Curate, connect, and discover
Engineer - Blog Posts
Pilot and Engie dancing the waltz
I know that I already published it but ... This is better
What if a girl appeared in RA?
Captain: Hooray! How lovely! Will be my new minion
Snippy: Well, glad to meet you ...
Pilot: Wow! Really lovely
Engie: ...
Heh (Terribly crooked. But I tried ...)
Snippy, Engie and Pilot (made in the application live portrait maker)
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
Attending a DC leadership conference in May!
I will meet US college student leaders, participate in workshops & visit Capitol Hill. One of activity reads, "[Learn about]... advocacy, politics, and policy making from a panel of women who work for senators and representatives on Capitol Hill". Summer of 2013 I attended President Obama's Champions of Change White House event with NCWIT Aspirations in Computing sharing the importance of "project based learning" in schools. I talked with policy makers, company leaders and educators about how project based learning could be implemented and assessed. Additionally, I met Minnesota Senator Al Franken who since has visited FIRST robotics teams in my hometown & supported STEAM heavily. Again I want to have a focused message to share during my DC mission. I may keep the project based learning theme or pick a new one. I would love to hear your thoughts about what message I should share! Who knows who I'll run into!
I am so thankful AAUW Duluth MN awarded me with a scholarship making it possible to attend the AAUW's National Conference for College Women Student Leaders. Here is the agenda of the conference: https://www.nccwsl.org/about/agenda/
Watch for live blogging! Pictures are from my 2013 White House experience.
Robotics, Simulation & Future: NASA Co-Op #3 Week 8&9
Robotics: Many NASA interns and Co-Ops got hooked on STEM disciplines by participating in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics. In fact there is a robotics team that meets at NASA Johnson's Space Vehicle Mock Up Facility, the Robonauts. There are four levels for FIRST Robotics; Junior Lego League for ages 6 to 10 (JrFLL), Lego Robotics League for 4th to 8th grade (FLL), FIRST Tech Challenge for 7th to 12th grade (FTC), and FIRST Robotics Competition for 9th to 12th graders (FRC). There are still FIRST Robotics events you can take part in.
Search for FIRST Robotics events pick “Event” and use filters such as dates, program type, county and zip code.Volunteers apply through the Volunteer Information and Matching System and need to pass a background check. Once you are accepted into a position the volunteer coordinator will supply you with the necessary training.
WATCH TEAMS COMPETE LIVE (every Thur - Sat through weekend of April 27th, 2017).
Robot my FRC team made
Robot the team who builds here, Robonauts, made.
This year’s FRC game.
Simulation: A group of us toured the Systems Engineering Simulator (SES) lab a part of NASA Johnson's Robotics Engineering division. Astronauts visit SES to practice docking Orion, capturing the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship, and driving a Mars rover. They simulate realistic physics and scenarios with in house software (Unreal Engine couldn't cut it). The have simulations with the International Space Station, Japanese Cargo Vehicle (HTV), Dragon, Cygnus, Orion and future space exploration vehicles.
Future of NASA: Center Director Ellen Ochoa, Deputy Director Mark Geyer and Associate Director Melanie Saunders hosted an All Hands where they shared with NASA Johnson employees essentially our state of the union. Ochoa described that NASA of priority and interest of the new administration. Per the request of the administration, NASA is conducting a study to weigh the risks of adding a manned crew to Space Launch System and Orion Space Craft's EM1 test. This study is expected to conclude late March.
SCIENCE PACKED WEEK: NASA Co-Op #3 Week 7
The amount of science that occurred this week was so overwhelming that I had to make the title all caps. Five major science related events occurred this week... I was a Judge at the FIRST Robotics Tech Challenge SE Texas Championship, assisted in astronaut user testing, watched a briefing about seven new Earth-like planets found, watched SpaceX Dragon cargo ship dock to the International Space Station, and trained on the job in Mission Control during the Dragon cargo ship unstow.
