Vandi Verma

Vandi Verma is the Chief Engineer for Robotic Operations for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and the Assistant Section Manager for Mobility and Robotics Systems at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She specializes in space robotics, autonomous robots, and robotic operations, having designed, developed, and operated rovers on Mars, the Arctic, Antarctica, and the Atacama Desert. Since graduating with a Ph.

D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, Verma has worked at NASA on new capabilities from early design through development, testing, launch, landing, and surface operations. Since 2008, she has been driving rovers on Mars - Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance - and operating the robotic arm and sampling system as a Rover Planner.

She has also worked on numerous space robotics and artificial intelligence research and technology development tasks. Verma enjoys coding and has written flight software that runs onboard both Curiosity and Perseverance, as well as simulation software used in operations. Her hands-on experience spans the full lifecycle of space missions, from initial concept to active surface operations on another planet.