MiMi Aung

MiMi Aung (, ; born 1968) is a Burmese-American engineer. Currently, she is director of technical program management for Amazon Leo, an initiative to increase broadband internet access through an array of satellites in low Earth orbit.

Aung was born in the United States, where her parents met, though her family returned to Burma when she was 2 years old. After spending her childhood in Burma and Malaysia, Aung returned to the United States at age 16 and studied engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she received her Bachelor's and master's degrees.

In 1990, she joined NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). On February 18, 2021, Ingenuity arrived on Mars, and on April 19 it took its first 39-second flight.

Early life and family MiMi Aung's parents met in the United States when they were studying for their doctorates. Her mother, Hla Hla Sein, was the first woman from Myanmar to earn a doctoral degree in mathematics. Her father, Thein Aung, received his doctorate in chemistry. When she was 11, the family moved to Malaysia, where she attended St. Christopher's School. Her two younger sisters were not born in the U.S. and so could not emigrate there.

Education Interested in mathematics at a young age, at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where she earned her bachelor's degree, followed by a master's degree in 1990 with a focus on communications and signal processing. During her master's program, she was introduced to JPL's work in deep space exploration and its relationship to signal processing after a conversation with one of her professors. She was selected as the project element manager of the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF)'s formation flying program., but after funding for the TPF was indefinitely delayed in 2006, the project was postponed and was eventually formally canceled in 2011. In 2013 she became Deputy Manager of the Autonomous Systems Division. The helicopter had to be very light-weight, and its blades had to be able to spin much faster than they would need to do on Earth. In addition, the helicopter could not be controlled by someone on Earth because radio signals take too long to get to Mars. As a result, engineers at JPL equipped Ingenuity with a computerized system that allows it to stabilize itself and navigate on its own. The total cost of the helicopter was around $23 million, with a weight less than 1.8 kg. The helicopter was attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover and launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on July 30, 2020, as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission. The rover successfully landed in Jezero Crater on Mars on February 18, 2021, and two days later, JPL received its first status report from Ingenuity via the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The helicopter was successfully deployed on April 3, 2021.

Ingenuity Mars flights

On April 19, 2021, Ingenuity made the first powered, controlled flight by an aircraft on another planet. The team at JPL confirmed the flight succeeded after receiving data from the helicopter via the rover at 6:46 a.m. EDT (3:46 a.m. PDT).

The helicopter completed its technology demonstration after three successful flights. For the first flight, Ingenuity took off, climbed to about above the ground, hovered in the air briefly, completed a turn, and then landed. After that, the helicopter successfully performed additional experimental flights of incrementally farther distance and greater altitude.

Amazon Kuiper Systems In July 2021, after 30 years at JPL, Aung left for a new role as director of technical program management at Amazon's Kuiper Systems. This project is an initiative to improve broadband internet access to communities around the world using a network of satellites in low Earth orbit. Named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2021 Inducted in 2022 as a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), America’s leading engineering organization, which advises the federal government on matters related to science and technology. All members are elected by their peers. Aung was recognized for her pioneering work on the NASA Mars Helicopter and the first flight on another planet. Honored with the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Illinois for her "technical contributions and innovation in spacecraft, autonomy in space and for leadership on the NASA helicopter Ingenuity." Awarded in 2025 the Prix international d’astronautique by the Société astronomique de France.

Aung is an expert for The Planetary Society and has written for Spaceflight.

During the development of the helicopter, Aung installed a webcam in the cleanroom at JPL that allowed the public to watch the team's progress.

Aung was featured in the 2019 documentary Space Queens, along with several other women who were inspired by Apollo 11. The archival footage mentioned her involvement in the Mars 2020 project and, in particular, her work on the Ingenuity helicopter.

On 24 April 2023, Aung spoke at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Her lecture "The Sky’s Not the Limit: My Journey into Space Exploration and STEM," described her personal journey as a space engineer.