Postgraduate named as one of the UK’s best young female engineers

Imperial student wins the 2008 IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Award - News

Monday 16 February 2009
By Colin Smith

Imperial College London postgraduate Hanna Sykulska from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering has won the 2008 IET Young Woman Engineer of Year Award by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

The award recognises a young female engineer who has firmly established herself as a dynamic and technically excellent professional. Hanna will be an ambassador and role model representing women in engineering. She found out that she won the award on 26 February 2009.

Hanna Sykulska

Congratulations on your win. Why do you think that you have won this award?

“I’ve had a very exciting 2008. I was the only female engineer in the UK to take part in NASA’s Phoenix mission to Mars.”

When did it take place and what was the goal of the mission?

“The rocket carrying the Phoenix lander blasted off in August 2007. The craft landed on Mars on 25 May 2008 and the mission ended in November 2008. The goal of the mission was to explore the northern plains of Mars. Various instruments from previous space orbiters had detected ice in this region. Ours was the first mission to actually analyse this ice in detail.”

What did the Phoenix mission consist of?

“Phoenix contained a laboratory, a robot arm, microscopes and other equipment powered by solar panels. It sat on the surface and excavated soil and ice samples that were analysed by all this equipment. We also had instruments that could measure Mars’ atmosphere and look at the content of the water in the soil.”

What did you discover about Mars that we didn’t know before?

“We are still analysing the data. However, we now know much more about the chemistry of the soil. A team mate of mine, working on this mission, famously said to the press that you can grow asparagus in Martian soil instead of strawberries.

We also know that Martian soil is much clumpier than that on Earth. We think this is because the particles are very, very dry and get electrically charged by the atmosphere which causes it to clump together. We are also beginning to know a lot more about the Martian atmosphere and understand how clouds form and how they are affected by the Martian seasons.”

What was your role during the mission?

“I was an Instrument Downlink Engineer (IDE) at NASA mission control in Phoenix Arizona, USA. My job was to look at the data that was being transmitted back to Earth from Phoenix. I had to check that instruments on Phoenix were ok and I liaised with different teams that were working on the mission to make sure that these instruments could do what they wanted them to do in terms of digging and experiments.”

What were your most exciting moments during the mission?

“There were many moments. I was really excited when we knew that the instruments onboard Phoenix had survived the landing and were working. I also developed some technology to hold Martian soil samples. When we got the first images of that technology on another planet, wow, it was a magical moment for me.”

Were there any moments when you thought the mission might fail?

Every minute in every day for the first couple of weeks we all thought something might fail. It was quite nerve wracking. However, when it didn’t we got into a routine and the fear of mission failure subsided.

What happened to the craft after the mission?

“The mission ended because there wasn’t enough sunlight to power the batteries. The Martian winter reduced sunlight on the surface. Phoenix is probably buried deep under snow and dust now. There is a chance that the area could thaw in the next Martian spring and this could allow us to wake Phoenix up to do some more work.”

What is it like to work on a NASA mission?

“It is incredible. It is very exciting knowing that when you wake up in the morning your job will involve seeing images of another planet that no one has ever seen before. I also had the rare privilege of working with some of the world’s cleverest people who are so passionate about what they do. It was really inspiring for me.”

Has the mission changed you professionally?

“In the academic environment we are quite famous for taking our time and being very thorough with our research. However, on this mission we had to do our jobs very quickly. I am very meticulous so it was a real challenge for me to have to work so rapidly. I think I have certainly developed as an engineer. I was given tasks that I had no experience doing and I had to suddenly produce results – it was a steep learning curve.”

What made you want to get into engineering in the first place?

“I have always been mathematically minded. I’ve always been obsessed with Lego and Rubik Cubes and things like that. I think my first garbled word as a baby was ‘mathematics’.”

Where to now? What are you going to do with your career?

“This is something that I am still thinking about. I’ve just finished my PhD and I will graduate this May. I am currently analysing data from this mission for the rest of this year. I would love to be involved with another space mission and there are a couple of European space missions that Imperial will be involved in the future. However, these take many years to develop. I certainly want to send more instruments into space and have the rare opportunity to look at different planets.”

Hanna’s team mates on the mission were Dr Tom Pike, Team Leader, and Dr Sanjay Vijendran, both from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The team spent three years preparing for the mission before Phoenix blasted off into space. They were the only UK researchers to take part.