By Jennifer Bradley, Staff Writer
Lawrence native Lauren DeFlores is about to see her project land on Mars.
Ms. DeFlores is a specialist in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and is part of a team with a mission to construct a rover to explore the surface of Mars to discover if the surface was ever suitable for life and to collect data for a possible future manned mission to Mars.
The result is the Mars Science Laboratory, a one ton rover, nicknamed Curiosity.
Curiosity is scheduled to land on Mars on Aug. 5, after being launched last Nov. 26.
”Like all planetary science missions, we are on a quest for knowledge about the world we live in,” said Ms. DeFlores. “The smartest, most dedicated and creative people work on this project to make it happen, and it is an honor to be part of this team.”
Before making her way to California where she lives and works, Ms. DeFlores lived in Lawrenceville. She went to the Lawrence public schools and graduated from Lawrence High School.
”My love for space started in high school after seeing the movie ‘Contact,’” she said. “The excitement of exploring the unknown captivated me and, like many young kids, I aspired to be an astronaut with the main goal of being one of the first scientists on Mars.”
After high school, Ms. DeFlores attended Cornell University for undergraduate work. At Cornell, she stumbled upon a job working for the Mars Exploration Rovers and visited the JPL, where she had the opportunity to see engineers and scientists at work.
Ms. DeFlores said she knew the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was where she wanted to be.
So, after graduating from Cornell, she got a degree in physical chemistry at MIT where she built laser instruments to study small organic molecules.
Then, in 2008, Ms. DeFlores was hired as technical staff at JPL in the Planetary Surface Instrument group.
”I continue to be amazed that I am living my dream job,” she said. “I get to go home to my family after a day of work and say ‘I just commanded an instrument on a rover, in a spaceship, on its way to Mars!’ But this is mostly due to the unconditional support of my family saying I could do and be anything I wanted.”
Ms. DeFlores said the most impressive part of the project for her is the advanced landing system that is able to carry a large, complex science payload to the surface of Mars and do remote science that has never been done before.
According to the Mars Science Laboratory website, Curiosity was designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment suitable for small life forms by studying the geology of the planet.
According to Ms. DeFlores, her role is the lead instrument engineer for two instruments called the Chemistry Camera and the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons.
She said her job includes integrating hardware into the flight rover, designing and testing the instrument flight software and commanding the instruments in flight.
Once the rover lands on Mars, Ms. DeFlores said she will continue commanding the instruments on the surface of Mars and assess performance and health when they return data to earth.
Ms. DeFlores said everyone should stay up and watch the rover’s landing on NASA TV.
”There is nothing like the excitement of the team when we touch the surface of Mars,” she said. “The projects, the people, the experience and the general passion people have for their jobs are amazing. I love what I do.”

