MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino-American engineer has performed a vital function within the profitable touchdown of NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars, the US embassy in Manila mentioned on Friday.
Gregorio Villar III, 33, was tasked to supervise the profitable entry, descent and touchdown of Perseverance on Mars.
“As we rejoice the profitable touchdown of NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars, DidYouKnow that Fil-Am engineer Gregorio Villar III helped with its secure touchdown because the Entry, Descent and Touchdown (EDL) Techniques Engineer of the Mars 2020 Mission?” the US embassy mentioned in a submit on Twitter.
The NASA Perseverance rover safely landed on Mars at 3:55 p.m. Thursday (Jap Time), after its 292.5 million-mile journey, the company confirmed. The rover landed itself flawlessly, in response to the mission’s group.
Percy, because the spacecraft known as at mission management, despatched again its first photos of the touchdown web site instantly after landing, which confirmed the rover’s shadow on the floor of its touchdown web site of Jezero Crater, CNN reported.
Villar was born within the US to Filipino dad and mom.
He obtained a NASA scholarship throughout his junior 12 months on the California State Polytechnic College.
He had his internship at a jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) then spent two years doing analysis in astrophysics.
He obtained his masters in Astronautical Engineering at College of Southern California.
“I began interning at JPL in 2010 and received employed full-time in 2012,” he mentioned in his profile. He mentioned his childhood dream was to turn into an astronaut.
In an interview with Teleradyo yesterday, Villar credited his NASA journey to his highschool training within the Philippines.
“I thank a part of my training within the Philippines for that. I studied a lot within the Philippines, my basis in math and physics due to my lecturers there in highschool,” he mentioned.
Villar studied on the Saint Louis College Laboratory Excessive Faculty in Baguio Metropolis. He mentioned he was not the one Filipino who labored on the historic mission.
“There are different Filipinos who labored on Perseverance as nicely. Not simply me,” Villar mentioned.
When requested for his recommendation to college students thinking about the same profession, Villar mentioned: “Though it’s a cliché, it is extremely essential to pursue one thing you like. I’ve labored at JPL for over 12 years, and there may be not often a day that I really feel like I’m going to work.” – Janvic Mateo
