43 Acres Of Aerospace: NASA Co-Op #2 Week Five & Six

Intern Week 6: A NASA Coincidence

Coincidence

I had barely graduated high school before embarking to NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio for an internship two summers ago. Equipped with my experience captaining a FIRST Robotics team I thought I was fully prepared for anything the engineering world could throw at me. Engineers racing to complete a power system for a multipurpose space habitat greeted me with hardware that needed testing, circuit board designs that needed fabricating, and copious acronyms that made my learning curve spike.

Fast forward two summers and I am now at at a different center, NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC), creating crew displays for that same habitat and same hardware. By crazy coincidence my mentor from Glenn came to JSC this week to run the full systems test with the displays my current department made. This system test means a lot to me after being on each end of the development. I was the only person who new the electronics inside of the power system and  the digital guts powering the displays.

Astronaut Lunch

Yes you read that right lunch not launch. I had the gracious opportunity to meet Astronaut Mike Hopkins over lunch! He was on International Space Station (ISS) expedition 36 & 37, took part in two EVAs (extra vehicular activity), he has spent 166 days in space, and just a year ago he was in space. It was wonderful to talk to him about NASA, ways to become an astronaut and celebrity encounters.

Thermo Testing

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that us interns took part in thermo testing of cameras from the ISS in the wee hours of the night. In honor of our assistance our division, the Avionic Systems Division, awarded us will certificates in Team Excellence for "reinforcing the weary EHDC project team during overnight thermo testing." Caleb from: astronomicalwonders.tumblr.com also received this honor.

Land a Career with the US Government

I shared all my advice on how to land a career US Government! Semesters that I am not working at NASA Johnson Space Center I study at the University of Minnesota Duluth and work in their Career and Internship Services. I am training into a Peer Educator position soon to help students edit resumes, write blog posts and give general career advice. In their Peer Educator Blog "Peer Into Your Career" I shared my US Government career tips. If someone wants to work for NASA or any other agency this three part blog series is where I would direct them!

Part 1: Using the US government's USAJobs.gov as a job search engine.

Part 2: Perfecting your resume on USAJob.gov's resume builder.

Part 3: A Pathways Internship, an awesome US Government career experience for college students.

Throughout my time as a Peer Educator I will write monthly posts for the "Peer Into Your Career" blog.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

"Peer Into Your Career" blog by U of MN Duluth Peer Educators has many great posts help  you in every aspect of your career! From when you first start searching to later in your career.

Visit your university/ college's Career Center! These wise folks are more than happy to help you out and are full of quality wisdom.

For non USAJobs.gov resume builder tips check out U of MN Duluth's Career Handbook for resume tips and more!

Side note: I did not successfully land the T-38 Jet simulator so ask me about career landing advice not plane landing advice. I did a few loops though. Yes that is Astronaut Gregory C Johnson in the co-pilot seat!

Accidentally met NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden! (Barely pictured far left.) I was watching the Space Station cargo ship launch (which unfortunately didn't) from the viewing room and all these important people walked in. After the scrub Bolden came up to me and asked who I was. I responded that I was just an intern and we talked about astronaut training and what was on board the ship.

How easy would it be for someone to get an internship at NASA, or what would be some typical requirements? I'm only a high school student in engineering and want to know what paths would be really... appreciated I guess? Thx, and love your blog!

Are there any NASA internship requirements...Your typical semester long internship requirements (for a summer, spring or fall opportunity) include a GPA of at least 3.0 and simply a passion for NASA! You don't need to necessarily study in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) disciplines. Some current interns are graphic designers, educators or business majors. NASA accepts high school students to participate in their program too. My first NASA experience was at Glenn Research Center the summer after my senior year. NASA does like to hear about any hands on work you have done, how you have been a leader and future aspirations. You can apply for a semester long internship here: https://intern.nasa.gov/ossi/web/students/login/The NASA Pathways Internship (this program is more commonly known as a Co-Op) has a few different requirements and the program is different itself. Unlike an internship a Co-Op makes a many semester long commitment to you. For example I flip-flop between working at NASA and studying at school. I will work at NASA five times before graduating. If you complete this program successfully you have the opportunity to apply for full time jobs at NASA. The program requirements include being a current student at an ABET accredited university and participating in an accepted major (details on that in the Co-Op application sites) like engineering or business, having at least a 2.9 GPA, and being able to work at NASA three times before your graduate. The current Pathways Internship (Co-Op) openings are here: http://nasajobs.nasa.gov/studentopps/employment/opportunities.htmYou apply for the Co-Op by making a resume (mine was just bellow 20,000 characters) on USAJobs.gov. Opportunities open up as the year rolls along for fall and spring opportunities. Thanks for the question!

Jupiter gets his first close-ups by NASA's Juno Space craft! Read about the successful flyby here: http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasas-juno-to-soar-closest-to-jupiter-this-saturday/ More pictures here: https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing

Mural of NASA’s past present and future.

