Discovery Space: Next Generation

Peter Diamandis: Brew Master of the Kool-Aid

Michael Laine -- president of the LiftPort Group -- recently set aside his space elevator-building duties to attend International Space University (ISU). The rest of his adventures in Barcelona, Spain are chronicled here.

I like and professionally admire Peter Diamandis. I think his body of work warrants serious applause. (Never heard of Diamandis before? Here's a decent place to start.)

Diamandis came to talk "formally" at the opening ceremonies of the International Space University, but we got to see a more personal side of him.

He said the kinds of things you would expect the founder of a 20-year-old school to say to students that he thinks of as his legacy. He said things intended to inspire and provide hope in the dark economic times we presently live in. He said things about believing in your dreams, and working toward them. He said work together -- interpersonally and internationally.

But he also said things about American toga parties, Canadians with canoes full of beer, and French cross-dressing "cultural nights"... of years past.

So Diamandis gets up there on his soapbox and talks. We ask questions about him, ISU, X PRIZE, and some "failures" he's had along the way.

Now when I hear Peter talk, I get a little serious. I react to it. His message resonates with me. I have heard him talk many times, and his "Space "Kool-Aid Speech" is great.

However, what made this one different:

Barcelona: Home of ISU Space Camp 2008 and Dangerous Curves

Michael Laine -- president of the LiftPort Group -- recently set aside his space elevator-building duties to attend International Space University (ISU). Part two of his adventures in Barcelona, Spain are chronicled here.

Advice to anyone traveling to another country, especially if the trip involves a stay of almost 3 months... learn the freakin' language. Learn something, anything.

I got lost the moment I left the airport. I'd like to blame the taxi driver for getting me lost and driving in completely the opposite direction, but that blame isn't fair. I have no doubt the cabbie was trying his best to be helpful.

So $70, 12 hours, one hotel and a different taxi cab later, I arrive at my correct destination.

Space Camp for Big Kids

Michael Laine -- president of the LiftPort Group -- recently set aside his space elevator-building duties to attend International Space University (ISU). The first installment of his adventures in Barcelona, Spain is chronicled here.

I've never had so much fun, learned as much or played as hard as I did this summer at a "space camp" -- and I'm 41 years old.

The International Space University (aka ISU) was founded 21 summers ago by Todd Hawley, Rob Richards (Odyssey Moon) and Peter Diamandis (X PRIZE Foundation, Zero Gravity Corp, SEDS, Space Adventures, Rocket Racing League). My experience there was a blur of nonstop activity, but that frenzy had a purpose: to learn about space as thoroughly and as quickly as possible.

If the university's following credo sounds ambitious, that's because it is:

"...founded on the vision of peaceful, prosperous and boundless future through the study, exploration and development of Space for the benefit of all humanity... dedicated to international cooperation... where students and scholars seek to understand the mysteries of the Cosmos and apply their knowledge to the betterment of the human condition."

The spectacular thing is that I think it fulfills this vision, and then some.

I had been working on LiftPort, the Elevator to Space Companies, for several years. In April 2007 we hit a financial roadblock that looked to end our role in building a space elevator. No matter what I did, I couldn't seem to work around the problems. It was a blow to me, my team and the worldwide space elevator research community. I was stuck.

Closing the company and giving up the cause absolutely crossed my mind. (Some of you reading this would probably encourage that!) I asked myself, "Do I really care enough to work this hard on something that most people think is impossible?" In short, I was having a crisis of faith in what I believed in -- and its potential to make a positive impact on the people of Earth.

I needed a personal reality check, so I took some time off to see if it was simply a case of being tired or a complete burn-out. That's when I went to "space camp."

Disclaimer: the school's administrators dislike it when you call the ISU "space camp" because it's a serious university with a difficult program. I suppose they think my calling it "space camp" is demeaning. To me, however, it's a term of endearment and I'll continue to use it. This is the same reasoning that I use when calling (ex) girlfriends by nicknames. It might get on their nerves, but it's a way of telling whether I care or not. That being said, Boston University didn't get a nickname from me.

Back to space camp: I went to learn something about myself, but also knew that the worldwide space community wasn't that big -- and if my goal of an elevator into the sky was ever going to happen, then ISU was the place to start.

This year the university's Space Studies Program was held in Barcelona Spain. Last year it was in Beijing, the year before that in Vancouver and next year it will be at NASA Ames near San Francisco. By floating around, it lives up to the expectation of being an international program.

My classmates from Barcelona (friends now!) numbered about 120, plus 50 or so instructors and other staff. In short, we were a tight-knit community from 26 nations with a variety of talents. Some were more surprising than others: belly dancing, solving a Rubik's cube in 4 minutes, and singing/using musical instruments (as well as other skills I won't mention here). Our ages ranged from 20 to 52. I think I was the fourth oldest in the program. And no -- I can't solve the Rubik's cube anymore.

More than half of the students had educational or work experience in engineering. There was also a sprinkling of life sciences, physical sciences, information technology, humanities, policy and law, and of course -- my area -- business and management.

I learned some things about the space elevator that I really, really wish I had known six years ago. Suffice to say, there were moments this summer that made me say "ah ha!" and others where all that came to mind was "oh sh*t!"

Did I mention that I'm the sort of guy who actually believes he can build an elevator to space? Imagine the stubbornness and strength of will that a guy like that must have...

Thankfully, ISU professors were there to provide moments of clarity and insight into problems that had hindered me for years. Professors were there to guide, and ask useful questions. Staff who had understanding and patience. Staff with grace in the midst of chaos. Most importantly, there were students who started out as strangers and became friends – friends I know I can count on. Students that turned out to be teachers. Students who broadened their horizons and by so doing, they broadened my own.

I went to Barcelona -- to space camp -- as a "test of faith." I returned committed, healed and ready to wrestle tigers.

This post might sound like a sales-pitch, but it's not. Quite simply, the program had a profound impact on me.

Obviously this is just the beginning of my story. Discovery Space agreed to give me the keys to Next Generation for awhile, so be sure to check back often for new posts!

Michael Laine

Michael Laine is the president of LiftPort Group, the Elevator to Space Companies. You can follow him on Twitter and Lifestreaming, and check out his company's YouTube page here.

Photos, top to bottom: Courtesy Michael Laine; Spaceward Foundation; courtesy Michael Laine

Helping NASA Get a Raise

This May I went to Congress to help NASA get a raise. Perhaps surprisingly, I don't work for the space agency -- and I'm a student.

I've always supported NASA, but had never really made a good list of reasons why. That's when I joined the Citizens for Space Exploration -- a group of small and large businesses, teachers, students, local government employees, and others who believe investing is space exploration is a great idea.

Over the course of four days, 146 people from 29 states visited hundreds of congressional offices to make the case for NASA (my group met with North Carolina and Maryland representatives). When I first heard about their trip to speak with members of Congress, I expected everyone to be part of the space industry. I was wrong. No one in my group of five "citizen taxpayers" had ever worked for NASA.

Our meetings with representatives lasted anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, during which time we explained the importance of NASA in the future of America and asked for a boost in the space agency's funding. How much, and by when? From 0.6 percent to 1 percent of the national budget by 2013. To get some perspective, look at NASA's funding during the Apollo era -- it received 4 percent of the national budget (almost seven times larger than today's funding situation).

I went on the trip because I've come to understand that NASA validates our role as explorers, has far-reaching educational benefits and creates new technology that ultimately brings us so many things we take for granted. By the end of my congressional visits, I felt like I could convince a total stranger why they should care about NASA.

We are an exploring species. Every elementary school student can tell you about Christopher Columbus' voyage, but few can tell you how the Norsemen found America in 1000 AD -- Columbus simply opened the floodgates to settling the Americas.

Like pre-Columbian explorers, we have visited the moon and now plan to settle it. NASA needs the proper funding to work towards permanent lunar colonies, but is a bit strapped. Imagine if Europeans had decided that it was too expensive to travel across the oceans and settle unknown lands. Now compare that to what future the other planets might hold for us.

To return to and colonize the moon, we need to develop new technologies. For example, moon settlers need to be able to generate their own food supplies and air to breathe on the moon. In the process of researching how to do such things, we push the technological barrier.

For example, the imaging technology used in some telescopes is now used to help detect cancer. My father is an orthodontist and uses brace wires derived from morphing materials researched by NASA. My mother is a physical therapist and uses a machine developed through research conducted on astronauts after they returned to Earth.

Maybe more important than technology spin-offs are the "people spin-offs." Teachers try to inspire students because they know it will help drive them to learn and succeed. A child who wants to be an astronaut knows they have to stay in school, stay out of trouble, attend college, etc. Although he or she may not become an astronaut, they're like to be inspired to go to college and stake out a career in science, technology, engineering, or math.

As a member of this new generation of explorers, I'm thrilled to help NASA return to the moon and colonize it, then head to Mars -- and beyond.

Laura Meyer is a University of Maryland senior in aerospace engineering at the James A. Clark School of Engineering.

