HAD Malaysia-born Florence Tan (pic) not been attentive in a class at college, she might not have landed an internship at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) in the United States. The Muar native recalled being asked how to derive Maxwell’s equations during the internship interview.“I paid attention in that class,” she told StarEdu, stressing that no amount of effort is ever wasted.
Being the “can’t fail type”, she said she had always studied hard and kept her focus throughout her schooling and university days.
At age 12, she got into Maktab Rendah Sains Mara Kuantan, Pahang, a school known for its focus on the sciences. Being there sparked her interest in science and after sitting for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), she obtained a Mara study loan to pursue her tertiary studies in the US.She now holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering from the University of Maryland, and a Master of Science in electrical engineering and a Master of Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University.
In 1985, she began her career journey at Nasa as an intern.
The opportunity to intern at Nasa, or any organisation outside the university, was not allowed in the 1980s.Tan, however, was lucky as she sat next to someone in school who told her about her university’s partner programme with Nasa.
“Basically, I was an intern for my school but based at Nasa. As a student, you look for any opportunity and just hang on to it,” she said.
Once at Nasa, she said, she “just doubled down and made it happen” as she worked her way to where she is now.
“After I got in, it was job after job. It was difficult in the beginning (to progress) because you’re scared. I didn’t learn how to build flight hardware in college. I was unsure and we all suffer from that unsureness.”For the past five years, Tan has been in Washington DC, where she holds the posts of the chair of the Small Spacecraft Coordination Group at Nasa Headquarters and the deputy chief technologist for Nasa’s Science Mission Directorate.
Being part of the small spacecraft coordination group has seen her coordinate the launches and positioning of small satellites, forming constellations in space to collect information on earth and beyond.
All this information is used to solve problems here on earth, including climate change.
Prior to this, she had been based at the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for 32 years.There, she took on design and build, integration and testing, and operational roles in eight mass spectrometers.
She said seven of these had been launched to destinations including Mars, Saturn, Titan, and the moon.
At the GSFC, she also helped build the mass spectrometer that was part of the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument on the Curiosity Rover.Being the intellectual lead engineer for the project, she said, was probably the most difficult mission she has ever worked on.
The project started in 2006 and was completed in 2009.
The Curiosity Rover is the largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars.
“We have one planet – the ‘spaceship’ Earth – so how do we use all this information to protect life here? It is pretty exciting to go to space even though I don’t think I would ever go ‘into’ space,” she said, advising youths to follow their hearts and “do what you like to do”.
Tan was recently in town for the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) 2022 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
The symposium, hosted by the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), was supported by the Malaysian Space Agency; Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry; and Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau.
During the opening ceremony on July 18, IGARSS 2022 general chair Emeritus Prof Tan Sri Dr Chuah Hean Teik said over 580 participants registered physically, and more than 2,000 joined online for the symposium.
He said this year’s theme – Preserving Our Heritage, Enabling Our Future through Remote Sensing – was highly related to global climate change.
“The effects of climate change on various societal segments are interconnected. Its impacts are seen throughout every aspect of the world we live in,” he said.The IGAARS is aimed at providing a platform for the sharing of knowledge and experience on recent developments and advancements in geoscience and remote sensing technologies, particularly in the context of earth observation, disaster monitoring and risk assessment.
The symposium, he said, serves as a source of motivation for researchers to discuss and share research outcomes, ideas and knowledge that can overcome our national and global issues, and advance knowledge, research and technology in the geoscience and remote sensing field.Announcing that a National Space Board would be formed to create and enact rules and regulations related to space exploration in accordance with international treaties, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, who launched the symposium, said remote sensing plays a vital role in our lives as the technology provides essential information to monitor borders, as well as monitor and forecast climate change, weather patterns and macro-scale land-use changes.
