Choice between Physics and Biology propels Swati Mohan to NASA
Chennai, Jul 29: It was the choice between physics and biology that had made all the difference to Indian-born Swati Mohan to pursue her passion in space science at NASA.
Swati, who was part of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Mission, said her decision to opt to study physics in high school helped to pursue her passion at NASA.
"Physics was easy and biology didnt come naturally to me the internship at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) gave me the opportunities to learn and explore," the guidance, navigation and control systems engineering group supervisor of NASA's JPL, said.
She was speaking at the launch of the #DiasporaDiplomacy held under the aegis of the US Consulate General in Chennai, on Wednesday. US Consul General in Chennai Judith Ravin inaugurated the virtual series.
From enrolling in space camp at NASA to selecting a school to taking up internships, Swati said she was drawn to exploring and learning about other places in the solar system.
Her parents and her family members including her husband were "super supporters" in helping her chase her passion, the mother of two daughters said.
"There are many Indian Americans and Indians working on Mars 2020 and JPL as a whole," she said responding to queries from students and participants.
Asked if the Indian premier space agency ISRO and NASA would take up joint missions in future, Swati replied, NASA and ISRO are collaborating on NISAR (NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite. The ISRO instrument team is at JPL integrating their portion of the instrument with the JPL portion.
"The JPL team will come to India next year to integrate and launch the spacecraft from India," she said and hoped that NASA and ISRO partnership would continue to grow in future.
NISAR is expected to be launched into a near-polar orbit to observe our planet's land and ice-covered surfaces every 12 days over the course of its three-year mission of imaging the earth's land, ice sheets and sea ice.
While responding to a query on whether she faced trouble because of her origin, she replied, "in my career journey I faced more difficulty in being a woman in a male dominated field than being an Indian."
However, she considered herself blessed at "a diverse organisation like JPL which has a lot of diaspora from many different cultures."
Is she missing India and anything in particular? "I especially miss the street food in India so good especially the corn roasted by the vendors," she replied.
Every time she visits India, she ensures a visit to the restaurants here because the food is so much better. She however hastens to add "of course we have good Indian restaurants here (in USA)."
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Operation Sindoor: India carries out military strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan, PoK
New Delhi (PTI): Retaliating against the Pahalgam terror attack two weeks ago, Indian armed forces on early Wednesday carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including in Bahawalpur, a stronghold of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The military strikes were carried out under Operation Sindoor, the defence ministry said in a statement at 1.44 am. It said the actions by the Indian armed forces were "focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature".
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif termed the Indian missile strikes an "act of war" and said his country has every right to give a "befitting reply".
The Indian statement said, "A little while ago, the Indian Armed forces launched 'Operation Sindoor' hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed."
"No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution," it said.
Sources added that the strikes on all nine targets were successful and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was monitoring Operation Sindoor closely.
Among the nine sites targeted are the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur and the Lashkar-e-Taiba's in Muridke, both in Pakistan Punjab, officials said.
India's actions come two weeks after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that triggered widespread outrage in India and abroad.
"These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered," the defence ministry statement said.
"We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable," it said.
In a post on 'X' in Hindi shortly after the strikes, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, "Long live Mother India!" (Bharat Mata Ki Jai)".
"Justice is Served," the Indian Army said in its post.
Pakistan Army spokesperson Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said missile strikes were fired by India at Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Bahawalpur.
Some time ago, India launched air strikes in in Bahwalpur's Ahmed East area, Kotli and Muzaffarabad at three places from the air, he told ARY News channel.
"All of our air force jets are airborne. This cowardly and shameful attack was carried out from within India's airspace. They were never allowed to come and intrude into the space of Pakistan," he said.
"Let me say it unequivocally: Pakistan will respond to this at a time and place of its own choosing. This heinous provocation will not go unanswered," he added.
Sources in the Indian military establishment said all air defence units have been put on alert along the frontier with Pakistan.
Following the operation, India reached out to several leading countries, including the US, Russia, the UK, UAE and Saudi Arabia and briefed them about the military strike on the nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir, the sources said.
"Senior Indian officials have spoken to their counterparts in a number of countries to brief them on the steps taken by India," said a source.
The operation came days after Modi gave the armed forces full freedom to respond to the Pahalgam terror attack.
In a high-level meeting with the top defence brass, the prime minister on April 29 gave the armed forces "complete operational freedom" to decide on the mode, targets and timing of the response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Modi also emphasised the national resolve to deal a "crushing blow to terrorism".
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju tweets, "#OperationSindoor"
— ANI (@ANI) May 6, 2025
(Video Source: Kiren Rijiju/X) pic.twitter.com/kdBY2xeHqN
#WATCH | Visuals from an undisclosed location in J&K as the Indian Armed Forces launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed.… pic.twitter.com/3D20pDXkND
— ANI (@ANI) May 6, 2025
