NASA's perseverance rover has safely landed on the red planet 'Mars' to search for signs of ancient life. But, did you know that a Fil-Am engineer is among the hundreds of brilliant minds who helped in the successful landing project?
Gregorio Villar III is the Entry Descent Landing Systems Engineer of Mars 2020 Mission and Operations Systems Engineer in the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The US Embassy in the Philippines has acknowledged the important role of Villar by posting it on their Twitter account.
"As we celebrate the successful landing of @NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars, #DidYouKnow that #FilAm engineer Gregorio Villar III helped with its safe landing as the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) Systems Engineer of the Mars 2020 Mission?" the tweet read.
As we celebrate the successful landing of @NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars, #DidYouKnow that #FilAm engineer Gregorio Villar III helped with its safe landing as the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) Systems Engineer of the Mars 2020 Mission? Learn more: https://t.co/JrJNR6TL14 pic.twitter.com/DOhVEUJ0N9
— U.S. Embassy in the Philippines (@USEmbassyPH) February 19, 2021
In his past interview, Villar who completed his secondary school at Saint Louis University - Laboratory High School in Baguio City said, that he spent seven and a half years building and testing a system that would land a car-sized rover on Mars.
He also directed a Mars parachute test campaign at NASA's Ames Research Center, the world's largest wind tunnel.
During his junior year he was awarded by NASA scholarship which came with an internship at a NASA center of his choice. He earned his bachelor's degree in physics from the California State Polytechnic University in Pomona and his master's degree in astronautical engineering from the University of Southern California.
NASA launched Perseverance on July 30, 2020, and it has been traveling the more-than-100-million-mile journey since. The last time NASA landed a rover on the red planet was in 2012 with the Curiosity rover. Curiosity is still operational and continues sending images from Mars, even today.
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