A NASA engineer making space for others

Dr Farah Alibay was invited to speak at the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT). Her keynote was part of the Women Leaders conference series, organised by the university’s Gender Equality Office to highlight women with atypical journeys and their perspectives on gender equality. The goal is "to bring inspirational women to engage in conversations with the young researchers in Luxembourg, aiming to break stereotypes and show that women are remarkable and effective leaders". Everyday sexism took centre stage in Alibay’s speech, delivered on the morning before our interview.

Lëtzebuerger Journal: You describe your job as being "paid to explore, " which sounds really exciting. Can you explain what your job entails for people who aren’t engineers or particularly familiar with space exploration?

Dr Farah Alibay: Sure! I work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is one of NASA's centres based in Los Angeles. My job focuses on robotic exploration of the solar system. Essentially, we design and operate missions that aim to answer two major questions: Was there ever life somewhere else, and how did the universe come to be?

I’ve worked on several Mars missions that study the planet’s history and try to determine if life ever existed there. Right now, I’m involved with an infrared telescope that's mapping our universe. It’s focused on understanding the early days of the universe and the expansion that occurred just after the Big Bang.

At the core of all these missions is the quest for knowledge ─ trying to understand where we come from and the world around us. What’s interesting is that, even though I work in aerospace, I don't work with astronauts. A lot of people assume that if you work in space, you must be an astronaut or work with them, but I don't.

And honestly, working with robots is a lot easier! They don’t need to eat, they don’t get bored, and they can travel much further than humans can. We can send them to places like Jupiter and Saturn, and they can keep going without needing breaks or work-life balance (laughs).

What would you say are some of the biggest discoveries or findings you've been part of in your work so far?

I’ve been involved in some really exciting missions. One of the biggest milestones was working on the InSight mission, which detected the first earthquakes on Mars. This helped us understand Mars' interior structure ─ its composition and the different layers. InSight also confirmed that there is water beneath the surface of Mars.

I also worked on the Ingenuity helicopter, which performed the first controlled flight on another planet, proving that powered flight is possible in Mars' thin atmosphere.

Then, there's the Perseverance Rover, which is currently collecting samples on Mars with the hope of one day bringing them back to Earth. These samples will provide crucial insights into whether life ever existed on Mars.