Will for sure include this into my elementary school hour of code lesson!

Do an Hour of Code with Disney’s Moana!

Today Code.org and Disney revealed a new Hour of Code tutorial featuring characters from the upcoming Disney animated film Moana. We are thrilled to be able to offer this activity to teachers across the globe as they prepare to do an Hour of Code with their classrooms between December 5-11 to celebrate Computer Science Education Week—and no experience with code is required to teach it.

We’ve partnered with Disney and Lucasfilm in the past on Hour of Code activities featuring Frozen and Star Wars™ characters—some of our most popular ever. We were particularly excited that both of these beloved tutorials featured strong female characters, which helped the Hour of Code introduce female students around the world to computer science.

The Hour of Code has now reached over 50 million girls, a milestone in female participation for computer science. We look forward to continuing that momentum with “Moana: Wayfinding with Code,” which features a strong female character and a male companion.

We also recently announced that we’re teaming up with Walt Disney Animation Studios and Lucasfilm to create Frozen and Star Wars-themed puzzles for our Computer Science Fundamentals curriculum on Code Studio. The puzzles will be developed and integrated into our curriculum over the next year.

We’ve found that kids are much more likely to try computer science if it contains topics they are interested in, like their favorite Disney stories and characters. Our work with Disney over the past two years has helped Hour of Code reach record numbers, inspiring millions of children of all ages to try coding and pursue an education in computer science.

The story of the “Moana: Wayfinding with Code” tutorial centers around Moana and Maui as they sail through unknown territory across the ocean. As students follow Moana and Maui’s travels, they learn basic coding commands that help steer the boat. Along the way, students are introduced to conditionals, sequences and loops while they master the art of navigation. When Moana and Maui are suddenly attacked by the Kakamora – coconut-clad warriors—they must use their coding skills to dodge their pirate projectiles and penetrate their defenses.

The “Moana: Wayfinding with Code” tutorial is available in more than 180 countries and 23 languages, including Samoan Polynesian. Educators can also find Hour of Code toolkits in English and Spanish on the tutorial’s website!

Thank you to Disney for helping us give children all over the world the opportunity to learn the basics of coding.

Computer Science Education Week (December 5-11, 2016) is almost here! Sign up your Hour of Code event here and check out all the new activities that you can filter on our site based on grade level, experience level, subject area, and more. Find the perfect activity for your class at https://code.org/learn.

Hadi Partovi, Code.org

NASA Co-Op Week 10: Rocket Science Is Hard

I get frustrated with NASA asking “Why don’t we just build a rocket and go?”, looking and sounding like a doofus in a horse head. NASA Johnson and Kennedy interns met up at Cape Canaveral to watch the Atlas V launch. Visiting Kennedy Space Center reminded me about how much goes into a rocket launch, sending humans or satellites into space. Of course budget and the ability to set and maintain ten year plus political space exploration goals would speed up the process. Those variables aside I want to share what goes into a rocket launch.

Fishing For Rockets Surprisingly NASA does indeed reuse rocket parts, I thought this idea was unique to SpaceX but has been in the works for decades. Following shuttle era launches skirts of rockets and other parts were retrieved from the ocean. They would be inspected, refurbished and reused. Shuttle rocket parts will be used on the new Space Launch System (SLS). Signs labeled parts that will be used for the EM-1 Orion launch. Protective materials preventing heat damage often get reapplied to these parts. Parts of the rocket get so hot it reaches 6000 degrees Fahrenheit while others get so cold ice forms. The technology used to mix these epoxies in mid air is the same technology that coats M&Ms and Doritos. Talk about spin off technologies!

Monster Tank So you made rocket parts. Great, but how do you expect to assemble and transport something so huge? This was a problem my robotics team ran into as well. We had to make sure the robot we built would fit through the door. Once you have all the rocket parts they will be assembled in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the tallest one story building in the world at 526 feet. It takes 45 minutes for the main door to be opened. Clouds have been known to form inside the VAB and rain has fallen too. Despite how big the VAB may be when transporting one of the rockets into an assembly segment it needed to be tilted at a 45 degree angle. Upgrades are currently being made for the massive SLS. Once the rocket is assembled it is transported on the Crawler-transporter moving at a back breaking speed of one mile per hour. This transporter insures the rocket reaches the launch pad safely limiting the movement of rocket to less than a diameter of a basketball.

