After immigrating from Colombia at 17, Diana Trujillo enrolled herself in English-as-a-Second-Language courses at community college while working full-time to put herself through school. Upon graduating from the University of Maryland, Trujillo attended the NASA Academy at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, joining the space agency in 2007.
As an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Trujillo has worked on both the Mars Curiosity and Mars Perseverance rover missions, including as a mission lead. She is currently Flight Director and as the Robotic Arm System domain lead for the Mars Perseverance mission.
In 2021, she was recognized with a STEM Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation for her role in the Perseverance mission, including serving as flight director when overseeing the successful deployment of Ingenuity, the first helicopter delivered and operated on another planet.
Building a Trusted Future
Trujillo has actively worked to promote space exploration and STEM education in the Latino community. In 2021,when Perseverance reached Mars, she hosted #JuntosPerseveramos, NASA’s first-ever Spanish language broadcast of a planetary landing, which was live-streamed by millions around the world.
Trujillo continues to share Perseverance-related news in Spanish and English from her Twitter account and on NASA’s Martes del Marte video series.
