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Mi future in the stars.

22/5/2020

Surely we all have some aspirations that we believe we cannot reach; however, everything is possible in this life, or at least almost everything.
I think we all had a dream job, some people wanted to be firemen, others wanted to be doctors, other dancers, and in my case, I wanted to be an archaeologist (I know I was a nerd, well... I still am). An archaeologist studies ancient civilizations (art, society, customs, etc.), but what caught my attention was studying the part of civilizations in which they studied astronomy, which is called archaeoastronomy.

And if you read this far, I suppose you deserve a little introduction to who I am: My name is Jimena Estrada. I am a 20 years old proud Mexican mechatronic engineering student. But let me tell you that, although I love my career; my real passion is to learn about our universe (physics, astronomical events, exploration of exoplanets, satellites, etc.)

As I was growing up I realized that my passion for wanting to learn about space and archaeology had been obliterated unconsciously; as a child, I was told that if I worked in the aerospace or archaeological sector I would starve. I followed my path through life, but without a path of what I should do.

It was until high school that I realized that my passion for the aerospace industry was enormous; however, I did not feel like a person who would achieve that goal. But one day just walking through the school, I found a poster of a unique and unforgettable experience; the International Air and Space Program (IASP 2016).

With the IASP 2016, I started my journey to what would be endless self-knowledge, did not only realize that my old passions were still there; but maybe I had more talent than I believed. At first, I did not consider myself a person of academic prestige, but later I realized that anyone can have that academic prestige, but what will make you stand out is passion, ingenuity, creativity, and teamwork.

JIMENA ESTRADA VÁZQUEZ

Jimena is currently a student of mechatronic engineering at the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
She has participated in the International Air and Space Program (IASP) in 2016 and 2018, winning third and first place in that order. In 2017 she was invited to attend the pilot of the International Medical Innovation and Research Program (IMIRP), winning first place.
Currently, Jimena is an IASP Ambassador and is working by the hand with her team at IASP 2018, Alpha Space, and AEXA on an experiment. An experiment that can help protect the ISS from the space environment near the atmosphere, apart from demonstrating the possible origin of life.

When I first arrived in Houston, I was a nervous wreck; I did not know what I was going to face. But I can guarantee you that it is one of the best experiences ever had in my life. I learned how to fly a plane, how to skydive indoors (or something like skydiving), acquire knowledge about NASA facilities, how to make a Mars rover, made very good friends, and learned how to get out of my comfort zone.

The theme of that year was to reach the second moon of Jupiter called Europa, therefore, it had to generate a mission from scratch as it would innovate the propulsion of the rocket, the way of life that our astronauts had to carry, forms of communication, etc. And thanks to the great team I had and the activities we did during the contest, we managed to get third place.

Half a year later, I was invited along with some of my colleagues from the IASP 2016 to a prototype medicine program called International Medical Innovation and Research Program (IMIRP), in which we learned about medicine, 3d prints, and how these two can be combined. In this program, I had the great opportunity to team up with Canadians and Americans who taught me a lot about different cultures, and with their great passion for the subject, we managed to reach first place.

After these two experiences, I realized that I had skills that I had never noticed. So I decided to follow my original dreams, but with a little change, instead of dedicating myself to seeing the past as archaeology would be, I decided to see for the future. That’s when I decided to study mechatronic engineering.

In my first semester of university, I decided to go for the second time to the IASP. The new challenge was to generate or think of a material that could protect the International Space Station from the space environment near the atmosphere, as it would be mainly: atomic oxygen, radiation, and extreme temperatures. The first two places would gain the opportunity to send their material into space for study.

In this challenge, I realized that it was very different from what I had done before since I didn’t know much about materials, but I was very lucky to have the terrific people on my team since we all managed to think of some interesting material that could serve us. I believe that what cost us most was to be able to listen to each other and have an open mind since the proposal that won did not sound logical at the beginning.

We proposed to use the properties of an extremophile microorganism, in this case, an alga, to generate a kind of paint to protect the space station. Apart from that, if we study this extremophile a little more in-depth, we could give it several uses; from generating an energy cell to even finding the key to the existence of life.

Fortunately, our project was so successful that it was the winning project, and, currently, this extremophile is orbiting our planet and may even be passing over you as you read this.

If I am honest, this project got me a little nervous; since I did not know anything related to bacteria, microbiology, etc; but this did not prevent me from learning a lot from this great opportunity and I know that someday this project will yield something very valuable.

Sadly this post has to come to an end, but do not worry that later I will tell you the result.