Bhubaneswar: Odisha-born space entrepreneur Susmita Mohanty has brought laurels to the state as well as country for getting a spot in the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for the year 2019.
Susmita Mohanty started India’s first space start-up Earth2Orbit in 2008 and has been working on climate change.
She started her career at an early age. She is the daughter of a former ISRO scientist, Nilamani Mohanty.
She had received her training in prestigious institutions such as India’s National Institute of Design, France’s International Space University (ISU), went on to acquire a PhD in aerospace architecture from Sweden.
She has worked at Boeing and NASA and has consulted with European Space Agency (ESA) and even ISRO, among other space organisations.
Besides Susmita, the BBC list also includes six other Indian’s from various walks of life. The influential women are Precious Adams, Parveena Ahanger, Fiona Kolbinger, Aranya Johar, Vandana Shiva and Natasha Noel.