New Delhi: Anita Sengupta, a former NASA scientist credited with developing a supersonic parachute that helped put the US space agency’s Curiosity rover on Mars, is being ‘mansplained’ planetary sciences on Twitter.
Mansplaining is the act of a man explaining something — typically to a more qualified woman — in a manner regarded as condescending or patronising.
Sengupta, co-founder of Airspace Experience Technologies, took to Twitter Saturday to express support for the efforts of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 mission team, saying that landing on any planet is hard.
It is too early to tell what happened to #Vikram yet, but landing on the surface of another planet is very hard to do the first time. What we learn from each engineering activity is how to improve, refine, and adapt.
— Dr. Anita Sengupta ? (@Doctor_Astro) September 6, 2019
Having had first-hand experience of such landings during her stint at NASA, Sengupta was commenting on the overall science of landing a robot on a body other than Earth.
However, Indian men on Twitter immediately felt the need to point out to the popular scientist — who has over 20 years of experience in the field of aeronautics — that the Moon was not a planet.
Agree with everything you said – proud of ISRO – but the moon isn't a planet but a satellite
— Apurv Nagpal (@apurvnagpal) September 6, 2019
Easy with the attitude! The moon is not a planet ! Also if u overhype be ready for the brickbats. The truly great scientists r also humble. Can give u a list, but hey, just google !
— N.V.Ramanan (@hiramanan) September 6, 2019
Not a planet but a satellite
— Debadarshi Sengupta (@debadarshi_s) September 6, 2019
In a retort, Sengupta explained that EDL (Entry, Descent and Landing), a subject on which she gives classes at the University of Southern California in the US, deals with landing on all airless bodies.
And to all the mansplainers out there planetary EDL as a discipline covers airless body DL, our moon is an airless body.
— Dr. Anita Sengupta ? (@Doctor_Astro) September 6, 2019
She even shared a chart on how men can avoid the temptation to mansplain.
B/c planetary EDL is an engineering discipline. Its #mansplaining bc you are not an engineer and I am expert. Here is a flow chart for you to follow in future. pic.twitter.com/82QWGFGanq
— Dr. Anita Sengupta ? (@Doctor_Astro) September 6, 2019
Sengupta’s achievements
Sengupta spent many years on the development of the supersonic parachute, specifically understanding how it would behave in the supersonic flow on Mars.
After years of testing in wind tunnels and conducting computer simulations to make sure it would be strong enough to do the job, the parachute helped the Curiosity rover land safely on Mars on 5 August 2012. Sengupta has described this moment as the technical highlight of her career.
She was also the project manager of the Cold Atom Laboratory, a facility for the study of ultra-cold quantum gases in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS). The project will enable research in a temperature regime and force-free environment that is inaccessible to terrestrial laboratories.
Yet, the tweets trying to point out her ‘mistake’ show that despite her incredible achievements, men continue to feel entitled to invalidate the professional experiences of more qualified women through oversimplified comments and arguments. Women in sciences regularly take to Twitter to call out such behaviour.
Also read: Pakistan science minister, army PRO Asif Ghafoor troll India on Chandrayaan-2 setback