Carmen Victoria Félix Chaidez

Carmen Victoria Félix Chaidez is a scientist, engineer, and the first Mexican to work on simulations for future Mars missions with space analogs. She has been credited in part for creating the Mexican Space Agency and promoting space-related careers in her native country. Her work has been recognized by her home state of Sinaloa and Quien magazine named her as one of 50 Mexicans transforming the country in 2017.

Formation Félix was born in 1985 and raised in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico.

One night when she was five, Félix went out at night with her father to look at the stars. He taught her to identify constellations such as Orion and Pleiades. Studying the night sky became a favorite activity for the young girl. She grew up reading about the Apollo Moon missions and other space exploration, and she decided early she wanted a career in space.

When she was twelve, she gained access to the Internet and immediately went to study NASA's website, looking for information about how to become an astronaut. She wanted to study astronomy or aerospace engineering, but those fields were not available in Culiacan. As she grew older and gained more experience in her field of study/career, in 2008 Félix actively worked to spread awareness and opportunities regarding space in her country. Soon after this, she became an active member of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). Eventually, Félix attended one of the first International Space Events in her native country, the VI American Space Conference (CEA).

As part of her graduate studies, Félix interned at NASA, working with the small satellite division. Here, she worked on a project to use smartphone technology to produce small satellites more economically (PhoneSat), working with developers from Google as well as other researchers from NASA.

In 2009 she joined the Space Generation Advisory Council, representing Mexico there for four years, organizing conferences in

Current career The past years of Felix's career have been mostly focused on work related to an eventual human mission to Mars. She is an active participant with space analogs, which are dedicated to simulations and tests related to environments and situations astronauts will face with long-term stays on the red planet. One of the purposes of the mission was to experience and document personal interactions among the crew forced to be together 24 hours a day in a small space. All the food was dehydrated and the living space was very small, as in a real mission. Also, Félix joined the organization "Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) to visit various tech sites including NASA in 2002, This organization stuck with her for many years; as she received the SGC Leadership Award in 2017, she has first-hand experienced growth of not only the organization, but herself as well. From the SGC Leadership Award, she was able to attend the Space Generation Congress and International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Australia.

Quién magazine recognized her in 2017 as one of 50 people transforming Mexico.