Meeting with the Ghanaian scientist who built InSight, NASA's last satellite to land on Mars

General News on Thursday, November 29, 2018

Source: Yen.com.gh

2018-11-29

On Monday, November 26, 2018, InSight, a spacecraft belonging to NASA, landed on Mars.

According to the New York Times, the probe should study the underground world of Mars, listen to earthquakes and look for clues to the formation of a dusty world.

Although it is usually an American conquest or feat, Ghanaians have every right to participate in the jubilation.

This is due to the remarkable work of Ghanaian engineer Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, a Ghanaian engineer, who leads the InSight team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Dr. Trebi-Ollennu is building robotic components for global exploration, a dream that began in Ghana from an early age. He is responsible for the arm and the robotic hand of the InSight mission.

Born in Ghana, Trebi-Ollennu has been working at NASA since 1999 and became chief engineer of robotics at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

After completing high school, he moved to the UK where he obtained his Bachelor of Engineering degree (B. Eng.) In avionics at Queen Mary College of the University of London in 1991. Mr. Trebi-Ollennu is also the founder of Ghana Robotics. Academy Foundation which won the prestigious Google RISE 2013 award.

The academy is dedicated to motivating and inspiring the interest and participation of young Ghanaians in teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through practical workshops and robotics competitions.