At a global forum in Cartagena, Colombian astronaut analog Giovanna Ramírez shared her experiences with Mars simulations, the challenge of limited funding, and why it’s important for girls to feel that science belongs to them from a young age. Her story mixes ambition, policy gaps, and a call for everyone to take responsibility.

Thirty Days Without Sunlight

In one of her simulations, Giovanna Ramírez did not see the sun for days.

The space was sealed and carefully controlled. It was made to look like the International Space Station, the floating lab where astronauts orbit Earth. For about thirty days, she lived in isolation with a crew, testing not just her technical skills but also her mental strength. The light stayed the same. The air felt recycled. Time seemed to blur.

There are people, she explains, who cannot manage that shift. The circadian rhythm falters. Depression creeps in. Stress sharpens. “Being an astronaut analog is a stage before going to space where you have to carry out simulations on Earth, flight hours, psychological, psychotechnical, and medical tests, etc. It is a stage where you live real scenarios very similar to those in space and situations you will face once you are already an astronaut,” she told EFE.

Being an astronaut analog is the step before going to space. It’s like rehearsing on Earth. It involves flight hours, psychological exams, and medical tests. These real scenarios prepare you for what’s ahead.

Ramírez, born in Bogotá in 1994, is an electronic engineer and researcher, and the first Colombian and only Latin American to have participated in 32 simulated missions to Mars. The résumé is impressive. The micro scene of isolation is what lingers.

The problem is, space exploration sounds exciting until you picture the door closing behind you.

She has trained at the Aerospace Training Center in Poland, within Japan’s Global Space consortium, in Mexico, and in collaboration with NASA. She is also developing a space mission through a Hepta-Sat satellite and teaches in a master’s program in aerospace engineering at Universidad San Buenaventura. Her research extends nationally and internationally, in cooperation with IEEE and UNISEC, and that’s all before actually going to space. before actually going to space.

Her next objective is clear. To leave the planet. She has spent more than 5 years preparing as an astronaut analog and applying to agencies and companies that conduct spaceflight. She has already entered one selection process and is currently in the medical examination phase.

That’s where the dream meets reality.

“After all this preparation process as an astronaut analog, you have to apply to an agency or a company that conducts spaceflights. At this moment, I have already applied to one process, and I am in the medical examination phase. This is where we need financial support, since the exams are quite costly, and we need support from the country and from companies that want to join,” she told EFE.

The exams are costly, so support is needed from the government and from companies willing to invest. This is not just a personal challenge; it’s a national one.

Two Training Centers and a Funding Gap

Colombia, she argues, is beginning to open doors. Two astronaut analog training centers are under construction in the country: Hades in Chía and Orión in the Tatacoa Desert near Neiva. For a nation not typically associated with space programs, that matters.

“It is a step for Colombia to begin opening a space so that many more people can train, and I know there are many young people interested. It’s about opening the path, stepping aside, and supporting those who are coming,” she told EFE.

Open the path and support those who follow. The infrastructure alone does not solve the structural gap. According to UNESCO data cited in the conversation, only 30% of women choose careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. UN Women reports that women represent 35% of those pursuing higher education in STEM and less than 30% of scientific researchers.

Ramírez doesn’t see those numbers as just statistics. She recalls her mostly male classmates in the electronic engineering program. She remembers facing rejection, financial struggles, and a lack of resources.

“Yes, there have been challenges because of being a woman,” she told EFE. There were challenges to being a woman. At times, she felt excluded. At times, she lacked funding.

The problem, as she sees it, begins earlier than university.

“If from an early age we apply STEM methodologies to girls and teach them to see education as something dynamic, something hands-on, something fun, they grow up immersed in numbers, in physics, and when they reach tenth grade, they say, ‘I want to be an engineer.’ They see it as easy; they don’t see it as impossible,” she told EFE.

If girls grow up surrounded by numbers and physics, and education feels active and hands-on, then by tenth grade, engineering won’t seem impossible. It will feel natural.

It’s a simple idea but putting it into practice is a big change.

A Shared Vision Beyond the Classroom

Ramírez often talks about the need for teamwork among industry, government, and universities. “There is a lack of a shared vision between industry, the State, and academia,” she says. Many ideas and projects at universities never get off the ground because funding doesn’t materialize. Great concepts get stuck before they start, at the door.

This means only those who can afford it get to dream big.

She dreams of a system where girls can access internships early, secure resources to visit NASA, participate in research trips, and engage in projects without the constant friction of scarcity. Assigning the resources, she insists. Make it possible.

Her own path reflects improvisation and persistence. She once dreamed of becoming a pilot, even though she knew aviation training was expensive. Without sufficient funds, she searched for an academy willing to offer alternatives. She taught aerodynamics classes in exchange for flight hours. She bartered knowledge for altitude.

“And well, if I achieved it, I am sure many more can do it too,” she told EFE.

If she could do it, others can too.

She also mentors girls through the program Ella es astronauta, which takes Latin American girls to NASA. She accompanies them, tutors them, and stands as a reference point. During the She Is Global Forum in Cartagena, she posed beside one of the participants, a small gesture that carries symbolic weight. A woman who imagines herself on the moon, standing next to a girl who is just beginning to imagine anything at all.

“One thing I am passionate about in my work is teaching,” she told EFE. Teaching is what she loves most, empowering children and young people to become future astronauts and scientists who contribute to the country.

Near the end of the conversation, she offers a message directly to girls who see STEM or the dream of becoming an astronaut as difficult.

“Whatever you do, do it with excellence and look for that additional edge that can make you different,” she told EFE. She encourages doing everything with excellence and finding that extra something. When the path gets tough or someone tries to make you feel small, she suggests changing your mindset. Imagine you’re already where you promised yourself you’d be. For her, that place is the moon. In this case, that place is the moon.

For Ramírez, space isn’t about escape. It’s about gaining. Colombia faces the challenge of deciding if this perspective will stay a personal dream or become a shared national goal, a public project.