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By European Space Agency
Slovenia signed the Accession Agreement to the ESA Convention on 18 June 2024. Upon ratification, Slovenia will become the 23rd ESA Member State.
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By NASA
Several hundred new faces walked through the gates of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the first time on June 3. Who is this small army of motivated space-enthusiasts? It’s Goddard’s 2024 summer intern cohort.
Across Goddard’s campuses, more than 300 on-site and virtual interns spend the 10-week program contributing across all manners of disciplines, science, engineering, finance, communications, and many more. From helping engineers who will send new space telescopes into orbit, to communicating NASA’s scientific discoveries to the world, this cohort of interns hopes to bring their new ideas and perspectives to Goddard this summer.
About 200 interns attended summer orientation at Goddard’s Greenbelt, Maryland, campus of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, on June 3, 2024. This was the first in-person summer orientation since 2019.Credit: NASA/Jimmy Acevedo The Artemis Generation Takes Flight
This group of interns is part of the Artemis Generation: they come to NASA near the culmination of the campaign that will return humanity to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface.
“I’m just excited to contribute to Artemis,” said Kate Oberlander, who just graduated from UCLA in aerospace engineering. “We’ll be helping connect communications between the Moon and Earth for the Artemis campaign, and that is so monumental. That’s exciting to be a part of.”
In addition to work on their projects, interns also have networking opportunities where they can meet current NASA employees and learn about careers in aerospace.
“I’ve been really enjoying getting to know my fellow interns, and also getting that professional development alongside technical skills,” said Oberlander, who plans on returning to UCLA to earn her master’s degree and learn more about optics, electromagnetics, and space exploration. She said her internship this summer will bring all her favorite subjects together.
Down to Earth: Interns Work Across Fields
Interns at Goddard take on a diverse set of projects across many disciplines. “It’s a lot of learning — but I love learning. I’m like a sponge,” said Addie Colwell, an environmental science student at the University of Vermont.
Colwell’s internship focuses on stormwater management at Goddard. “We have to renovate the embankment of the stormwater pond,” Colwell said. “I’m assessing how that’s going to impact the wildlife there. It’s a lot of species identification and research.”
Emma Stefanacci, a science communication master’s student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will be working on the astrophysics social media team.
“I’m excited to see what social media looks like, as I haven’t been able to play in that realm of communications before,” said Stefanacci. She will help develop a campaign for the launch anniversary of XRISM, a telescope collaboration between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
This summer, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore also hosts a diverse intern cohort, some of whom are shown here in the Range Control Center. Goddard manages Wallops on behalf of NASA.Credit: NASA/Pat Benner Working on the Next Generation of Space Discovery
Kevin Mora is a student at Arizona State University studying computer science. Mora is working on several projects this summer, one of them focusing on pipeline coding in Python to help engineers working on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. “It’s literally like a pipeline — just moving data from here to there,” Mora said. “It helps the engineers that are building Roman get stuff done faster.”
The Roman Space Telescope is the next in line to carry on the Hubble and Webb legacy. Roman will have a much wider field of view than the space telescopes preceding it, giving scientists a bigger picture of the universe, and hopefully telling us more about dark matter and dark energy. Many interns are working on this space telescope, which is expected to launch by 2027.
Alongside new faces in this year’s program, some interns are returning to NASA for repeat sessions. Cord Mazzetti, a recent electrical engineering graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, will be continuing work on quantum clock synchronization that he began researching at Goddard last summer.
“It’s nice to be back here at NASA and to be able to dive into my work even faster,” said Mazzetti.
In-person Orientation Returns to Campus
The interns’ orientation was the first to be held in-person since before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Laura Schmidt, an internships specialist in NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement.
“It was thrilling to welcome our incredible group of interns and host our first onsite summer orientation in five years,” Schmidt said. “The energy was palpable as we welcomed nearly 200 interns onsite at Goddard, and I have no doubt that the stage is set for a fantastic summer ahead.”
By Avery Truman and Matthew Kaufman
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Jun 17, 2024 EditorKaty MersmannContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Internships People of Goddard View the full article
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By NASA
KSC is the first NASA Center to offer workplace EV charging, setting the foundation for other NASA Centers. EV chargers are one way the KSC team is embracing the Executive Order goal for Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035.
These charging stations greatly benefit KSC sustainability efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Within the first ten months of operation, the charging stations reduced emissions by 40,000 kg (actuals from ChargePoint’s analytics page) with over 3,000 individual charging sessions.
The project also reduces cost by leveraging a Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act agreement with Florida Power and Light (FP&L). The White House selected this project as a worthy recipient in the “Electrifying the Federal Fleet” category. Congratulations, KSC!
