How Easy Would It Be For Someone To Get An Internship At NASA, Or What Would Be Some Typical Requirements?

Intern Week 3: Graveyard Shift

Why am I at NASA at 2am? (Like what, thought that was a SpaceX thing.) Us interns have the graveyard shift to thermo test cameras for the ISS. This means that we are making the cameras really cold and really hot to see if they can withstand conditions in space. The cameras are just really high class HD Nikon cameras in custom housing and 3D printed lenses. The astronauts will use these to show ground what they are working on in space and zoom in on fine details to show damages. We record time and temperatures and the test lead does operational testing to see if the cameras still give back an image. Such a cool experience to assist in testing equipment that will actually go to space. The bottom picture is me next to the thermo test chamber.

The top picture is me in front of a motion/ zero gravity chamber that the astronauts trained in that needed to be decommissioned.

The goober next to me in the Orion mock is Caleb and he has a sick blog: astronomicalwonders

NASA Co-Op Week 11: Leaky Space Station

Space Walk My latest opportunity to sit console was during a spacewalk (extravehicular activity/ EVA) by Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren. They were on a mission to upkeep the International Space Station's ailing structures. One of the primary tasks was to fix an ammonia leak originally identified in 2012. Media dressed this leak up with red flags and flashing lights, however, NASA predicted this fault to occur given the age of ISS and the nature of its climate control system. Since the ISS is a closed loop system the interior produces a lot of heat from astronauts and their hardware, water is used to cool the space station, the energy is then transferred to ammonia, and lastly into giant radiators. This 6.5 hour long EVA consisted of mating power cables, tubes valves, and checking integrity of systems. During the EVA I took flight notes on the procedures Scott and Kjell were running. I was to report what step each of them were on to the PLUTO flight controller to my right.

Grace Hopper Action Items Something that was scary but rewarding was presenting to my branch at NASA about what I learned at GHC and even challenged them with three action items... 1)Make the work place welcoming (paid parent leave, mentoring and celebrating results over hours), 2) Educating the community about how cool STEM is. 3) Communicating Effectively. I encourage you all to present action items to your current employers, student group, or college professionals after attending conferences.

Astronaut Training Development I thought I had made a pretty good astronaut training video... until I put it in front of user testers. I learned I didn't even effectively communicate how to turn the device on right! Back to the drawing board for me. I had 17 users of various ages, disciplines, personalities and technology experience test the training to insure I was catering to everyone. After reviewing helpful feedback I edited the training video again so the messages were clearer.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED NASA summer internship applications now open: https://intern.nasa.gov/ossi/web/public/main/ Learn to code: https://techprep.fb.com/get-started/ Accomplishments this week at NASA: https://youtu.be/NPLPmdFx2yw Houston Maker Faire Nov14 (3D Printing, Robots): http://www.houstonmakerfaire.com/ Astronaut Kjell plays the bagpipes: https://youtu.be/7DWzmq9e0Lw

Defrag 2014's Take On Data Security

As reflected by our year of high traffic social media platforms, large scale company hacks, and increased amount of data, security of that data has become a top priority in tech. Defrag had a series of break out sessions that featured security. Hot topics highly discussed this afternoon have included the slippery slope of "who owns your data?" presented by Lorinda Brandon from SmartBear, "what's in your trash" explored by Rory O'Rouke, and online security challenges revealed by Rami Essaid of Distil Networks.

The biggest lie on the internet, according to Brandon, is that "you read the Terms Of Use". Let's be honest, we all quickly check the "read" box, and do not bother to even open the privacy policy. Why? To even understand the ramifications of what you are agreeing to would take hours and still be missing details. Brandon shared her hours long experience picking apart Samsung's privacy policy and found that Samsung "Share(s) information for purposes of business and ecosystem". Our data and how businesses use it for their own profitable benefit can be unclear. As innovators in tech it is necessary to be mindful of other's data and be transparent with users.

Bounce.io utilizes digital waste by finding treasure in trash, taking data on what kinds of emails "bounce back" to a user and why it was kicked out.  A cool idea O'Rouke of Bounce.io mentioned was a user comparing emails in their spam about penny stocks to the actual performance of that penny stock in the market. If information about a stock ends up in your spam, does that indicate that the stock is a poor investment.

2014 has been filled with a "storm of security attacks" as pointed out by Essaid with the security hacking of Target, Sears, and Home Depot. Unfortunately, hacking has become a profession where it pays to be bad; easy, cheap, low risk, and a big payoff. One of the biggest factors that companies are missing is the idea of prevention accompanied by a plan for reaction if an attack occurs. An attack is inevitable, as the data illustrates with the thousands of bots in existence, so not having a reaction plan is foolish. An interesting scenario Essaid pointed out your website may not be the one that is initially hacked into, yet another website's user names and passwords can be hacked and then bots use these stolen usernames and passwords to access your website's accounts.

How to get involved...

