Every month the Mars Exploration Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory honors employees who have made a significant contribution to the work of sending spacecraft to Mars. Listed below are the "Martians of the Month" to date.

September Martian of the Month: Jacqueline (Jackie) C. Lyra

Jackie Lyra is the lead engineer responsible for developing the plans and directing the implementation of the Mars Pathfinder Insulated Support Assembly/Heat Rejection System Thermal Characterization Test. This required a tremendous effort to ensure that all test activities, including cost control, came together in an efficient and timely manner. She was able to build excellent working relationships among all the involved parties in order to implement this test. Jackie has an exceptional vigor and enthusiasm for her work, and has an excellent working attitidue and patience.

October Martian of the Month: Dara Sabahi

Dara Sabahi is the Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Chief Mechanical Engineer for the Mars Pathfinder Project. He has been involved in all the trade-offs and key technical decisions relative to the EDL element detailed design. This includes the airbag test program and baseline design, the Rocket Assisted Descent (RAD) motor sizing, parachute design requirements, and the aeroshell Thermal Protection System (TPS) sizing. Dara is the glue holding the EDL spacecraft mechanical design together.