Space3 min(s) read
Published 19:59 16 Mar 2021 GMT
A 12-year-old child prodigy has spoken about going to college early, and how she one day wants to work for NASA.
According to ABC News 25, Arizona local Alena Wicker intends on majoring in astronomical and planetary sciences and chemistry, and wants to work for the space agency by the time she's 16.
Wicker claims that she was inspired to work for NASA thanks to the recent landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars, and now the young genius is setting her sights on being a part of the next exploration mission.
Commenting on her ambitions, Wicker stated:
"I'll be driving one of those future space mobiles by the time I graduate college. It doesn't matter what your age or what you're planning to do. Go for it, dream, then accomplish it."
Wicker's interest in engineering and astronomy began when she started playing with LEGO bricks when she was younger, and since then her passion for building and constructing has only intensified.
Commenting on the prodigy's incredible brainpower, her mother Daphne McQuarter, stated:
"At 4 years old, she said: 'Mommy, I'm going to work for NASA, and I'm going to go up there.'
"She would point to the stars. She just had a gift for numbers and LEGOs and science, so I started nurturing that gift."
Alena went on to state that her next ambition is to launch her own podcast to build her profile and hopefully attract the attention of NASA if they have a job opening in the near future.
NASA released two incredible images from the rover last month.
According to BBC News, the American space agency successfully landed the Perseverance rover in a deep crater near the planet's equator, named Jezero, and later shared the images on its Twitter account.
The first image, showing the view from the rover's front, was captioned: "Hello, world. My first look at my forever home. #CountdownToMars. [sic]"
Meanwhile, the second picture taken from the rover's back was captioned: "And another look behind me. Welcome to Jezero Crater. #CountDownToMars [sic]"
Commenting on the successful landing in an official statement, Ken Williford, Deputy Project Scientist for the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, stated:
"We expect the best places to look for biosignatures would be in Jezero's lakebed or in shoreline sediments that could be encrusted with carbonate minerals, which are especially good at preserving certain kinds of fossilized life on Earth.
"But as we search for evidence of ancient microbes on an ancient alien world, it's important to keep an open mind."
I'm sure it won't be long before Alena is working with NASA on exploring the final frontier.
