Like Nasa's Swati Mohan, India's women scientists are breaking barriers in space exploration
When Nasa scientist Swati Mohan confirmed the touchdown of the Perseverance rover on Mars and said it was "ready to begin seeking the signs of past life", the mission control centre in Pasadena, California, erupted in joy and high fives.
A video of that moment on February 18 has since gone viral, and congratulations have continued to pour in for the bindi-sporting Indian-American aerospace engineer, the head of guidance, navigation and control operations at the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory who skilfully landed the spacecraft after a seven-month, 300-million-mile journey.
What has made the success even sweeter for Mohan is that the Perseverance rover, which will explore the Martian terrain and atmosphere, had a descent into Mars' Jezero Crater that was described as "seven minutes of terror".
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"@DrSwatiMohan you made the Indian diaspora proud and inspire millions of young girls and generations to dream BIG. You broke the ceiling of 'DREAM for the sky, you will hit the roof for sure'," one admirer of Mohan gushed on Twitter.
Another wrote: "Got choked up seeing Dr Swati Mohan and showed my daughter. First thing she said: 'look, she's wearing a bindi too AND driving a rocket!''' remarked another, referring to the decorative forehead dot worn by Hindu women on the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere.
For Mohan, 38, an alumnus of Cornell University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology who migrated to the US with her parents from southern Karnataka when she was just a year old, the mission marked a personal and professional high. It was something she had dreamed of achieving ever since she became part of the Nasa operation in 2013.
Like Mohan, 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. Broadening the horizons of science on Earth and beyond, they are shattering the glass ceiling while inspiring millions.
Tessy Thomas in front of one of the long-range nuclear-capable Agni missiles she helped design. Photo: Getty Images
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. She was also instrumental in designing long-range missile systems used in ballistic and nuclear missiles.
As the director general of aeronautical systems and the former project director for the Agni-IV missile at the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Thomas has significantly contributed to the country's technological innovations.
She was hailed by former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh as an example of a "woman making her mark in a traditionally male bastion and decisively breaking the glass ceiling". Also known as Agni Putri, or "one born from fire", because of her contribution in developing ballistic missiles, Thomas says the key to achieving one's dreams is "to remain focused on your goals, [be] confident in your abilities and never stop learning".
Aerospace engineer Ritu Karidhal Srivastava subscribes to the same theory. While serving as the deputy operations director of India's Mars orbiter mission Mangalyaan in 2013, she helped India make history in becoming the first nation to reach Martian orbit in its maiden attempt. Later, as mission director of the Chandrayaan-2 mission at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Srivastava helmed one of India's most ambitious lunar projects, detailing and executing the craft's onwards autonomy system.
Aerospace engineer Ritu Karidhal Srivastava helped India become the first nation to reach Martian orbit in its maiden attempt. Photo: handout
At a TED Talks event in 2017, Srivastava recalled how the cosmos always intrigued her as a child. She said she was mesmerised by "the size of the moon, why it increases and decreases. I wanted to know what lay behind the dark spaces. I also collected newspaper clippings about Nasa and ISRO projects, while reading up on anything related to space science."
Srivastava described herself as a "simple girl" with middle-class values who was nevertheless focused on the big picture.
"Self-belief and confidence are all you need to achieve the impossible," she said. "Indian parents are increasingly supporting their daughters to take up careers in fields traditionally considered fit only for boys, and the gender barriers are disappearing.
"Once girls see that there are lots of women in the space programme they also get motivated; they think if she can do it, so can they."
Despite the stellar achievements of these women scientists, and dozens of others, critics say India is yet to successfully tap the full potential of its female scientific community. According to the United Nations, women constitute just 14 per cent of the 280,000 scientists, engineers and technologists in research development institutions in India.
Looking to address the deficit, India's new Science Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 aims to encourage women scientists through various initiatives. The government is setting up 11 chairs in the name of 20th-century women scientists, across Indian universities in fields like cytogenetics, organic chemistry and social sciences. The chairs, which will be set up for an initial period of five years, will also be eligible for research funds of about US$1.5 million.
Last October, Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan also unveiled schemes to encourage prominent and upcoming women researchers to undertake research and development activities in science and engineering, and confidently grow into their careers like electronics systems engineer Muthayya Vanitha did.
Vanitha, who is from the southern city of Chennai, joined ISRO as a scientist-engineer over three decades ago. Apart from being project director of Chandrayaan 2, she has also initiated satellite projects such as the Cartosat-1, Oceansat-2 and Megha-Tropiques.
She said in an interview with Forbes that although her engineering skills opened up many career doors, when ISRO offered her the project director's job for Chandrayaan-2 she at first doubted herself but then "went ahead and took the challenge and I enjoyed it".
"When life throws challenges at you, it will also give you the strength and the grace to face the challenges," she said.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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