What R U Majoring In

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Challenger Disaster. During my time as a NASA Co-Op I learned that this tragedy and lessons from Apollo 1 and Columbia are a integral part of training for new employees. We heard speakers tell their story about where they were that day, what role they had in the mission and how NASA can improve. We learned every choice we make in the design, fabrication and deployment of a space bound creation can effect the whole mission. This heightened culture of awareness emphasizes safety to next generation engineers. My thoughts will be with the astronauts who made the ultimate sacrifice, their families, and folks across aerospace agencies striving to carry their legacy.

Photo by NASA

It's Small Business Saturday folks! Did you know that NASA collaborates with SmallBiz on extraterrestrial projects? This summer I worked on a NASA small business project, innovating ways to create energy on Mars! I have also sat in on two SmallBiz design proposals and was blown away by the ideas for deep space travel, energy creation and resource utilization. Despite my Black Friday all-nighter I have kicked off today having breakfast at a local joint. Take time today to support SmallBiz and learn about SmallBiz projects with NASA... SmallBiz Mars Humidity Sensor Project: http://kirsikuutti.blogspot.com/2016/08/sensing-mars-nasa-co-op-2-week-nine.html NASA SmallBiz success story: http://www.spacenewsmag.com/feature/bridging-the-valley-of-death/ SmallBiz on Space Station: http://www.spacenewsmag.com/feature/starting-small-to-develop-big-ideas/ SmallBiz deals in Duluth,MN: http://downtownduluth.com/df-data/files/SBS-2016.pdf Find NASA SmallBiz Partners:https://ehb8.gsfc.nasa.gov/sbir/public/technologySearch/searchAction.do?requestFrom=NASASBIRHome

Saturn V - the rocket built to fly is now a grounded beast. #techisbeautiful #NASAIntern #jsc

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.

Week 1 of NASA Co-Op Tour #4 You know it's going to be a good semester when the first person you recognize in the badging office is former NASA Administrator and astronaut Charles Bolden, No matter who you are, NASA's security doesn't falter. I am guessing Bolden was stopping by to check up on Johnson post Hurricane Harvey. Schedules are undeniably out of wack following Harvey. Nonessential astronaut training was rescheduled and "Lessons Learned" meetings are being added to calendars. The International Space Station (ISS) still flew and flight controllers still manned mission control despite the storm.

I am Co-Oping with OSO (Operations Support Officer) pronounced "Oh So", a console in mission control. OSO is responsible for ISS hardware maintenance and ISS hardware training. Engineers in the Mission Evaluation Room (MER), pronounced like "myrrh", brainstorm what on space hardware needs to be repaired. OSO brainstorms how the hardware can be repaired with limited resources safely in low gravity. OSO also provides ample training to new astronauts in preparations for missions. Similar to the other mission control teams I Co-Oped with, OSO has their own console and sits in mission control center. On console OSO is most active when a visiting vehicle docks with ISS, when maintenance is being preformed, and if something off-nominal happens. I will be completing twelve little projects that give me a sampling of the training and maintenance side of OSO. One project that looks particularly interesting requires python scripting for a ISS simulation. This simulation is used to train flight controllers trainees. It teaches trainees what is nominal and abnormal telemetry from space station. Additionally trainees have to figure out how to fix whatever breaks the ISS simulation. The scripts I am writing simulates how day to day astronaut actions change telemetry. These actions include dispensing water for meal time and flushing the toilet. Yes, I am basically writing a space toilet simulator

Rare maintenance occurred this week to fix electronic hardware that was brought inside ISS from a spacewalk this spring. It required opening up hardware that had not been opened since before it was sent to space. I arrived in mission control promptly at 1:30am for a four hour procedure. OSO wrote the procedure that astronauts followed to fix the hardware and the software to test it. Some flight controllers prefer to work in the very early morning, sleep during the day, and enjoy free time in the evening. This week I have been meeting with all of my project points of contacts and reorienting myself to flight operations. 

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

Become a paid intern at NASACo-Op (Pathways Intern) with NASA

Check out what scientist are learning from the Year In Space astronaut twin mission

Learn about space radiation

Read  a fellow NASA Co-Op's blog - Imagine Nat

More on mission control operations during Hurricane Harvey

Olaf Image from film: Frozen. Dir. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee Lee. Prod. Peter Del Vecho. Perf. Kristen Bell,

Resources for Women in STEM

As a women in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) I wanted to share my resources with you. Each of these camps I participated in, teams I joined and communities I became a part of boosted my confidence in my STEM abilities and fueled my passion to pursue my dream career.

1) NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Award- National Center for Women and  Information Technology (NCWIT) hosts an award for high school students interested in pursuing a career in computer science. “The NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing honors young women at the high-school level for their computing-related achievements and interests. Awardees are selected for their computing and IT aptitude, leadership ability, academic history, and plans for post-secondary education.” 

As an Aspirations Award winner you have access to exclusive scholarships, internship opportunities and get to be a part of a network of thousands of other women passionate about computer science. I know many groups over-hype their networking but this group has honestly opened so many unique doors for me. Five of us NCWITers had the opportunity to represent the group at President Obama’s Champions of Change Event at the White House. There were receptions at Facebook, Google, and the main event at the White House. We got to advocate for Women in STEM and I talked about project based learning.

Another opportunity that was a result of being an Aspirations Award Winner was my ability to attend Defrag Tech conference in Denver Colorado on a scholarship. My first posts on this blog are about Defrag.

2) NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Community Women studying in computer science in college, from an academic alliance institution, a major or minor in a related major, and qualifying GPA can become a part of this community! (very similar to the aspirations award group described above). In addition there is also a yearly collegiate award for $7,500 for three members in their junior year or above. 

3) St. Olaf Engineering and Physics Camp for Girls this is a top notch camp for high schoolers where for a whole week you are spending the majority of your time with power tools in your hand designing a Rube Goldberg machine using solenoids, motors, and limit switches. The other part of your week? Presentations from women engineers, liquid nitrogen ice-cream, looking a Saturn through a telescope, and the best college food in the Midwest. Think Northfield, MN is too far away? Trust me, this camp is worth that trip. 

4) Women In Engineering Camp at Michigan Tech College High schoolers get ready for a week long crash course in engineering. Learn about electrical, chemical, computer, and mechanical engineering. While I was there we built submarine robots and imaged logo figures onto glass with a laser.

Didn't see something for your age group? Check the “Launch your Career in Aerospace” post. Photo descriptions in the captions.

Hello Worlds: NASA Co-Op #3 Week 15

This year launched the inaugural dual FIRST Robotics Championships in Houston and St. Louis. Before, only one Championship dubbed "Worlds" was hosted where teams around the world competed for one title. Due to the growth of the teams involved in robotics, FIRST has decided to split Worlds into a North and South Championships with the intent to bring the winning alliance form each championship to battle it out during a live televised event. Unfortunately this means a Northern team will never be able to compete against a Southern team unless they win championships or pay to attend an out of state regional earlier in the season. There was ~700 teams, 15k students and 30k attendees!

My time volunteering was fantastically frantic! Resetting the Steamworks play field after each match for the robotics teams was a challenge requiring over 400 wiffle balls be picked up and dozens of yellow gears to be stacked.

Worked on the "Newton" FRC field. Winners from this field competed in the finals held in Houston's Minute Maid Park where their Astros baseball team plays. Logistics of getting 700 robotics teams into Minute Maid was a challenge that took longer than expected. There will be time for improvement as the southern robotics championship will be held in Houston for at least three more years.

The field had to be cleared within seven minutes to keep matches on schedule.

Robotics Houston Championship concluded with the announcement of he highest award, Chairman's, earned by team Thunder Down Under from Australia and fireworks!

Even the VIP seats did not have a good view of the final matches! Growing pains but lots of opportunity to improve over the next couple of years.

It is rumored the winners of the St.Louis and Houston Championships will go head to head at the FIRST Festival of Champions July Friday 28th - Saturday 29th, 2017. WAYS TO GET INVOLVED What is FIRST Robotics? Volunteer at a FIRST Robotics event or with a local team. Donate to FIRST Robotics. Read about my "Robo" Mater, Daredevils Robotics. Theme of the 2018 FIRST Tech Challenge, 18inx18inx18in robots.

Working on a Main Bus Switching Unit test bed for a solar array regulator.

#NASAIntern #jsc #glenn #NASA

Help a fellow NASA Intern send a satellite into space!

Giveaway and Satellite Crowd Funder!

Giveaway/raffle, WIN a FREE telescope! We will select one winner and give away a Celestron 21035 70mm Travel Scope: And help support our effort launch a satellite!

To enter the UGA Small Satellite Research Lab’s giveaway all you have to do is:

Reblog this post (so we can get your name)

Liking the post will enter you a second time!

Following the small sat lab on tumblr will enter you a third time!

Following the small sat lab on twitter will enter your a fourth time (just tweet your us tumblr user name at us and tell us how cool you think space exploration is)!

Help Our Crowdfunded to build a spacecraft! Help us build a spacecraft!

We’re Crowdfunding a satellite! Donate at SmallSat.uga.edu/donate!

We’ll be sending a Satellite to the international Space Station in 2018! We just need help building the ground station!

The Donation Rewards:

If you have donated larger amount you will also get all the benefits of the lesser amounts! Be sure when you visit smallsat.uga.edu/donate that you include your information so that we can get in contact with you!

$5 - You will entered in the telescope raffle 2 more times and will receive a signed thank you card in the mail from the lab!

$10 - You will receive a signed certificate of space exploration from the UGA Small Satellite Research Laboratory

$25 - You will receive a mission patch of your choosing (our NASA patch has yet to be designed but the MOCI patch is below)

$50 - You will receive both mission patches!

$100 - We will give you a UGA Small Satellite Laboratory tee-shirt! Special made for supporters of our campaign!

$250 - We will tweet at you from space! once a month! (or you can control the message that you send!)

$500 - You will receive a plaque commemorating your participation in the development of our spacecraft!

$1000 - We will engrave your name on the side of our satellite!

Remember, you get ALL of the benefits of lower donations if you donate a higher one!

Please Help Us Out! We are partnered with NASA and will be sending a satellite to the International Space Station in 2018, but we do not have the money to build a ground station yet!

We have 2 3U cube satellites! The image below is the patch for our Mapping and Ocean Color Imager (MOCI). We are also building the SPectroscopic Observatory of Coastal regions (SPOC), is this is the satellite that will be launched to the International Space Station!

Donate At: SmallSat.uga.edu/donate!

The Crowdfunded and raffle end on July 31, 2016, after that it will take us 20-30 days to send out all the rewards! Donate at smallsat.uga.edu/donate! Feel free to message us or ask us any space questions you may have!

Donate At: SmallSat.uga.edu/donate!

One of the renderings of our satellite: