Space Habitat Simulator In The HIVE Lab.

Intern Week 4: The Red Phone

Mouse clicks resonate throughout the lab mimicking an orchestra of League of Legend players. At work I was certainly not partaking in an online battle arena but programming in LabVIEW. The constant clicking is a byproduct of a visual programming language and my toll for simplicity.

My current task is to imagineer methods of navigating touch screen interfaces for a space habitat. Ideas have ranged from a touch of a finger to immerse you in the data of a solar power regulator, to a home button that will transport you back to home with an interactive schematic of the habitat's devices. While it's easy to brainstorm how an interface will be navigated on the white board getting the compiled program to act as expected is another story.

While taking a break from wires and code blocks our mentor took me and my fellow interns on a tour of the current Mission Control center and historic Apollo Mission Control room. In the current Mission Control we saw a live feed from the International Space Station (ISS) zooming above Australia. In only 92 minutes ISS orbits Earth and sees the sun rise. The astronauts were currently sleeping when we stopped by but we saw one of them float out of their quarters into a hallway before loss of signal (a normal occurrence).

Defined by the walls decorated in mission patches, green control stations, and a soft smell of cigars we entered into the historic Apollo Mission Control center. Shouts of joy once echoed in this room when The Eagle landed as well as unsettling silence of held breath during Apollo 13. The Red Telephone was Mission Control's life line to the Department of Defense and could be contacted immediately about issues. the It was an honor to be in the same room as history's heroes.  

Pictures - Top: The Red Phone, Middle Left: American flag that flew to the Moon, Middle Right: Live feed from the ISS, Bottom Left: Current Mission Control, Bottom Right: At a historic Apollo Mission Control center station.

Passionate about space, football & social media? Join NASA Social at NASA's Johnson Space Center on February 1st for a pre Super Bowl LI event. Deadline noon on January 9th: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/go-behind-the-scenes-at-johnson-space-center-leading-up-to-super-bowl-li

Soon I will be returning to mission control for my fourth Co-Op tour at NASA Johnson Space Center. I will be joining Inventory Stowage Officers (ISO) team in mission control. ISO ensures supplies and experiments are delivered to the International Space Station, completed experiments return to Earth in one piece and space garbage successfully burns up in the atmosphere and does not land in someone's backyard. Last  mission control Co-Op I sat console with ISO and watched Kjell Lindgren load the Japanese HTV-5 cargo ship with garbage playfully floating through station with the bags of garbage. I have a feeling ISO will be busy after a long pattern of cargo ship failures and the most recent Russian Progress 65 cargo failure (as SpaceX calls it, rapid unscheduled disassembly) transporting a space toilet, updated space suits and Christmas presents for the astronauts from their families. I expect work I will be doing with ISO will include logistics work on what has priority to be sent up to space station and collaborating with scientists about how their experiment with be stored. Additionally, Super Bowl LI in Houston and the Hidden Figures premiere are NASA related events I am looking forward to.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

* Often a live feed of Houston's Mission Control is streamed on NASA TV. My colleagues enjoy trying to catch me picking my nose when sitting console.

* Learn about the programmers behind the Apollo mission in the new movie Hidden Figures.

* Check out everything NASA accomplished in 2016 jam packed in a 3.5 minute video.

* Learn programming with Code.org, Elementary, Middle School, High School and Beyond.

Robotics Molds Students Into Professional Triple Threats

It’s no shock that FIRST Robotics promotes science, technology, engineering, and math. FIRST’s message of STEM education is smeared all over its challenges, image, and very name “FIRST”- For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. What FIRST robotics didn't expect to do is create a new breed of professional triple threats. FIRST has molded a generation of confident communicators, tenacious culture changers and gracious leaders.

