Ali Guarneros Luna

Mission Manager for NASA's TechEdSat small-satellite program at NASA Ames Research Center

Ali Guarneros Luna survived Mexico City's devastating 1985 earthquake at age 12. Not long after, her family emigrated to San Jose, California, where she grew up working various jobs to help support the household. Her path to engineering was anything but direct: she spent five full years away from school entirely, raising four children as a single mother, before finally returning to education at San José City College, earning an Associate of Science in Aerospace, and often bringing her kids with her to class. She transferred to San José State University, earning both a bachelor's and a master's degree in Aerospace Engineering. A tip from a professor led to a NASA Ames Research Center internship in 2010, which turned into a permanent engineering position — the kind of opportunity that came directly out of persistence rather than a conventional, uninterrupted academic path. At NASA Ames, Guarneros Luna has built a career around small-satellite technology: she served as Mission Manager for TechEdSat, Deputy Manager for NODES, and a systems engineer on the SPHERES program, and contributed to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter research studying dust storms over the Hellas Planitia region of Mars. Small satellites like the ones she works on are typically much cheaper than a full-scale spacecraft, letting NASA test new technology in real orbital conditions before committing it to an expensive mission or the International Space Station. Her work has been recognized with NASA's 2015 Honor Award for equitable employment, a HENAAC Luminary Honoree title (2013), a 2017 Space Technology Award, and Mexico's Ohtli Award (2018), among others. She's also an active mentor to girls pursuing STEM careers, using her own nontraditional path as proof that there isn't only one way into aerospace engineering.

She designs, builds, and manages small CubeSat-class satellites — inexpensive spacecraft used to test new technology in actual orbital conditions before it's trusted on an expensive full-scale mission or the International Space Station.

Small-satellite engineering is a direct, current example of how aerospace engineering actually works day to day — building real, testable hardware rather than only the large, famous missions students usually hear about.

She took five years completely away from school to raise four children as a single mother before returning to earn her engineering degrees.A tip from a professor led directly to the NASA internship that became her career.

Wikipedia, citing BBC/T13, Animal Político, Tec Review

Photo: NASA · Public domain · Source

• Ali Guarneros Luna