Designing NASA's New Moon Crib

I never expected to find myself working on a project with NASA, mainly because I wasn't particularly gifted in math or science. The most I remember from high school chemistry class was the teacher shouting, "That was spontaneous!" every time he caught us rolling wooden molecules across the linoleum floor.

Now, as an industrial design student heading into a second year of grad school at the Rhode Island School of Design, NASA is exactly who I'm working with. 

The connection bewteen RISD and NASA started with Michael Lye, my dedicated professor, throughout a decade of coursework that brought the two institutions together. Thing is, design school can be short on real-world constraints, often drifting into conceptual and theoretical regions, while NASA has no shortage of constraints.

It was a wonderful match.

I was hired along with four other students for a summer to work on NASA's new lunar lander suitlock/airlock project for the lunar habitat -- a setup the agency plans to use for extended stays on the moon. The major challenge facing astronauts once they arrive? Moon dust.

Inside an astronaut's living space, moon dust can be a big hazard by causing allergic reactions and grinding away at small parts in equipment. So NASA asked for a habitat that could keep lunar dust out.

Other factors we had to consider included strong, protective storage places outside of the living quarters and space suits tough enough to handle the moon's unforgiving conditions. Also, the astronauts needed to be comfortable in their spacesuits, able to reach the suit storage containers, and go into and out of the habitat safely and easily.

With Michael at our side, we took a first crack at the habitat and improved NASA's "Mark III" space suit design. It was essentially a clean slate: Help astronauts get into new one-piece-style suit, get out of the habitat, then get back safely. The rest was up to us.

After weeks of conference calls with the Human Factors team in Houston, we quickly found our tasks snowballing, and were proposing designs for dozens of things: the hinging mechanisms on the door, way-finding signals, foot and hand supports, bulkhead formations, airlock space, and on and on. The complexity of each spacey challenge quickly became apparent to us as we worked.

Our mission, however, wasn't all work and no play. A particularly fun phase came when we built a one-sixth gravity harness in our studio, then put the suit through a number of physical tests to see if it would hold up in true moon-like conditions. (Also check out the video at the end of this post.)

In mechanical engineering humans needs often come last, but we had to put the body first. We started by comparing the body with the original Mark III design. Unfortunately, the prototype is a multi-million dollar piece of equipment, so we couldn't physically get our hands on one. Instead, we spent weeks researching and talking to the makers, then constructed our own rendition of the suit -- keeping in mind the capabilities and limitations it put on the wearer, of course.

For example, could he or she see over her shoulder?  (Nope.) Asking such simple questions created a domino effect of design needs: When astronauts bend their knees in the suit, at what angle of knee bend did the suit and body weight become too great to push up to standing position? And so on.

Unlike countries that put restrictions on their spaceflyer height, American astronauts are a wide range of heights -- so the suitlock and airlock needed to be adjustable (yet another aspect we had to take into consideration). And after studying a set of gorgeous, custom-built astronaut gloves, we got a sense of how limited astronaut dexterity and mobility would be. That's a big deal, because we knew the astronauts would need to use small pieces of hardware. 

By starting with the design approach, I think we were able to innovate in ways we might not have if we began with a focus on engineering. In the long run, I hope our work creates a more comfortable (and productive) experience for astronauts visiting the moon.

Julianne Gauron is a second-year industrial design student at the Rhode Island School of Design. For more information about the RISD NASA collaboration see, click here.

From the Earth to the Moon... With a Few Stops Along the Way

Space exploration has always been the largest driving force in my life, and it's something I'm spending both my academic and professional time to pursue. I've been fortunate to be in the right places at the right times, but I also like to think that I'm actively seeking out opportunities as I reach for the stars.

The next event in my "spacey" life, for example, is the International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow, Scotland. That is where I am presenting my Ph.D. research paper on the abrasive properties of the lunar environment. Why moon dust, you ask?

During the Apollo moon missions, lunar dust abrasion created several issues for astronauts. To name a few things: faceplate scratching, which obscured moonwalker vision, and spacesuit pressure leaks, which could have put the astronauts in serious danger. As we gear up to return to the moon, finding out which materials best stand up to the its harsh environment is more important than ever.

In addition to my paper, I'm a co-author on four others at the IAC this year, and they're all related to Mars mission simulations that I've been a part of at the Mars Desert Research Station (in Utah) and at the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, or FMARS (in Nunavut, Canada).

