Meet MiMi Aung, who led the design for the Mars helicopter that's exploring the Red Planet's craters and atmosphere.
MiMi Aung was still a young girl when she learned a lesson that has defined her career at NASA. Struggling with a math problem, she sought guidance from her mother, who had a doctorate in the subject. She soon tired of Mom’s long explanation and demanded a quick answer. Aung vividly recalls the stern rebuke from the usually soft-spoken woman: “Never, never ask me for a shortcut.”
NASA hopes to prove the technology works well enough to develop larger choppers that could collect samples, perform aerial surveys, and even ferry cargo on future missions. Such a machine could explore volcanoes and lava tubes, fly through canyons, and investigate other areas rovers can’t reach and probes can’t see.“It’s more than just flying on another planet,” says Aung, who oversees the helicopter’s construction and testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Engineering challenges like that are what drew Aung to JPL in 1990. Her fascination with space started when she was a child in Myanmar. Although she was born in the U.S., where her parents earned their doctorates, the family returned home when she was a toddler. Growing up without much material wealth, Aung often gazed at the starry sky, wondering if we’re alone. “The less you have, the more you think about those things,” she says.
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