Episode #210: A Journey of Perseverance

On this week's episode, we're joined by Diana Trujillo to discuss the latest updates from the Mars Perseverance mission, how the space industry can work toward becoming more inclusive of the Latinx community, as well as Diana’s personal journey into the space industry.

Diana Trujillo is an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she has served as a Flight Director and as the Robotic Arm System domain lead for the Mars Perseverance mission.

Born and raised in Colombia, Diana immigrated to the United States at the age of 17 to pursue her dream of working for NASA.  She enrolled in English as a Second Language courses, working full-time to support her studies in community college and later at the University of Florida and University of Maryland.  After graduating, she worked on the Cygnus International Space Station resupply vehicle before joining JPL.

Prior to her work with the Perseverance mission, Diana worked in several roles on the Mars Curiosity and Constellation programs since joining JPL in 2008.  Most recently, she served as the Mission Lead, Deputy Project System Engineer, and Deputy Team Chief of the Engineering division for Curiosity (also known as the Mars Science Laboratory).

In addition to her technical roles at JPL, Diana also created and hosted #JuntosPerseveramos, NASA’s first ever Spanish-language live broadcast of a major mission milestone, attracting a global audience of millions.  She continues to provide English- and Spanish-language updates on the Perseverance mission via NASA’s Martes de Marte weekly video series and via her Twitter account.