Communication A stereotype for anyone in STEM industry is that you are socially impaired and enjoy being locked in a dark room with your work. Out in industry, why would the media want to speak with an engineer when there is a whole marketing department dedicated to doing just that? Especially when the marketing knows to NOT speak techy geek lingo that makes anyone want to forget every ounce of high school algebra they remember. This communication challenge is constantly navigated on a FIRST Robotics team. There is a different set of dialog for the media, fans, fellow teammates, and supporters. A phrase like “the new FRC roboRIO has integrated PWM, servo, and analog I/O channels capabilities” could be useless to you unless you were on a team while “this year’s robot controller allows us to add more sensors on our robot” is more meaningful. Students learn how to identify who their audience is and communicate accordingly. Teams often present to companies, schools, communities, some tech literate, and some not. Tech industry will soon be welcoming individuals in STEM that can communicate to a wide audience and not just among themselves.

Culture Hot topics like celebrity gossip may catch your attention but for most not this week’s newest innovations. Why? Culture. For what I like to call the engineering golden years, 50s and 60s, engineers were celebrated as superstars. The media and government were behind their innovative visions, currently that support is there but not as visible. Its obvious that students in FIRST try to change culture by showing that STEM is cool, but they also change culture in a more powerful and subtle way. Students engage in a unique form of cooperation scarcely observed in industry. Yes, during build season students keep their team's design hush hush, but when a rival asks for help they rise to the occasion and assist. You don't see Microsoft asking Apple for help with font design or firmware advice. Students recognize that the success of all teams is more important for the success of their own. Once these individuals enter into industry their mindset of advancing humanity rather than stock competition will allow innovation to occur faster.

Leadership The word leadership often evokes an image of a CEO, suits shaking hands, and a cheesy stock image pasted on a motivational presentation. Although being an executive leader is a lot of people’s goals there are just not many of those positions open. Getting to that level of management maybe involve some ungracious acts, climbing the ladder while stepping on a few people's toes. FIRST robotics has shaped a more realistic image of leadership in the mind of this generation. These students understand leadership doesn't just come in the form of leading others but also the leading of self. Autonomously identifying when you have nothing to do, thinking of a way to drive a goal forward by contributing, and completing that task sounds like a relic of a time gone by. For individuals on FIRST robotics this self-motivation is the key to their team’s success. Students learn that their team's goal would not be reached without their daily drive.

Disguised by the whirring motors and blinking lights a new generation is being fashioned. These professional triple threats graciously reform communication, culture, and leadership. At competition, beyond the field and into the robot pits is the best place to watch this transformation take place. Not convinced? Grab a pair of safety goggles, shake a few hands with students, collect a few robot buttons, ask about their robot design, hear about their aspirations, and see for yourself.

Find your nearest FRC competition: http://www.usfirst.org/whats-going-on

Playing golf on the Moon.

Robots Storm the Castle

After a year of watching robots playing forklift simulator in the FIRST Robotics 2015 game Recycle Rush FIRST has raised the bar with their new game Stronghold. Alliances will work to take over the opposing team’s castle with Medieval flair. Robots must break through opposing alliance’s defenses, launch boulders to weaken the castle, and climb its walls to claim it as there own. A unique aspect of this game is the modularity of the defenses. Outer barriers that the robots will be navigating through can be swapped between matches with the choice of a portcullis (gateway to be lifted up), Cheval de Frise (teeter totter), moat, rampart (opposing steel ramps), drawbridge, Sally Port, rock wall, rough terrain, low bar and platforms. Five of these defenses assigned with obscure french names will be picked before each match. For the first time in FIRST Robotics history there will be audience participation enabling spectators to choose one of the defenses. There are 10,000 different field combinations!

Creativity of Stronghold was manifested from FIRST’s new partnership with Disney Imagineers. They collaborated to carry the season’s Medieval theme through the game’s decorative field pieces and motivating the teams to create a standard, a sort of battle flag. Ample Monty Python and the Holy Grail references were scattered though out the Kick Off broadcast from FIRST Headquarters. I am suspicious that the Stronghold theme was solely conceived for that reason. The trailer like game hint was created to capture interest of folks outside of the FIRST world instead of “in joke” game hints like this. It seems FIRST will continue to release game hints with this a mobile game aesthetic style in future years revealing the years’ theme.

