When a geomagnetic storm caused 38 SpaceX Starlink satellites to burn up and plunge to Earth in February last year, Taiwan-born space scientist Fang Tzu-wei (方慈瑋) and her team were there to help.
Not content to simply provide the company with weather prediction and warning data, Fang’s team at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado made the laboratory’s operational neutral density model, which provides information for space traffic coordination and collision avoidance, available to commercial satellite operators.
A slew of space companies have continued to reach out to Fang and her team to explore opportunities for collaboration, which marked the latest in a long string of achievements in space science for Fang since her passion for the field was ignited more than 25 years ago at National Central University’s space camp in Taoyuan.
Photo: Screen grab from the CO-LABS YouTube
“From some others’ perspective, I might just be lucky — like the opportunity just fell from the sky. They probably didn’t see me, still writing e-mails at 11pm, answering all the questions and concerns these companies have,” Fang said in a recent interview.
Like many Taiwanese students, Fang rushed to cram schools after regular school hours, her parents desperate to see her become an engineer or get a government job that would ensure an “iron rice bowl” — a Taiwanese term for secure jobs.
However, Fang said that she knew early on that space was her calling.
Space science “was incredibly intriguing; there were so many unknowns, a lot of things that we don’t know. I felt that this field was fresh for me,” she said.
Her decision to spurn engineering in favor of a space-related degree did not go down well with her parents, who were uncertain about her career prospects in Taiwan.
“My mom got angry and questioned how I was going to provide for myself by studying space science,” Fang said.
Her mother relented after a month and allowed her to enroll in the National Central University’s space science program in 2000.
While taking up her PhD at the same university, Fang trained as a research intern at the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, from 2006 to 2009.
It was during this time that she decided to pursue a career in the US’ space science field, drawn by its advanced research environment.
However, securing a job in the US, let alone a federal position at the top space weather organization, became a years-long journey filled with challenges for Fang.
“I had to produce papers and demonstrate academic achievements to prove I deserved US permanent residency. After a year-long wait, there was an additional five-year wait for citizenship. Only then was I qualified for a federal position,” she said.
“Living in the US and like most first-generation immigrants, there are plenty of flaming hoops to jump through,” said Fang, who finally obtained a federal position in 2021 at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
Despite being one of a handful of women at the center, Fang said she “never believed that females couldn’t compete with males.”
However, with progressive trends in the US, advocating for diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), she found herself bathed in self-doubt, wondering: “Am I on the team because I’m a woman? Or is it because of my age?”
The 41-year-old scientist recalled a space science project a few years ago in which the US government enlisted three male and three female members, including herself.
Two of the female members were over 60, piquing her curiosity over whether the leadership wanted to include a “middle-aged female scientist” as part of the government’s DE&I efforts.
Fang did not dwell on such thoughts for long. Instead, she seized the opportunity presented by this trend.
She went beyond to strategize utilizing her network to support Taiwan, particularly in its current surge in space exploration. She is also participating in activities that have helped to guide two Taiwanese students in their PhD work in the field.
When asked about the sacrifices of working around the clock, the mother of two attributed her commitment to a genuine love for space science.
“I told my children the same thing: You have to do the job that you enjoy because when you enjoy it, it’s a career choice, not a job anymore,” the scientist said.
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