Who is Vandi Verma, Indian-origin NASA Engineer Behind AI-planned Mars drive: From the runways of an Indian Air Force base in Punjab to the rust-red plains of Mars, Vandi Verma’s journey reads like a blueprint drawn across two planets. An Indian-origin roboticist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Verma played a central role in a major milestone in planetary exploration.
Last year on December 8 and 10, NASA’s Perseverance rover completed the first drives on Mars planned entirely by artificial intelligence instead of human rover operators. The development marked an important shift in mission operations, as future explorations farther from Earth will increasingly rely on autonomous decision-making rather than real-time human control.
Who is Vandi Verma?
Vandana “Vandi” Verma is a principal engineer and robotic operations expert who has spent much of her professional life helping to design and operate autonomous robotic systems and developing them for planetary exploration, as per NASA JPL. She has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Punjab Engineering College and a Master’s and a Ph.D in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. Her academic work also includes research on robotics, robotic operations, and autonomous systems. Her academic work also includes research on robotics in harsh environments similar to Mars, such as the Atacama Desert in Chile.
After joining NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2007, Verma has been involved with missions to Mars, starting with the Mars Exploration Rovers. She has also later worked on the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. She has also contributed to software and flight systems that allow robots to navigate other planets with increasing independence.
What has she achieved on Mars?
Verma is one of the few people on the planet who is qualified to command and drive rovers on Mars, a role that involves carefully planned instructions to robots millions of kilometers away, as per a report by LiveMint. In December 2025, Perseverance recorded a milestone by completing the first rover drives on Mars planned entirely by artificial intelligence rather than manually by engineers. This achievement is one in which Verma and her team have played a crucial role.
Her work helps NASA’s broader strategy to increase robotic autonomy as missions extend farther from Earth, where communications delays make real-time human control impossible, as reported by The Times of India. Verma’s contributions to Mars rover software includes programming languages and planning systems. This helps robots in understanding terrain, conducting complex tasks with minimal human input, and planning safer routes.