Special 50th anniversary of the arrival of man on the Moon
Mission: Perseverance, the robotic detective who will investigate if there was life on Mars
Two years were enough for María José Viñas (Barcelona, 1977) to realize that being a veterinarian was not her thing.
After studying at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and working on pig farms in France, she decided to make the leap to Journalism, some studies that led her to the US, where she completed a master's degree at the University of California-Santa Cruz with a grant from the Foundation The Caixa.
"When I switched to journalism, I thought I had left science behind," recalls Viñas.
But soon he crossed his path again.
She did an internship at SETI - the research center that looks for signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life -, worked at the American Geophysical Union and from there, came to NASA in 2011. Nine years later, she has just been named new head of Spanish outreach for the US space agency, a newly created position that she herself proposed and with which NASA intends to reach a wider audience.
"I realized that things were done in Spanish but they were not coordinated," explains this 43-year-old Catalan from her home in Washington, where she is spending Christmas with her partner and her two girls, ages three and six.
As she reviews during a videoconference interview, her career at NASA began as a science writer on Earth Sciences at the Goddard Center near Washington.
It was specialized in polar issues.
"I was working in English but people knew that I spoke Spanish and they asked me for help. For example, when the
Maven
ship was launched
, I helped one of those responsible for the mission, the Costa Rican Sandra Cauffman, and participated in another event with two Hispanic engineers. When they saw that it worked well and that the Spanish-speaking media were very interested, they realized that there was a need and they asked me to also help with the dissemination of Artemis, [the program to return to the Moon], and with the International Space Station. (ISS) ", says Viñas, who highlights that at NASA
there has been" a change in approach towards diversity. "
"One of the best ways to attract women or members of minorities to this area is to show them what they can do, and show them examples," she says.
Starting in 2021, you will be able to do full-time what you have done part-time in recent months.
There will be a total of three people dedicated exclusively to communicating in Spanish, who will have the help of another 50 who speak our language.
"The first thing I did was a list of Spanish speakers. Within NASA, we are a minority and we do pineapple. Despite this, they are used to working in English so we have to practice before doing interviews and there are programs to train them to speak in the media. In general, scientists love to communicate science. "
Viñas walks up the Kennicott Glacier in Alaska during one of his polar expeditions at NASAM.JVWORLD
Another of NASA's objectives is to
involve the public more and more:
"We want them to participate through social media campaigns or live broadcasts. Now it is digital because due to the pandemic access is super-restricted but we continue to organize events, such as the broadcast total solar eclipse of December 14 that was seen in Chile and Argentina ".
What questions do you usually get from the public?
"It depends a bit on the subject; for example during the solar eclipse program we receive very interesting questions. Children always ask about astronauts or want to know how they go to the bathroom."
Missions during the pandemic
The pandemic has affected the way they work although fortunately not the missions.
At least for now: "We have been working at home since March and I guess they won't open again until the middle of the year. NASA is taking great care about the health of workers," he says.
"At the beginning
there was a lot of uncertainty but the adaptation was very fast.
Only essential personnel go to the centers. The rest of us are at home, we work a lot with programs like
Teams
to hold virtual meetings. For us, in the communication area, it is easier but there
are
also
researchers who can obtain data from telescopes remotely
. It has been surprising how well things have turned out, "he emphasizes.
Looking ahead to 2021, February 18 is one of the dates marked in red, since the
Mars2020Perseverance
rover
is scheduled to arrive on Mars on that day
: "We are going to do a two-hour show that will begin before landing and in which We will have a Colombian engineer and researchers from Spain. Everyone likes Mars, "he says.
In 2021 there will also be several missions related to asteroids.
"In July
DART
is launched
to deflect an asteroid, a mission that seems like science fiction; and in October the
Lucy
spacecraft is launched
to study Trojan asteroids."
In autumn, the
James Webb
, the most advanced space telescope ever built, which has been jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Canada, will
take off from French Guiana
.
For the dissemination of this mission they will have the Spanish astrophysicist Begoña Vila.
The relief at the White House will also bring relief at NASA.
On January 20, Joe Biden will take office as US president, who will appoint a new director of the space agency.
Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama and Donald Trump made changes to NASA's plans, canceling important missions and betting on others.
"There are changes when there is a new president but the development of the missions is so long that it does not affect most of them. And both parties support NASA," said Viñas when asked if they fear that there will be changes in the schedule for return to the Moon (the first unmanned test mission is scheduled for late 2021 and the next manned lunar landing for 2024).
"Artemis III is an inspiring mission for people. One of the messages is that even if you have differences of opinion, in space we all work as one. To get to the Moon and Mars you need to collaborate with others."
Study of the Earth
Joe Biden has announced that combating climate change will be one of the priorities of his administration, as well as undoing the environmental policies of his predecessor, so the next president is also expected to bet again on the Earth study missions that they do at NASA.
"There are many programs in Latin America related to ecosystems and natural disasters, and these are topics that I would like to highlight more," he says.
From his point of view, some of the Earth's research programs are among the agency's most interesting as he considers that "climate change is the story of our generation."
When he worked in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, he had the opportunity to go to Greenland, Alaska and flew over Antarctica as part of the
Icebridge
mission
to measure changes in the ice: "We were traveling in the plane equipped with the instruments to make measurements. A normal campaign lasted between 10 and 15 weeks. It was a great experience and seeing those places, a real privilege ", says Viñas, who considers herself to be in love with ice.
"I think if more people could experience it they would love these places and want to protect them."
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