- Become aware of your data footprint and who shares your data

- Advocate for transparency about how companies use your data

- Check security settings on your social media

- If in the tech industry, ensure your company is prepared for security breach

A journal book I covered in little black star drawings

A thing I helped is in space!

I randomly took this screenshot during the spacewalk yesterday because I thought the reflection of the astronaut looked cool. Past NASA mentor pointed out that the lower reflective device is actually a HD camera @astronomicalwonders and I monitored during testing! We took the graveyard shifts monitoring data during cold thermo-cycling (checking if it could really handle chilly space temperatures). We recorded time and temperatures and the test lead performed operational testing to see if the cameras still give back an image. In honor of our enthusiasm for late night testing our division, the Avionic Systems Division, awarded us with certificates in Team Excellence for "reinforcing the weary EHDC project team during overnight thermo testing." Our assistance was not particularly technical but it was neat to see the path a device takes to get to space and see the final result post spacewalk insulation. The astronauts will use these cameras to show ground what they are working on in space and zoom in on fine details to show damages.

More details about the spacewalk via NASA here.

Spacewalk itinerary walk-through here.

Teams watch robots compete at a FIRST Robotics Regional in Minnesota

Comfortably Inconclusive: NASA Co-Op #2 Week 10 & 11

This is the first internship I have completed without a definite finished product to hand over and it truly bothers me. Trials were performed with the small business made humidity sensor with three levels of humidity in order to gather different data points. From these trials a >10% difference between the humidity sensor and NASA known sensors was found. This was primarily because the sensors available to me were not calibrated so errors in the thermodynamic equations could propagate. In conclusion the trials were inconclusive. However, I left a trial rig that can be used with calibrated sensors and known humidity levels, explanation of equations used to gather data and ample documentation on how to run trials with my fluid system and data collection program. My exit presentation pictured above went really well, I was so glad the Director of Engineering Propulsion could attend my presentation!

Before my departure International Space Station astronauts gave a debrief on missions 46 and 47. British astronaut Tim Kopra and American astronaut Tim Peake narrated a video showing images from the missions and scientific experiments they performed. Kopra explained astronauts are experiments themselves and they draw blood, perform ultrasound and exercises to help advance medical science and understand how humans are affected by space travel.

I really enjoyed the multi-disipline challenges I faced this summer running trials on the humidity sensor. Right before I left my Dad and I caught Kate Rubins and Jeff Williams installing the Commercial Crew Docking Adapter outside of Space Station live! This fall I am back at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) continuing my studies in electrical engineering and computer science. While at UMD I work in the career center editing resumes, giving presentations and writing career tip posts like this: https://umdcareers.wordpress.com/2016/08/17/internships-beyond-your-project/

In the spring I will return to Johnson to Co-Op in Mission Control's ISO (Inventory and Stowage Officer) group.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

See what NASA was up to this week.

Read about the astronauts on space station right now!

Apply for a NASA Co-Op

Apply for a NASA Internship

Holding the NASA Meatball (their circular logo). The red print NASA logo is called the worm.

Ideas for Teachers: Space Lesson Plan

When I return back to my hometown I will be visiting schools to share about my NASA experience and teach programming. This is my lesson plan for teaching about NASA and space. One of my first stops will be my Mom’s Kindergarten class so you will notice my lesson plan is catered for elementary students.

Morning: Letter Of The Day

Start the day with a regular greeting an opportunity for students to share thoughts around the room. Your usual "magic talking stick" can be replaced by a space related object like an inflatable planet or space craft.

"Today we are going to visit your letter of the week in a way that is out of this world." Cheesy I know but we should let the students define what outer space is. "What is outer space?" Write down the students answers and this is the dictionary definition... the void between planets and other celestial bodies. Kindergarten classes often have letters of the week and outer-space things are very easy to categorize into letters.

Story Time

I had a unique opportunity to meet Buzz Aldrin, purchase a children's book written by him, and get it signed by him. I plan to introduce the students to the author showing pictures of him and the Apollo 11 landing. There are many children's books written by or starring astronauts. This particular story has a project involving creating a Mars habitat that students will compete after story time.

Nap Time

Prior to nap time I show a neat star mapping project put together by Google called 10,000 Stars. You can tour stars from around the Milky Way and see their name, color, size and brightness. The ambient music playing in the background is excellent for nap time.

Afternoon Snack: Eat like An Astronaut

"The International Space Station is a science lab orbiting the Earth every hour and a half. Let's hear about how they live in space." Show a few clips like this...

Chris Hadfield's Space Kitchen making a "sandwich": https://youtu.be/AZx0RIV0wss

Karen Nyberg washes he hair in space: https://youtu.be/kOIj7AgonHM

Sleeping in space: https://youtu.be/UyFYgeE32f0

Running in space with Karen Nyberg: https://youtu.be/_ikouWcXhd0

Pass out freeze dried astronaut food like ice cream, grapes and strawberries. While watching the astronaut clips.