Farah Alibay, a systems engineer working on the Mars 2020 rover at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, speaks about her path to working at NASA during an interactive STEM discussion with students attending the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Farah Alibay, a systems engineer working on the Mars 2020 rover at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, speaks about her path to working at NASA during an interactive STEM discussion with students attending the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Farah Alibay, Payload Systems Engineer, NASA JPL, talks about Mars InSight during a social media briefing, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. InSight is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet at approximately noon PST (3 p.m. EST) on Nov. 26. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Aline Zimmer, EDL Systems Engineer, NASA JPL, left, and Farah Alibay, Payload Systems Engineer, NASA JPL, talk about Mars InSight during a social media briefing, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. InSight is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet at approximately noon PST (3 p.m. EST) on Nov. 26. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock, left, is joined by a panel of young professionals from NASA centers across the country: Farah Alibay, a systems engineer working on the Mars 2020 rover at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Alexis Vance, a Pathways student engineering trainee at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Victor Joel Cabezas Tapia, a Navigation, Guidance, and Control Engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and Breanne Stichler, a mechanical engineer in the Crawlers, Transporters and Structures group at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, during an interactive STEM discussion with students attending the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock is seen during an interactive STEM discussion with students attending the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Wheelock was joined by a panel of young professionals from NASA centers across the country: Farah Alibay, a systems engineer working on the Mars 2020 rover at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Alexis Vance, a Pathways student engineering trainee at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Victor Joel Cabezas Tapia, a Navigation, Guidance, and Control Engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and Breanne Stichler, a mechanical engineer in the Crawlers, Transporters and Structures group at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The full-scale mock-up of NASA's MarCO CubeSat held by Farah Alibay, a systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is dwarfed by the one-half-scale model of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter behind her. MarCO, short for Mars Cube One, is the first interplanetary use of CubeSat technologies for small spacecraft. JPL is preparing two MarCO twins for launch in March 2016. They will ride along on an Atlas V launch vehicle lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with NASA's next Mars lander, InSight. MarCO is a technology demonstration aspect of the InSight mission. The mock-up in the photo is in a configuration to show the deployed position of components that correspond to MarCO's two solar panels and two antennas. During launch, those components will be stowed for a total vehicle size of about 14.4 inches (36.6 centimeters) by 9.5 inches (24.3 centimeters) by 4.6 inches (11.8 centimeters). After launch, the two MarCO CubeSats and InSight will be navigated separately to Mars. The MarCO twins will fly past the planet in September 2016 just as InSight is descending through the atmosphere and landing on the surface. MarCO is a technology demonstration to relay communications from InSight to Earth during InSight's descent and landing. InSight communications during that critical period will also be recorded by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for delayed transmission to Earth. InSight -- an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- will study the interior of Mars to improve understanding of the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets, including Earth. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19671

Engineers for NASA's MarCO technology demonstration display a full-scale mechanical mock-up of the small craft in development as part of NASA's next mission to Mars. Mechanical engineer Joel Steinkraus and systems engineer Farah Alibay are on the team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, preparing twin MarCO (Mars Cube One) CubeSats for a March 2016 launch. MarCO is the first interplanetary mission using CubeSat technologies for small spacecraft. The briefcase-size MarCO twins will ride along on an Atlas V launch vehicle lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with NASA's next Mars lander, InSight. The mock-up in the photo is in a configuration to show the deployed position of components that correspond to MarCO's two solar panels and two antennas. During launch, those components will be stowed for a total vehicle size of about 14.4 inches (36.6 centimeters) by 9.5 inches (24.3 centimeters) by 4.6 inches (11.8 centimeters). After launch, the two MarCO CubeSats and InSight will be navigated separately to Mars. The MarCO twins will fly past the planet in September 2016 just as InSight is descending through the atmosphere and landing on the surface. MarCO is a technology demonstration mission to relay communications from InSight to Earth during InSight's descent and landing. InSight communications during that critical period will also be recorded by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for delayed transmission to Earth. InSight -- an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- will study the interior of Mars to improve understanding of the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets, including Earth. After launch, the MarCO twins and InSight will be navigated separately to Mars. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19389