1. FIRST Robotics Tech Challenge Judging
FTC is like FRC (that I was in back in high school) except FTC robots are 18in x 18in x 18in, rather than 120lb robots we built, and play a different game. This year's game is Velocity Vortex which required students to build a robot in only six weeks that could lift large medicine balls and shoot Whiffle balls at a target. I had a great time at the FIRST Tech Challenge's SE Texas Regional Champs judging teams. It was a challenge to judge teams when there was so much talent to sift through! Unlike Minnesota FRC's one regional these TX FTC folks have to go through three levels of competition to get to the World Championship. Worlds will be held in Houston this year April 19-22.
Volunteer with at a FIRST Robotics event.
2. SpaceX Dragon Launch to Space Station
Launch of Falcon9 carrying dragon cargo to Space Station went wonderfully. Additionally, a stage of Flacon 9 successfully landed ON LAND back in Florida to be refurbished and reused. This private space industry/ US Government/ International effort demonstrates Scott Kelly's quote: "Spaceflight is the biggest team sport there is, and it's incredibly important that we all work together to make what is seemingly impossible possible." Kelly said this when he handed over command of the ISS to fellow NASA astronaut Tim Kopra during his Year In Space Mission in 2016. Despite public belief, spaceflight is a team collaboration (not competition) between government, private and international groups.
3. Astronaut User Testing
In parallel to hands free stowage app development I am "Project Manager-ing" for, I am helping with a similar app on an iPad. This iPad app is going through user testing to get approved and sent up to Space Station. I assisted with user testing including participants from ISO and participants from the astronaut crew office who have flown. The test participants were asked to gather items in the ISS mock-ups and pack them into the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship mock up. I was available for test participants to ask about space station locations. Additionally I made the “play” stowage items that participants gathered and packed.
4. New Earth-like Planets Found
First known system of seven Earth-sized planets has been found! This solar system is called TRAPPIST-1 and the planets are named letters "a" through "g" from closest to furthest from the Star. These planets are one hundred times closer to their star and closer to each other than the planets in our solar system. This means that on the surface of one planet you can see other planets clearly like our moon. Since this star is significantly cooler than ours which leaves three of these planets habitable despite close proximity to the star. At light speed it would take 39yrs to reach this solar system. In 2016 in Chile, researchers used the TRAPPIST telescope to find two of the planets in TRAPPIST-1. In part of a global effort NASA's Spitzer telescope found total of seven reported this week. In the future NASA's James Webb telescope, set to launch in 2018, will take a closer look at TRAPPIST-1.
Check out what the surface of planet TRAPPIST-1d looks like. Find the other six planets in the sky.
Take a 3D tour of TRAPPIST solar system.
NASA's press release about the new found exoplanets.
Full breif/ exoplanet discovery announcement video here, it's only 30mins long with press questions.
5. Dragon Cargo Ship Unstow
Conducted on the job training with DISO (Dragon Inventory Stowage Officer) in a Mission Control support room. DISOs are in charge of monitoring the astronaut’s cargo unstow of SpaceX’s dragon cargo ship docked to the International Space Station. Dragon delivered many scientific experiments, food and temperature sensitive items. During unstow astronauts Peggy Whitson and Thomas Pesquet were about an hour ahead of schedule. This crew is extremely efficient and is ahead of schedule for every task, even spacewalks. Pesquet unpacked cold bags where temperature sensitive science is stored and should be unpacked quickly. Whitson retrieved CTBs (Cargo Transfer Bags) from Dragon which included science that needed kept at a particular temperature and pressure. CTBs are White, rectangular, cushiony, sewn bags sealed with a zipper and are used on every flight to contain items.
Unloading items from dragon in an elegant organized fashion is critical because SpaceX must always know its center of gravity. If there is a Dragon emergency in which case dragon cannot stay on ISS and needs to return to Earth the center of gravity is available for accurate trajectory calculations. During my on the job training I followed the procedures sent to crew and recorded changes astronauts made to the procedure. I listened to the voice loops of each of the flight control consoles communicating to each other about the astronaut’s tasks. I was able to confirm “words”, what was spoken over the loop, to the official DISO flight controller as a second check. Sometimes DISO are asked to confirm that an unstow procedure is being completed correctly and sometimes DISO needs to call the Flight Director to point out a stowage item concern.
