A 55-year-old NASA professor Sanjeev Gupta is controlling Mars rover Perseverance on the Red Planet from a flat above a salon on London.
A 55-year-old NASA professor named Sanjeev Gupta is controlling Mars rover Perseverance on the Red Planet from a flat above a salon on London, UK. Gupta, who is of Indian origin, is currently working from a one-bedroom flat in London at a time when he should be with other scientists at mission control in California, US.
1. Why is Sanjeev Gupta in London?
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The NASA professor is living in London because COVID-19 pandemic has forced him to work from home.
2. What Prof Gupta said?
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Prof Gupta told the Daily Mail: "I should be at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, in a series of offices each one about three times bigger than this lounge, full of hundreds of scientists and engineers with their heads buried in laptops surrounded by large screens. Nasa's headquarters is certainly a far cry from a one-bedroom flat."
3. More about Prof Gupta
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Prof Gupta is a geology expert at Imperial College in London. Gupta and his team will direct Perseverance to spots to drill for samples from surface of the Red Planet. The sample will then be brought back to Earth in 2027.
4. Why Prof Gupta rented the one-bedroom flat?
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Prof Gupta said that he needs to work at night and the rented an apartment so that his wife and children can sleep without any disturbance.
5. Details of Prof Gupta's flat
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Prof Gupta's flat has five computers and two other screens for Zoom-style meetings with other scientists on the mission.
