Mars Exploration: Zip Code Mars

I was born in 1972 in Tehran, Iran. I grew up in Tehran and Hamburg Germany until I was 6 years old. I moved to Los Angeles shortly before my 7th birthday. I spent a lot of time travelling between the US and Europe through college (summers and winters).

My first memory of wanting to be an astronaut was when I was 4. I REALLY knew I wanted to do something associated with the exploration of space since I was 9 years old... followed that dream through to school and on to JPL!!

I love travelling, mountain biking, swimming, back-packing, hiking, pretty much anything outdoors and physical. I try to train for sprint triatholons when I have time. I also love school. I hope to keep learning and going to class until I die ;-)

If I wasn't doing space exploration work I think I'd be a wild life biologist or something similar. Exploration is the only thing I'd suffer through a desk job for!

Contributions to Mars Exploration

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I worked on Mars Science Laboratory a little during the advanced study phase. I went over to the 2003 mission when MSL slipped from 2007 to 2009. [more contributions ...]

Personal Reflections

You will hear this a lot, but make sure you do something you love doing. Being successful in life takes hard work, a good sense of humor, sweat and tears. If you love what you do, the hard work seems like play so it isn't so bad. [more personal reflections ...]