NASA Super Bowl Wrap Up: NASA Co-Op #3 Week 3 & 4
Houston, we have ourselves a ball game! A byproduct of a Houston based Super Bowl is the media's fascination with NASA and desire to team up with NASA to make some awesome football space crossover clips. Fox Sports descended upon Johnson Space Center last week to shoot a promo in a trainer Mission Control room called the White Front Control Room. Flight Controllers were invited to sit on NFL themed consoles and take orders from Jimmy Johnson, announcer for Fox Sports, posing as the Flight Director. Other Mission Control employees were invited to the viewing room, a fellow Co-Op and I got to watch the promo filming. Jimmy was a natural Flight Director, passionately and powerfully presenting the script. Here is a clip with Jimmy's Mission Control segment. Fox Sports announcers also had the opportunity to film in orange flight suits and on top of a Space Shuttle mock-up.
Over the past few years NASA's media presence has been increasing due to human exploration themed movies and now the Super Bowl. Love the public's interest in space from those in lab coats who studies ripples in time space to view gravity to those who think watching a rocket launches are cool. Science literacy is for everyone!
Work wise, user testing was conducted for a stowage app that can assist astronauts with (un/re)loading cargo ships. We performed tests in the Space Vehicle Mock-Up Facility inside International Space Station nodes.
Photos by NASA and Fox Sports
Watch astronauts Peggy Whitson and Thomas Pesquet spacewalk LIVE tomorrow (Friday The 13th) from 6amCT to ~11amCT! It is Peggy's 8th spacewalk. This is NASA's picture of the day from January 11th showing Peggy performing her 7th spacewalk not too long ago. I'm observing from Mission Control's MPSR (Multi-Purpose Support Room, pronounced "mipser")! http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv
Cargo Ship Choreography: NASA Co-Op #3 Day One
Today I returned to Mission Control to support the ISO (Inventory Stowage Officers) console. This team is in charge of packing cargo ships, choreographing the unloading of cargo ships and letting astronauts know where they misplaced their socks. Basically, ISO knows where everything is in the bird's nest that is the International Space Station.
My task is to choreograph the unloading of a cargo ship docked to space station. This is no ordinary choreography however, I will be using a device I created training for with another Mission Control in an earlier Co-Op. In the Fall of 2015 I produced a training video for a device that has the potential to make difficult procedures easier for astronauts. Astronaut Scott Kelly and Tim Peake ended up using this training in space. This week I will be familiarizing myself with standard unloading procedures, watching videos of astronauts testing this new device and questioning what is the hardest part of unloading that could be made easier with this device.
In layman's terms - I am choreographing the unloading of a cargo ship onto space station that the astronauts will perform by using a helpful device.
My battle station.
Saturn V stage.
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
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
Nothing, you can't do anything with an electrical engineering major. Jk folks, EE is one of the most flexible degrees:
https://umdcareers.wordpress.com/2016/11/22/what-can-you-do-with-an-electrical-engineering-major/
Throwback to when I captained a FIRST Robotics team and a really fun interview about my NASA Co-Op experience:
http://www.fox21online.com/news/local-news/UMD-Student-Reaches-For-The-Stars-With-NASA/42581116
Day in the life of an engineering major: Notes so long you have to take a picture of the white board. Senior who has this life thing figured out 3D printing a robotic arm built with video game controller parts. TA makes fun of us for being lazy and taking pictures of the chalk board - revolt by taking selfies with the chalk board. Full wave bridge rectifier decided to cooperate with the breadboard today producing a clean image on the oscilloscope. Instead of causing stack overflows stability of a system can be diagnosed when looking at a block diagram. Professor judges the mess of clamps connected to super ground. Realizing you actually need to be employed after college, cleaning up and attending a job fair. Realizing everyone is having a post college employment crisis, talking to as many recruiters as possible while snagging free company swag.
Watch live! Astronaut Kate Rubins and Jeff Williams spacewalk around the International Space Station! They are retracting a thermal radiator which is part of the space station cooling system. Thought this picture was neat because you could see one of their reflections in a device. http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv
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