In 2007 I was a member of a seven-person team that carried out a four-month Mars simulation at FMARS. During the simulation, we conducted more than 22 science projects in geology, biology, human factors, operations, and engineering. We also did eight outreach presentations to students, but since we were using a simulated 20-minute Mars-Earth delay, we created and sent a full audio-visual presentation.

One of the highlights during my time was when the crew went on Mars Time for 37 sols, or Martian days (which are 39 minutes and 35 seconds longer than Earth days). This was possible because of round-the-clock sunlight during the Arctic summer.

All of this work might sound out of this world, but it allowed me to gain experience in an extreme environment analogous to the surface of another planet -- in terms of isolation and research, that is. Beyond my own interests, it was a one-of-a-kind opportunity that I think will help us prepare for long-duration missions to the surface of the Moon and Mars.

Some day I hope to experience a real space mission first-hand! I've already replied to both the Canadian Space Agency's (CSA) and NASA's call for astronauts, so I'm crossing my fingers and working hard towards my career I've always wanted.

Space!
-Ryan

Ryan Kobrick is a Ph.D. candidate in Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder, is a NASA Student Program member, and is researching lunar dust abrasion funded by a NASA Graduate Students Researchers Program grant. You can follow him on Twitter as RyInSpace.

Photo: Ryan Kobrick

NASA Offers Grants for New-Space Research Concepts

Students interested in space research have a great new opportunity to apply for grants from NASA.

The space agency has taken note of the fact that a whole new generation of privately-funded spacecraft are poised to begin commercial operations over the next couple of years, and that (as I've mentioned before) these have great potential to enable a wide variety of research projects by students and academic researchers, as well as commercial projects.

Most of what has been written about this new generation of rockets has focused on their application for tourist flights, and that is the application that most of the companies themselves have stressed in their publicity -- especially the leader of the pack, Virgin Galactic, a partnership between the X-Prize winning Burt Rutan and the founder of Virgin Atlantic airline and a host of other Virgin brand companies, Sir Richard Branson. Among the other contenders are Blue Origin, run by  Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, Armadillo Aerospace, Xcor Aerospace, and SpaceX, founded by PayPal founder Elon Musk.

But all of these vehicles also offer enormous potential for research, on everything from astronomy to atmospheric science to Earth-monitoring to engineering. Even for payloads that need the long-duration of orbital flight for their actual operations, the new mostly-suborbital craft, even with just a few minutes above the atmosphere and in microgravity conditions still offer the best testbed yet for testing equipment, rather than having to gamble on having a device work just right on the very first try in space.

NASA is accepting proposals for conceptual studies on how some of these new craft could be used for research, and the proposals are due by Oct. 8.

In its request for proposals, NASA writes that "Suborbital rocket, balloon flights, and high altitude aircraft have provided important platforms for terrestrial and space research for over 60 years. They offer the opportunity to make astronomical, solar, planetary, and Earth observations at wavelengths and special observing geometries not accessible from the ground. Past accomplishments include in-situ sampling of atmospheric and magnetospheric regions that neither orbital spacecraft nor standard aircraft can reach, examining physical phenomena in microgravity conditions that are unattainable on the ground or only briefly available in drop towers and zero-g aircraft, using instruments too massive for spacecraft to detect cosmic rays that cannot be detected from the ground, and testing scientific instruments before committing to orbital or interplanetary flight."

The new craft offer similar opportunities, potentially at significantly lower cost. But they also offer a whole new wrinkle: The possibility of having the researcher fly alongside the experiment, and be able to control it in real-time. That could open up whole new kinds of research that would never have been practical before.

As NASA describes it, "The imminent emergence of human suborbital flight for commercial purposes offers an opportunity for a new mode of research for the scientific community: human-tended suborbital investigations for cases where having a human in-the-loop would increase the scientific return of flight experiments."

NASA will award about $400,000 for these research proposals, and expects to award about 8 such grants. They will last up to one year. All of the details on the program and how to apply are here.

If NASA gets enough really good ideas proposed, the plan is that in a few years they would provide much more substantial grants to pay for the actual research missions. And that will be a really amazing opportunity for students to actually fly into space along with their research projects --maybe as soon as 2011!

Photos: Top, Lynx suborbital rocket by Xcor Aerospace, artwork courtesy of Xcor Aerospace; Bottom, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, carried aloft by White Knight Two, artwork courtesy of Virgin Galactic

Kentucky Students Send Payload to (not quite) Space

Does your state have a space program? Does your college?

Don't answer too quickly -- if you think the answer is no, you might be surprised.

