Rabeea’s fascination with astronomy and astrobiology began long before these words held any distinct meaning for her. Born in 1996, most of her life has been spent trying to get closer to the stars, and her life has revolved around her fascination with the origins of life on Earth, geography and astronomy. What began as a one-man army, her and her telescope, has now become an inspiration for those of us who know her and have seen her persevere through her struggles to achieve what she has achieved. Astrobiology was Rabeea’s passion ever since childhood. Her days were spent wondering and speculating about the possibility of life on planets around stars in the universe. However, due to lack of opportunities in her motherland, she faced one too many obstacles in pursuing a formal education in astrobiology so she decided to wait no more for help to come from elsewhere. This is when Rabeea decided to take initiative and made arrangements to introduce astrobiology as an official study subject on middle-school level so more growing children have the opportunity to develop an interest in the field at a young age.
This passion was first inspired and encouraged by her earliest mentor and teacher, Mr. Umair Asim, her school principal and the founder of Pakistan’s most active amateur astronomers’ society (Lahore Astronomical society; LAST) to date, It was through him and LAST that she was able to learn what she did not have the opportunity to learn at a formal education level, and implement her learnings professionally. Having first met Mr. Umair in 2009, it was in 2014 that she officially began to get involved in monthly lectures on astronomy that he hosted free for all to join. Rabeea first started as a volunteer to his free outreaches to various schools, institutions and groups with his telescopes for solar and nighttime observations. It was here that Rabeea got a foothold in astronomy, having done a one-year internship with Mr. Umair where she was one of the first women along with her friend Sherry Syed in Pakistan to undertake the Spectroscopy of 7 major stars in the Lyra constellation. Among other activities performed in that duration were outreaches, research, asteroid tracking, photometry and so on. Rabeea is also leading the Lahore Chapter of Astrobiology Network of Pakistan (ABNP). which is the only network in Pakistan of scientists and amateurs that is striving to promote astrobiology in Pakistan.
Today, Rabeea is deemed the sole torchbearer of Astrobiology on the secondary level education in Pakistan. Through the years, she has done extensive research and taken online courses to gain a deeper knowledge on the subject. She has been teaching Astrobiology/Astronomy at Lahore Grammar School since 2017. Rabeea teaches her own carefully designed yearlong course outline to more than 300 students registered in a single session of astrobiology every year. It was through her tireless persuasion that she was able to teach hundreds of students within 3 years, the current session of astrobiology has more than 250 students enrolled. According to her, the last session (2018-2019) was more focused on the practical side of astrobiology rather than theoretical. For example, students were asked to build/design their own rover and a mission to Mars. A workshop was held in which students attempted to construct telescopes and learned how to use a telescope. Students also looked for tardigrades under a microscope in order to understand extreme environments and extremophiles. It was also more focused on the exploration of Mars.
Currently Rabeea is a 4th year BSc Psychology student at the University of Management and Technology, Lahore. She has been active in the field of astrobiology since 2011. Furthermore, to date she has delivered, in addition to her many oral. Also, in 2013, with single minded determination she established the Astronomical Society in Lahore College.
Over the years, Astrobiology has not only been her passion but a mission – an aim to discover more and more knowledge in the field and spread that knowledge to inspire people by the wonders of the mighty cosmos.
Currently, she aims to pursue a graduate degree in astrobiology while she works on availing more opportunities in the field. The lack of opportunities to study Astrobiology in Pakistan did not shrivel her drive to learn more about it. She is fortunate to have benevolent mentors like Dr. Bruce Damer and Dr. Nozair Khwaja and Mr Umair Asim who have not only helped but also amplified her goal to become an Astrobiologist.
Additionally, she recently started internship with Blue Marble Space institute of Science. Where is she working on a project ‘’communicating topics in Earth and Space Science’’ The BMSIS Young Scientist Program (YSP) provides opportunities for students to participate in basic research, learn about effective science communication, and develop critical ethical thinking under the supervision of BMSIS/NASA scientist. Rabeea is the first Pakistani to join BMSIS. . In 2018, Rabeea was given the opportunity to give an oral presentation entitled: ” Astrobiology Roadmap of Pakistan—Education and Outreach activities” at the EANA (European Astrobiology Network Association) Conference in Germany (Free University Berlin). Then again in 2019 published another paper at the EANA conference and her first paper was published in The Astrobiology Australasia Meeting in 2017. Her research interests revolves around the origin of life on earth and possibility of life in the universe. She is became “NoR CEL (Network of Researchers on the Chemical Evolution of Life) International Committee member in 2019.She Hopes to work with Dr Sohan Jheeta on the origins of life. She applied for Citizen Astronaut Program for Space for Humanity and luckily she has been selected for the 2nd round, Its all-expenses-paid journey to experience the Overview Effect; a cognitive shift in worldview that occurs to astronauts when they experience the Earth from Space.
Her only dream is to live upto to the time when astronomers will finally find life in the universe. Rabeea’s vision is clear and unwavering, realizing it isn’t an easy dream to reach and might just take a lifetime, but in her words “Even at 80 I would still want to become an Astrobiologist.” Her main goal is to use the fascinating field of astrobiology as a mean to inspire Pakistani youth towards STEM education. Second is to impart Astrobiology as a subject starting from the grassroots level so that kids opt to learn astrobiology with passion and grow up to be enthusiastic professionals