Blast Off Wave goodbye to your creation because it will soon launch, release its payload, tumble into the sea repeating the cycle. A successful launch is dependent of many variables including launch pad hardware, windspeed, humidity, weather, and simply fishing boats in the line of debris reentry. If launch is a go bolts the size of your lower leg explode freeing the beast from the ground. If the bolts do not successfully release the rocket don’t care, it will continue to lift off and tear its restraints off like King Kong.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED Consider touring Kennedy Space Center. While Johnson Space is the home of the human aspect of space flight Kennedy is in charge of getting is up there: https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/

Write your congress members and senators encouraging them to support space exploration: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Discover accomplishments made this week at NASA: http://youtu.be/_a9og3pAqxY

Watch highlights from the latest launch by United Launch Alliance of AtlasV carrying a GPS into orbit: https://www.youtube.com/embed/NPcRziWDigQ

Us Johnson Space folk visited our sibling NASA center Kennedy. We toured the largest one story building in the world, Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), saw parts of the new Space Launch System (SLS) and visited amazing innovators at Swamp Works. Unfortunately the launch was delayed until tomorrow so we will catch it before we leave. Touring NASA Kennedy was humbling, it reminded me that my generation of space exploration advancers stands on the shoulders of giants. WATCH LAUNCH OCT31 12:13pmET http://www.ulalaunch.com/webcast.aspx

NASA Intern Reviews The Martian Movie

Maybe I am biased saying that The Martian is a must see, inspiring, stellar movie because I eat, sleep and defecate space exploration. However I am not here to tell you how great it was cinematically but answer some questions folks are curious about. As a NASA intern can you share some of the accuracies and inaccuracies of The Martain? Understand that many from the space community hang up their lab coats before walking into the theater. With my unhealthy space obsession I was wearing my lab coat complete with googles and a pocket protector.

Dust Storm Astronauts of the Ares III mission are caught in a dust storm so fierce they are forced to scrub the mission and return to Earth early. This catastrophic events sounds socking leaving people to wonder, why would we want to explore such a hostile planet? Fortunately the scenario of a powerful dust storm is not possible due to Mars’ thin atmosphere, 100 times thinner than Earth’s. Mars does indeed  have dust storms, in fact the largest dust storms in our solar system, they could not however knock anyone over. Author Andy Weir was aware of the inaccuracy even thinking of alternate openings but ultimately stuck with the dust storm opening.

Suiting Up Valiantly Mark Watney and the other astronauts quickly suited up to abort, perform tasks, or save a friend. The suits that are currently being used on board the International Space Station take around 15 minutes to don. Before astronauts perform Extra Vehicular Activities (EVAs), like a space walk, they start testing and preparing suit a day before. Some activies the astronauts must perform to prep for an EVA include; Pre-breathe 100 percent oxygen for 30 minutes to remove nitrogen from their blood and tissue, Rub the helmet with anti-fog compound, Insert a food bar and water-filled bag, and Check the suit for leaks by increasing the pressure to 0.20 atm above the airlock pressure. Maybe the models of space suits in The Martian have advanced greatly and take seconds to put on. Today’s astronauts would sure be jealous.

Banter Joking between the crew members and sarcasm between NASA members was accurate. Performing missions can get stressful and comments like the astronauts made between each other during Mars rock excavation occurs to relieve tension. But sometimes astronauts simply have a sense of humor. I’m glad The Martian portrayed the human side of NASA.

Mission Control Portrayed as a dimly lit stock exchange room futuristic Johnson Space Center (JSC) Mission Control Center contains dozens of consoles where flight controllers operate mission from. The first big no no is housing employees responsible for critical dynamic troubleshooting in a dark sleepy room. Cinematically it made the labels for the various consoles Flight Director, CAPCOM, ADCO look really cool. Yes, the mission control center in JSC has cool light-up blue console name plates. A second no no is the high number of consoles filling the big room. A flight director would have problems communicating with such a large group especially while systems were failing.

I understand that so many positions in mission control were added to operate the new technologies needed to complete the Mars mission and I thought of a solution. Currently at JSC our front room mission control (FCR, pronounced “ficker”) is what everyone sees on TV with the iconic consoles and big displays. Behind the scenes the Multi-Purpose Support Room (MPSR, pronounced “mipser”) controllers troubleshoot issues and work on procedures as well. MPSRs could reduce the number of consoles needed for a Mars mission. MPSR controllers can still communicate their concerns on audio loops to their FCR leaders.

NASA Family Everyone was cheering to save Mark Watney and bring him home. NASA scientists, engineers, leaders, and the whole community came together working overtime to keep him alive. This sense of “NASA Family” is very real at NASA and is a state of community that you feel even after a few weeks onsite. During Apollo 13 you could sense everyone’s held breath and relief when they returned safely. You could feel a heavy weight and sorrow after the Columbia and Challenger disasters. Pride was presented boldly with waving flags, hugs and cheering after the Moon landing. NASA is a family innovating for the future and striving for more moments to cheer about.

Little Catches *Good the time delay in communication between Mars and Earth was accurately explained. *Why was that astrophysicist wearing a heavy coat at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and Johnson Space Center in Texas? *Our NASA Centers do not yet look that pristine, in fact a lot of them contain asbestos.

Sources My experience and… https://youtu.be/m2bkJQah_dE http://science.howstuffworks.com/space-suit6.htm http://stao.ca/gr6space/livinginspace/Donning%20a%20spacesuit%20_article.pdf http://www.space.com/16903-mars-atmosphere-climate-weather.html