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By Space Force
Department of the Air Force chief information officer and the Air Force Research Laboratory is accelerating initiatives to provide the Air Force and Space Force with the ability to responsibly experiment with Generative AI.
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By NASA
5 Min Read Meet the Simunauts: Ohio State Students to Test Space Food Solutions for NASA
Ohio State University has hired four student “Simunauts” (simulated analog astronauts) to test NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge technologies at the Wilbur A. Gould Food Industries Center's Food Processing Pilot Plant this summer. From left to right: Charlie Frick, Fuanyi Fobellah, Sakura Sugiyama, and Mehr Un Nisa. Credits: Ohio State University By Savannah Bullard
NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge kicks off its final eight-week demonstration this month, and a new crew is running the show.
NASA’s partner for the Deep Space Food Challenge, the Methuselah Foundation, has teamed up with Ohio State University in Columbus to facilitate the challenge’s third and final phase. The university is employing current and former students to serve on a “Simunaut” crew to maintain and operate the food production technologies during the demonstration period.
The Deep Space Food Challenge creates novel food production systems that offer safe, nutritious, and delicious food for long-duration human exploration missions while conscious of waste, resources, and labor. The challenge could also benefit humanity by helping address Earth’s food scarcity problems. In this challenge phase, NASA will offer a $1.5 million prize purse to winning U.S. teams after demonstrations are completed during an awards ceremony on August 16.
“It’s easy for a team with intimate knowledge of their food systems to operate them. This will not be the case for astronauts who potentially use these solutions on deep-space missions,” said Angela Herblet, Program Analyst for NASA’s Centennial Challenges and Challenge Manager for the Deep Space Food Challenge. “Incorporating the Simunauts will add a unique flair that will test the acceptability and ease of use of these systems.”
The demonstrations will occur inside Ohio State’s Wilbur A. Gould Food Industries Center’s Food Processing Pilot Plant until Wednesday, July 31. Meet the students behind the demonstrations:
Fuanyi Fobellah
Fuanyi Fobellah. Ohio State University Fuanyi Fobellah was a picky eater as a child. But, when he began wrestling in school, food became an essential part of his life. Now a senior majoring in food business management at Ohio State, Fobellah combines his love for space exploration with his food, nutrition, business, and innovation knowledge.
Q: How does the work you’re doing this summer fit into the overall NASA mission, and how do your contributions fit into that mission?
A: Food can easily become an overlooked aspect of space travel, but humans can only live and travel to different planets with sustainable food systems. That’s why a challenge focused on developing food systems for space travel is so vital to NASA’s mission.
Sakura Sugiyama
Sakura Sugiyama Ohio State University Sakura Sugiyama’s childhood hobbies were cooking and baking, and with two scientists as parents, the Deep Space Food Challenge piqued the interest of the recent Ohio State graduate. Sugiyama obtained her bachelor’s degree from Ohio State’s Department of Food Science and Technology and plans to work in research and development in the food industry.
Q: Why do you think this work is important for the future of civilization?
A: Food variety, sustainability, energy efficiency—all of those are issues we face here on Earth due to climate change, increasing populations, and food insecurity. I hope that solving those issues in space will also help solve those problems on Earth.
Charlie Frick
Charlie FrickOhio State University A fifth-year student studying animal sciences, Charlie Frick, found his passion while growing up on his family’s farm. While finishing his degree, he hopes the Deep Space Food Challenge will allow him to use his agriculture and animal science knowledge to support space technology, nutrition, and food regeneration.
Q: Now that you’re familiar with NASA’s public prize competitions, how do you think they benefit the future of human space exploration?
A: These challenges help a lot because sometimes you need that third person who doesn’t have that background but can come up with something to help. These challenges are critical in helping bring about technologies that otherwise would never exist.
Mehir Un Nisa
Mehr Un NisaOhio State University Mehir Un Nisa is a graduate student in Ohio State’s Department of Food Science and Technology. As a kid who dreamed about working at NASA, Un Nisa is using her expertise in food science to make that dream a reality and get a foot in the door of the agency’s food and nutrition programs.
Q: How does it feel to work alongside NASA on a project like this?
A: Working with NASA empowers me as a researcher, and it makes me feel good that food science has a part in that big name. It’s a dream come true for me.
The Deep Space Food Challenge, a NASA Centennial Challenge, is a coordinated effort between NASA and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). Subject matter experts at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida, support the competition. NASA’s Centennial Challenges are part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and managed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Methuselah Foundation, in partnership with NASA, oversees the United States and international competitors.
For more information on the Deep Space Food Challenge, visit:
nasa.gov/spacefoodchallenge
Jonathan Deal
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jun 05, 2024 LocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
Centennial Challenges Centennial Challenges News Marshall Space Flight Center Explore More
5 min read NASA Begins Final Phase of $3 Million Deep Space Food Challenge
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