the photo (laughs).
I’ll tell you one more thing, which I think it’s cool for them to know. When we entered the surface of Mars after several steps, the robot begins to take pictures and compare the photos it takes of the surface, with the photos it has in its brain, because what we tell the robot is: “Here’s the map, based on the photos taken by the orbiters that are around Mars. Now, as soon as you get to Mars you start taking pictures and identifying, ‘this photo is the one here.'” He begins to guide himself alone. Then when you are taking this photo calculate what photo you have, to know where it is; at this point in doing all these photos, the lone vehicle decides where to go. This is the new part of the technology we have on the mission, which is extremely complicated, because if you don’t know where you are, because you don’t know where to travel and we’re talking about a rocket that is trying to manipulate itself.
Why is getting to Mars so important to humanity?
There are four things that are on my mind right now: the first, because the goal of the mission is to evidence if there was microbial life on the surface of Mars in the past. This, indirectly, answers the question of whether we are alone in the universe. The second is what science does to answer this question.
The third is because we are advancing in technology to be able to take humans to Mars later. For example, making oxygen is one of the things we will do; flying a helicopter to Mars for the first time, is another; the one in the photos, the entrance. We are doing things from two sides. This is one of the reasons why I am fascinated by this mission. It is to answer, are we alone in the universe? We do solid science and additionally, we think about the human being when he comes and how to help him.
Should the robot stay on Mars for two years?
I’ll tell you the full photo so you can see how it works. The first is to know that the Rover stays there. The Curiosity mission had to find out if there was a possibility of sustaining life. Then follows Perseverance. Curiosity said: the possibility of sustaining life is on Mars; now Perseverance says, we seek. We answer if there was life on Mars in the past and we collect samples in pencil-sized tubes. Once this was done, the next mission brought a small robot to collect these pencils and return them to Earth.
When the next mission goes back and forth, we would demonstrate another step: that of returning. We have shown that we can go, carry heavy things, land automatically, make oxygen and carry various things. Now we will prove that we can come back. At the moment, we are practically saying, at NASA: all the steps are there, now we can take the human.
Do you know how many people followed the broadcast you made?
The last time I watched there were 1.7 million views on You Tube.
Did you see that your name search went up 2,450% in the last few hours in Colombia after the broadcast?
(Laughs). I had been told something like that, but I didn’t know the number.
Did you know that on Thursday your name was among the most searched terms in Colombia?
Oh, my God (laughs). But the idea is not Diana Trujillo, the idea are the three reasons why I wanted to do the broadcast. One, she wanted her grandmothers to see her, because they would say to one, ‘look at me, take care’ and look at me. Two, let his parents see him; these are the times when they tell one, ‘do it to her, if she can, you can’. And the third is that children, young people or young people who are trying to decide what to do with their lives, seeing the broadcast would say, ‘this is the job I want’. That was what I wanted. We as Colombians help each other a lot, we are a very big family. So the more people know that this is possible, the more people can become NASA scientists and engineers.
What advice do you give to girls who saw her, know her job and dream of becoming like you?
I advise you a couple of things: look for what you like to do, not outside, but inside, in your heart. What things do you like? Why do you like them? Find-. Identify. And get closer to that dream. It’s yours, it’s what you want and it’s in your heart, that won’t change. Now, look what to do with this. Look for people who have worked in this area – what they did, how they did it, what they didn’t do, and do your route based on this information, to help you get started. Then you can change course as you wish. It never occurred to me to do a presentation like the one I did, in which I was seen by over a million people (laughs). Then it is understood if you are asking for advice, because you need help or to be validated. If it’s the last one don’t do it. You know what you want. Let’s not fall into a situation that will give you sadness, when someone else says, ‘don’t mija, you can’t do this’. You have to do it, with curiosity and perseverance. You can achieve it.
Did your father see the broadcast in Cali?
Yes, my father (Eduardo) saw her in Cali, she lives there. My grandmother and my aunt too. The only ones living in the United States are my mother (Patricia) and me. My crying grandmother, happy, saw her in Signal Colombia and my aunt too. My father sent me a message and I think I was crying; even though it was just audio, you didn’t notice it much, but I would say, “yeah, he’s crying” (laughs).
What is your message to Colombians that we are proud of their work and leadership in such an achievement …
Thank you so much for always being here. Every time I do something, you show up, support me, tell me to keep going, give me encouragement. My message to all of you, with all the love of the universe, is thank you so much for continuing to support me, for continuing to say that I can move forward. I want to keep bringing them messages from science and the advances we have made.
About outrageous Italian press headline
Last weekend there was a stir in the media and social media in Colombia by the headline used by the newspaper La Repubblica, Italy, to report on the work as aerospace engineer of Diana Trujillo at NASA and her participation in the mission he carried last Thursday, the Perseverance robot to Mars.
The note was titled ‘From Colombia dei narcos to Mars, the scientist who moves the probe’ (‘From Colombia from the narcos to Mars, the scientist who moves the probe’). Last Saturday night, when El País approached the caleña to find out if she wanted to comment on the unfortunate matter, she was not yet aware of it. For her it was a surprise.
After learning what it was all about, with the delicacy and tranquility that characterize it, he said: “Colombia must continue to be known for the talent that we produce every day innovative people, artists, athletes and even space engineers, that exemplify the beautiful culture of our country “