Already most teams have brainstormed a design and a strategy. A group called Ri3D (Robot in Three Days) has already built a fully functional robot. This robot can complete in every aspect of the game proving from my perspective to be worthy of a regional competition win. The idea of building a competitive robot in three days must give rookies teams hope.  Check out Ri3D’s final product: https://youtu.be/Kd1FaSNoDiM

This season my hands are off the robot and on the computer as a project mentor helping students write newspaper articles covering the build season and competition. Check out earlier publications by our group BlueDevil Press and online here.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

If you are a strategy engineering feel you may enjoy reading the Stronghold game manual:

https://firstfrc.blob.core.windows.net/frc2016manuals/GameManual/2016GameManual-Full-20160112.pdf

Mentor a team or volunteer at a regional event: http://www.firstinspires.org/ways-to-help/volunteer

Find a local robotics team to donate to. Often local teams will have their own website with instructions on how to donate/ where to send a check to: http://www.firstinspires.org/find-local-support

Check out my old robotics team the Duluth East Daredevils: http://www.daredevils2512.org/

Our cheering faces are in an Official NASA Tumblr post. Go Cotern class of Fall 2015! You all can join us at NASA by applying for an internship, Pathways Internship (Co-Op), Recent grad program, Full Time position or become an astronaut!

So you want to work at NASA?

An out of this world career or internship might not be as far out of reach as you think. Check out all the ways you can get involved!

If you’re a student…

Our internships are the perfect place to start! We offer paid internships for spring, summer, and fall semesters to U.S. citizens currently attending an accredited university full time. Learn more at: https://intern.nasa.gov

Seriously considering a job in the Federal civil service? Check out the Pathways Internship Program which allows you to do multiple work tours while you finish school: http://nasajobs.nasa.gov/studentopps/employment/iep.htm

If you’re a recent graduate…

If you’re a U.S. citizen who has graduated from an accredited college or university within the past 2 years (or 6 if you have served in the military), then the our Recent Graduates program is just for you. Accepted applicants are placed in a 1 year career development program with the possibility of an additional year, or even granted term or permanent jobs within the agency. Learn more at: http://nasajobs.nasa.gov/studentopps/employment/rgp.htm.

If you’re a professional…

You can search for our job openings any time at USAJobs.com. Create an account, then use the USAJobs resume builder. Want to make sure your resume maximizes your opportunity for a job at NASA? Check out our Applicant Guide: https://applyonline.nasa.gov/applicant_guide.html.

You can then search for our job openings here: https://nasai.usajobs.gov/.

If you want to be an astronaut…

Astronaut candidate applications are accepted every few years- including right now! Get yours in before the current application closes on February 18, 2016.

Do you have a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field and 3 years of related professional experience? You might be eligible. Find out more and apply online at: https://nasai.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/423817000.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

While adorned in Christmas decorations Mission Control is working fast to instruct astronauts on an unexpected space walk. Year in space astronaut Scott Kelly and newly arrived Tim Kopra are performing an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) while first time astronaut Tim Peake is declared the commander of Space Station. Kelly and Kopra are assisting in moving the Mobile Transporter rail car a few inches to a worksite on the station’s truss where it can be latched in place. The rail car was stuck and needed to be moved so a Russian ships could be captured this week. In addition they are checking off items from previous EVA Honey Do list. From the perspective of someone who has developed astronaut training, this last minute EVA is extremely impressive! It takes months to develop an EVA's schedule, hours of training in the largest pool in the world with station mock ups - Neutral Buoyancy Lab, and development of hours of training videos. It takes a whole day just to get the suit on! My mentor said who ever pulled this space walk planning off is going to get a big award. WATCH LIVE NOW: www.ustream.tv/NASAHDTV

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.

Watch an SLS Booster test live today 6/28/2016 at 10:05amCT. This booster will slingshot an unmanned Orion Space Craft around the Moon in 2018: