Young astrobiologist from Campeche is drafted by NASA to work on space Dragonfly Project

Guillermo Adrián Chin Canché, is a bright young man from the community of Bethania in the state of Campeche.

Guillermo is proud of his Mayan origins, but he had to overcome several factors, including economic problems and lack of resources. He struggled to conclude his studies, but now he is a graduated astrobiologist living in the city of Ensenada Baja California, Mexico.

Guillermo Adrian will soon be traveling to the United States to participate in NASA’s Dragonfly project, where 117 scientists from different countries will study the astrobiology of Titan, the largest of the satellites that orbit the planet Saturn.

Guillermo Adrián is the eldest of three brothers. He grew up in the community of Bethania, Campeche.

From a young age, he worked to support his parents. Then, he had to leave his community to be able to continue with his studies. His parents always motivated him to stay in school, and they supported him with the little money that they made from the sale of dough and pozole, a trade to which they have dedicated for decades.

Guillermo always had great admiration for his Mayan ancestors, because, for him, the Maya were excellent astrologers and had great accuracy in the observation of constellations’ movements, designing calendars where they considered the influence of the moon, the sun, and the movement of the stars and planets, such as Mars, which allowed them to calculate the exact dates for the harvests.

Guillermo started working on a thesis where he studied “Enceladus” another of Saturn’s moons, which led him to be invited by Scott Rafklin, Assistant Director of the Planetary Atmospheres and Surfaces Department of Space Studies Southwest Research Institute, in Boulder, Colorado to work on the Dragonfly project, Guillermo will be the first Mexican of Mayan origin to ever work for NASA.

The NASA Dragonfly project plans to study the astrobiology of Saturn’s satellite Titan through a probe that will deploy drones with the ability to drill the ground and obtain matter samples from Titan and other satellites, in addition to analyzing the atmosphere and taking samples of the methane oceans that exist there, in order to get a better idea of ​​the physical chemistry that prevails in that environment and how the biogeochemical parameters can help form their own life forms.

The Planet Saturn has 53 moons and Titan is the largest one of them all. What makes Titan so special to be studied is that it has an atmosphere denser than that of Earth. Titan has all the characteristics that the Earth had when life arose millions of years ago, and studying this satellite could help humanity to solve one of its biggest questions- How did life arise on Earth?

The Yucatan Times sincerely congratulates Guillermo Adrian for his great effort of self-improvement and for his outstanding career as an astrobiologist. Congratulations and hopefully, this is just the beginning of a series of great and successful projects for him.

TYT Newsroom