$A Mars rover with multiple instruments and wheels set against a large red planet and starry sky$

The Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021 and is still sending back data!

Shutterstock.com (Background); NASA (All Other Images)

Designer For Mars–and Beyond!

Aaron Yazzie designs technology that makes space research possible.

November 2026

By Isabel Gil

NASA

Aaron Yazzie

Growing up, Aaron Yazzie never thought he’d work for NASA. “I didn’t see people from my family or my community working there,” he says. Yazzie is Diné, from the Navajo Nation in Arizona.

As a student, Yazzie joined STEM competitions and pursued summer science projects. Not only did he learn that he liked engineering, but he also found he was good at it. Yazzie majored in mechanical engineering. After graduating, he got a full-time job at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He’s worked there ever since!

Growing up, Aaron Yazzie never thought he’d work for NASA. “I didn’t see people from my family or my community working there,” he says. Yazzie is Diné, from the Navajo Nation in Arizona.

As a student, Yazzie joined STEM competitions and pursued summer science projects. That’s how he learned that he liked engineering. He also realized he was good at it! Yazzie majored in mechanical engineering in college. After graduating, he got a job at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He’s worked there ever since!

Returning Mars Samples Tubes to Earth

Watch a video about engineering ways to collect and return Mars rocks.

Today Yazzie is a mechanical systems engineer. He designs and tests instruments for NASA robots that travel across the solar system to collect data. So far he’s worked on technology like drill bits and pressure sensors used on Mars. Now he’s designing spacecraft handles and solar-panel sundials for the next moon mission. Yazzie spent more than 10 years working on the Mars rovers Curiosity and Perseverance, which landed on Mars in 2012 and 2021, respectively. Their mission is to collect data to figure out if Mars ever supported small life-forms. To do that, Yazzie worked on drill systems to study Mars’s rocks.

Curiosity’s drill takes powdered samples of rocks and analyzes them on Mars. For Perseverance, Yazzie designed bigger drills to take larger samples that could be left on Mars to be returned to Earth on a future mission. “I was so proud to see something that I built fly up and into space and land on Mars,” he says.

Today Yazzie is a mechanical systems engineer. He designs and tests instruments for NASA robots. These robots travel across the solar system to collect data. Yazzie has worked on drill bits and pressure sensors used on Mars. Now he’s designing spacecraft handles and other technology for the next moon mission.

Yazzie spent more than 10 years working on the Mars rovers Curiosity and Perseverance. These robots landed on Mars in 2012 and 2021, respectively. Their mission is to collect data from Mars. That will help scientists figure out if there were ever small life-forms there. To study rocks on Mars, the robots need to drill into them. Yazzie worked on the drill systems they use.

Curiosity’s drill collects some powder from the rocks. The robot then analyzes the samples on Mars. Yazzie designed bigger drills for Perseverance. These can take larger samples of whole rock. The samples could be left on Mars for future missions to bring back to Earth. “I was so proud to see something that I built fly into space and land on Mars,” says Yazzie.

When he’s not designing out-of-this-world instruments, Yazzie is a public speaker teaching kids to dream bigger. He’s proud to share both his career and his Indigenous identity, and he wants everyone to see themselves in jobs like his.

“I turned the job of an engineer into something that is bigger and can make a bigger impact on the public,” Yazzie says. “That’s been my proudest achievement.”

Yazzie doesn’t just design out-of-this-world instruments. He’s also a public speaker teaching kids to dream bigger. He’s proud to talk about his career and his Indigenous identity. He wants everyone to be able to see themselves in jobs like his.

“I turned the job of an engineer into something that can make a bigger impact on the public,” says Yazzie. “That’s been my proudest achievement.”

Writing and Solving Proportions

Watch an instructional video about writing and solving proportions.

FINDING PROPORTIONS

When designing rovers and instruments for another planet, Yazzie works with proportions. A proportion is an equation that states that two ratios are equivalent.

EXAMPLE

In its first 5 years, the Perseverance rover traveled about 25 miles across Mars. The wheels should perform optimally for another 37 miles. If the time stays in proportion, how many years will Perseverance take to cover that distance?

STEP 1

Set up a proportion, using a variable to represent the missing amount. Make sure the same units are in the numerators and denominators.

STEP 2

Cross multiply.

STEP 3

Isolate the variable to find its value.

185 = 25n
÷ 25 ÷ 25
7.4 = n

So the wheels on the Perseverance rover should be able to last for another 7.4 years.

FINDING PROPORTIONS

When designing rovers and instruments for another planet, Yazzie works with proportions. A proportion is an equation that states that two ratios are equivalent.

EXAMPLE

STEP 1

Set up a proportion, using a variable to represent the missing amount. Make sure the same units are in the numerators and denominators.

STEP 2

Cross multiply.

STEP 3

Isolate the variable to find its value.

185 = 25n
÷ 25 ÷ 25
7.4 = n

So the wheels on the Perseverance rover should be able to last for another 7.4 years.

Use proportions to learn about the drills Yazzie worked on. Round answers to the nearest tenth when necessary. Record your work and answers on the Your Turn sheet.

Perseverance collects rock samples that are at least 60 millimeters long and weigh 10 grams. If Yazzie wanted it to collect samples that weighed 25 grams, how long would the samples be if they were in proportion?

Perseverance has collected 30 rock samples using drills Yazzie designed. Out of the 30 samples, scientists think 14 of them are igneous rocks that formed when lava or magma cooled and turned solid. Perseverance will collect 38 total samples. If the proportion of igneous rocks stays the same, how many samples will have igneous rocks, rounded to the nearest whole number?

The drill’s tips—called bits—are about 230 mm long. The drill can gather at least 10 g of material. If Yazzie were to build a drill bit that was 500 mm long to be used on the moon, what is the least amount of grams of material the drill would be able to collect in proportion?

Perseverance’s drill has a bit that is 27 mm in diameter. The drill can collect samples that are about 13 mm in diameter. If Yazzie wanted to design a drill bit to collect samples 20 mm in diameter, what drill bit diameter would be in proportion?