Carina Umaña has been working at JPL for five years.
Photo: Carina Umaña / Courtesy
Carina Umaña, 34, was part of the working group of the NASA which made history this week by managing to bring a ‘rover’ to Mars.
The native of Santa Anna, the Savior, Works at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), located in Pasadena and which followed the process of the Perseverance mission that successfully brought this space exploration vehicle to the Red Planet.
She says that when she saw the device land could not hold back tears of emotion and confesses that it took almost three and a half years of work to make it a reality.
Umaña says he began studying criminal justice at Pasadena City College (PCC). “Just out of curiosity I took an elective electronics class and so I fell in love [de esta profesión]”, reveals.
Today he is an electronic development technician on the NASA team. That is, he works on building the electronic part of the prototypes.
“Engineers are the ones in charge of researching and designing. They come with me and say, ‘Do you think you can make this go away?’. Then I look for the parts and build it. “
“I’m very proud. We don’t all have this opportunity to work in a place like JPL. It’s amazing, because they are projects where we only have one opportunity. [para que salgan bien]”, Explains Umaña.
To young Latinos who want to work in this career, he tells them that “Don’t give up because what you want you get, you have to be patient and persevere”. It even indicates that there are engineers who have applied to enter the entity “more than 200 times”. “We must insist,” she says confidently.
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Carina thinks it’s important to have Latin representation in weighty institutions, as is the case at NASA: “You have to believe in yourself. Sometimes where we come from there are no opportunities.”
She is the mother of three children and when asked if she gives her time to develop her role as a mother and make history as a professional she says that “yes, everything can be … One as a woman always has the power to do everything “.
And he adds that one does not have to believe that because one has babies one can no longer. “There’s always a way of doing things. A woman, what can’t she do? We’re invincible,” she says with a laugh.
What was sent to the red planet?
The Perseverance is an exploration vehicle, a kind of all-terrain vehicle for navigating space. It took off from Earth more than six months ago and, after traveling nearly 300 million miles, reached Mars on 18 January.
The goal is to explore and see if there are microfossils and signs of past life at the site, CNN reported. Eventually it is planned to collect samples of rocks and soil; in addition, to record audios during the months that the astromobile remains in the place.