Meet the Mohawk Behind NASA’s Curiosity Mission
15:47 minutes
When the Curiosity rover touched down on Mars in 2012, the Red Planet wasn’t the only focus of attention. One control room engineer—and his mane—stood out: Bobak Ferdowsi. Since that mission, the mohawked man has become a spokesperson of sorts, working to cultivate enthusiasm for space and the sciences. He chats about how we’ve entered a “golden age” of space exploration and speculates on whether putting a human on Mars will happen.
Segment Guests
Bobak Ferdowsi
Bobak Ferdowski is Europa Clipper mission engineer and flight engineer/director of the Mars Curiosity Mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
Meet the Producers and Host
About Annie Minoff
@annieminoffAnnie Minoff is a producer for The Journal from Gimlet Media and the Wall Street Journal, and a former co-host and producer of Undiscovered. She also plays the banjo.
About Becky Fogel
@beckyfogelBecky Fogel is a newscast host and producer at Texas Standard, a daily news show broadcast by KUT in Austin, Texas. She was formerly Science Friday’s production assistant.