2020 Feb 28
Having watched many superhero movies and hearing about Martians raises the question “Is there life on Mars?” Some of us have also dreamt of the possibilities of working with giant international aerospace agencies, in discovering a plethora of valuable knowledge about space objects and other planets that exist in our galaxy. Meet Mahilal De Silva, a lover of aerospace and quite the dreamer like all of us, but worked hard to transform his dreams into reality, whilst working for Europe’s biggest space company, Airbus Defence and Space, United Kingdom.
Mahilal’s thirst for knowledge commenced ever since he was a young boy. “From my younger years, I was so fascinated with engineering as well as space and space-related objects. I started reading about aircraft principles and manufacturing processes. Also, I was keen to understand the planets and questions about lift/existence, any life on other planets, nevertheless become a scientist.” Mahilal said.
His thirst for knowledge only increased when he was in school, being an all-rounder. “I started my primary/secondary schooling at Isipathana, Royal College and Lyceum International school. My college years was a great reflection of my success academically as well as the influence of team building, whilst representing the college under-19 Cricket team.” Mahilal explained. He then joined the Asian Aviation Centre and the Kingston University in Surrey, United Kingdom, in order to pursue his passion and specialise in Aerospace Engineering.
Having graduated from Kingston University, Mahilal worked in different capacities and engineering disciplines as an Aircraft Design Engineer, an Aircraft Manufacturing Engineer and an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, where he got an abundance of experience and was able to put the knowledge he gained into practice. He then specialised in manufacturing Telecommunication Satellites, Earth, Science and Navigation Satellites. He was presented with an opportunity to work on BepiColombo, as the Lead Mechanical Engineer. BepiColombo, is Europe’s first mission to Mercury, sending two satellites to Mercury, in order to perform a comprehensive study of the planet, including characterisation of its magnetic field, magnetosphere, and both interior and surface structure. The BepiColombo spacecraft was launched in October 2018 from the European Spaceport in French Guiana and was an extremely successful mission.
After much success with the first-ever mission that he was involved in, Mahilal was presented with the challenge to work on the ExoMars project that is set to kick off in July 2020 and has been in development for over the past few years. The ExoMars project is the first European Mars mission and a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, working towards launching a Rover to the Red Planet, in order to detect life forms on Mars. The Rover is equipped with a drill unit, which can drill 2 meters below the Martian surface, and will collect a sample of Martian soil. The sample will then go into a laboratory and will be analysed by MOMA (Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer), developed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre.
When Mahilal embarked on the project 3 years ago, the design phase of the Rover was completed and the test model was about to commence. Mahilal is currently the Lead AIT (Assembly, Integration and Test) Mechanical Engineer and the AIT Technical Lead responsible in building, testing and the delivery of the Rover, while managing the AIT mechanical engineering and technician teams. One key challenge faced by Mahilal and his team was the need to construct the rover in completely sterile conditions. This means that cleanliness was of paramount importance and the entire team had to be dressed in special garments in order to suppress contamination. Mahilal and his team also faced profuse difficulties in resolving daily technical issues that arose, in order to complete the project within the allocated timeline.
Using the wide array of knowledge deposited in Mahilal’s knowledge bank, he aims to keep working on future Mars missions, including Martian colonisation. When asked what his advice would be for the younger generation of Sri Lankans, he said “Education is absolutely essential, when understanding yourself to a greater depth and starting to plan your life. Also, you need to enjoy what you have signed in for and develop the skills accordingly. To me, the age 16 to 20 is very critical and no time should be wasted during that time. We need to develop creativity more than know-how while reading subject descriptions. Reading and understanding the fundamentals are important as well.”
Mahilal strongly believes that we all have hidden talents that need to be tapped into, in order for us to unlock our true potential. And with a strong support system from parents and family members, it is not impossible for us to reach for the stars (literally). He is also eager to inspire young Sri Lankan engineers to fight for their dreams. “I’m eagerly looking forward to inspiring young space engineers and transfer my knowledge to them as much as I can.” he said.
On that inspiring note, I’d like to end this article by saying, not all heroes wear capes, some bring immense glory to our little island purely by courage, hard work and determination.
