Christina Hernández

Christina Hernández is a Mexican-American systems engineer at NASA.

Early life and background Hernández's cultural identity is Mexican-American. Her birthday is on March 10. She grew up in Los Angeles, California. She continues to reside in California. Hernández was always interested in anything space-related and even did her own research about space from a young age. . Hernández received her master's degree in aerospace engineering at California Polytechnic State University.

Career and awards Hernández is a Systems Engineer for NASA in their Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. She is on the team of system engineers developing and testing the newest rover for their Mars exploration. Hernández has also worked on three of the seven science instruments, which are MEDA (weather station), RIMFAX (radar), and PIXL (spectrometer), where she was able to get them through different phases of development and testing. In her reflection, she shared her intel on how a scientific gadget that was named Perseverance landed on Mars on February 18, 2021.

Contributions Hernández's work as a micrometeoroid and orbital debris specialist ensured the safety of spacecraft in relation to orbital debris and other obstacles, such as radiation, through many analyses and assessments. During Hernánandez's time with STABLE, she completed a project called Comet Sliding Spring which led Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Odyssey, and MAVEN safely in the comet event. This led Hernánandez to work with the Mars team for their mission. Hernández's contribution consisted of ensuring that instruments used by NASA were being built safely and tested them to see if they performed properly when taken out on Mars.