Darian Dixon is likely one of the solar system’s few interplanetary photographers, having operated a NASA rover because it imaged the panorama of Mars. However regardless of dreaming of a profession in space science as a young person, Dixon first went to high school for political science, satisfied his math abilities weren’t as much as snuff. He credit the 2011 launch of NASA’s Curiosity rover for altering his thoughts on his main.
“I bear in mind watching each second of the launch protection,” Dixon says. “Seeing all these scientists overjoyed with the outcomes of their labor and prepared for the exploration forward, I made a decision I couldn’t shrink back from that dream any longer.”
In 2018, he realized that dream when he joined Malin Area Science Methods, the California firm tasked with constructing NASA’s Mars cameras, as a data-management lead. There, he operated three cameras on Curiosity, in addition to helped develop the Perseverance rover’s Mastcam-Z digital camera.
When photos from Perseverance started rolling in after its touchdown in February 2021, Dixon stated the sensation was “nothing wanting unimaginable. So many engineers, scientists, managers, visionaries, labored tirelessly for years. It was an enormous ‘That is it. We’ve carried out it’ second.”
