Students get up close with NASA Mars rover expert

There was an unusual throng of high school students at the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum in the city on Friday morning.

Some 300 girls and boys from seven schools managed to get up close to listen to and speak with Ann Devereaux, who is manager, spacecraft systems engineering, for NASA’s upcoming Mars Rover 2020 mission. She is the lead flight system engineer for the mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and has worked on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover project that has been a phenomenal success since 2012–13.

At VITM, Ms. Devereaux answered questions about space programmes, studies, and a career in space. She said she found Indian students highly curious and interested in space and science. India has enough educational opportunities for aerospace enthusiasts and they need not think only of going to the U.S. for it, she advised them. She said, “India is in the forefront of space exploration and is a great partner of the United States. The Chandrayaan-1 mission [was a spectacular success] confirmed the significant presence of water on moon. The recent Chandrayaan-2 mission has been a learning experience for Indian scientists.”

In India on a four-city visit under a Speakers Program of the U.S. Department of State, Ms. Devereaux has already visited Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and New Delhi in coordination with the U.S. Consulate-General in Chennai for interactions with students, startups, and teachers.

In the city, Ms. Devereaux addressed students at M.S. Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences; the Department of Aerospace Engineering, the Indian Institute of Science, and participated in a discussion with science teachers and master trainers at Agastya Science Centre on science and technology education.

A release said the Speakers Program connects U.S. experts with Indian audiences and institutions through lectures, workshops, and seminars, and its aim is to promote mutual understanding between the two peoples.