Iona stands in the foreground wearing hiking attire with a view of mountains in the distance.
Iona in front of mountains
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
– T. S. Eliot

Iona (Brockie) Tirona is a mechatronics engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She led a set of critical flight hardware for the Perseverance rover from early research and development through Mars surface operations. She is passionate about simplifying robotic systems through creative mechanical design, improving interdisciplinary communication, and enabling exploration.