Katya Celeste Echazarreta González[1] (born June 15, 1995) is a Mexican electrical engineer, science communicator, and Citizen Astronaut.
[2] She worked at NASA, first as an intern during her university undergraduate career, then later as a test lead for the Europa Clipper Ground Support Equipment group.
It helped me become really hard working from a young age, and to not be afraid of a challenge.”[6] After graduating from Eastlake High School, she attended San Diego City College for three years, where she was a part of the Society of Women Engineers, a mentor for the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program, and was a Price Scholarship Scholar.
[8] In 2017, Echazarreta was a research assistant at UCLA for the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, where she experimented with various materials to serve as both the PCB and body of the robot while maintaining electrically isolated portions.
She transitioned to a full-time engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as part of the Europa Clipper Ground Support Equipment group.
Echazarreta began her television career as "Electric Kat" on a segment of Mission Unstoppable with Miranda Cosgrove.
[21] In 2023, she founded Fundación Espacial, "a non-profit civil association, with the main social objective of promoting youth, women and children, as well as scientists and engineers from Mexico, to develop skills to carry out advanced studies in the space, planetary, protection of the planet and the environment".