Kentucky might not be among the first places that comes to mind when you think about space activities, but in fact the state has a very active and enthusiastic program, focused on getting college students actively involved in hands-on space-related research, but also providing opportunities for high-school and even grade-school students as well.

Kentucky Space is working toward the first launch of a student-built satellite next year, but in the meantime they're not just sitting around waiting. They're doing real tests, sending payloads up to just a bit below the edge of space, using high-altitude helium balloons. Their first such test, and a big success, was completed just last week, on July 14.

The balloon soared to a height of more than 91,000 feet, or almost 20 miles, before it burst and the payload parachuted back to Earth. The payload contained a navigation navigation unit, a magnetometer, two cameras, and communications equipment, almost entirely built by Kentucky college students.

In addition to testing systems for use in satellites to be launched starting next year, the system also tested possible emergency monitoring and communications systems that might be used in the case of a natural disaster or other emergency.

The student engineers were from Western Kentucky University,the University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Murray State, Morehead University, and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. All of these are part of a NASA-funded program called the Kentucky Space Grant Consortium.

This is just the beginning for Kentucky college students. According to a report in the Louisville Courier-Journal, "We hope to have four to six balloon launches a year, testing systems that will ultimately go into orbital satellites," said Kris Kimel of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. "We're also looking at deep-space missions four or five years into the future."

Besides the serious payloads built by the college students, the balloon also carried a bunch of tiny capsules made by local grade-school students. The capsules were made by cutting open ping-pong balls, putting objects inside and then gluing them back together, to give the younger kids a chance to participate in the mission and encourage them to think about participating in future student missions as they get older.

Kentucky Space even has a blog to keep students abreast of what's going on in the program, as well as information about related space activities.

(Photos: Top and bottom: The view from Balloon 1; middle: Preparing for launch. Photos courtesy of Kentucky Space)

 

A Texas Semester on Mars

The coolest place to be this summer is the polar plains of Mars, where the Phoenix spacecraft is scraping away at a layer of ice and looking for signs of organic chemistry. This is the most exciting thing to happen in planetary science since the amazing Mars rovers-that-will-not-die that landed more than four years ago.

And I practically feel like I've had a chance to be there and be part of it thanks to some wonderfully detailed firsthand accounts (another one here) by some college students who have been lucky enough to get into positions working on the mission.

As I've mentioned, this is the first time a mission to another planet has had its mission control center on a university campus. The University of Arizona, home of Phoenix chief scientist Peter Smith, is the place where the mission is run, and several students from around the country are having the experience of a lifetime working on various science and engineering teams there.

This week, we get to hear from a student from Texas A&M University. She's Keri Bean, a junior meteorology major from Schertz, Texas. Here's what she had to say about her lucky job:

"I've been interested in the space program for only a few years now. My first passion was with the weather. A severe storm passed over my preschool, and I came home that day and said "Mommy, I want to be a meteorologist when I grow up!" My mother patted my head and said "Sure thing, dear" thinking the next day it'd be a nurse, or a firefighter, etc. I never once flinched from this goal.

Space-wise, I've always had the typical Wal-mart telescope, but around 2002 I got a Meade ETX-70. I still was more focused on weather, but I was starting to pay attention more to astronomy. In 2005 I just happened to be in Florida during the week of the return to flight space shuttle launch, STS-114. I was about 7 miles away from the launch, and pulled over there on that side of the highway, I knew that I wanted to be doing that one day.

A year before I started at Texas A&M, I attended an event called Aggieland Saturday. The meteorology professor there noticed my interest in space exploration and told me to talk to a professor in the department, Dr. Mark Lemmon, the co-investigator of the Surface Stereo Imager (SSI). I sent him an e-mail the summer before I started, and I met with him every week since school started in the fall. He had me listen to Spirit & Opportunity planning teleconferences, and I did a small research project with some data from Spirit right before winter break. When I got back, he asked me if I wanted to work on Phoenix over the summer, I quickly agreed. He sent me to the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) over spring break (it proves I'm a nerd that I would give up my spring break to attend a science conference), and while I was overwhelmed at first, it was a great learning experience for me. After that, I helped Dr. Lemmon prepare programs for use on Phoenix, and I arrived at the Science Operations Center (SOC) in Tucson, AZ a week before landing.

My title on Phoenix is SSI IDA, or Surface Stereo Imager instrument downlink analyst. I do a bunch of different jobs. While at the SOC, I operated a huge computer screen in the downlink room, and as the images were coming down, I would put the important ones up on the screen. Things like deliveries to TEGA or WCL, images of the trenches, the first set of microsope images, etc. would be put up on the screen. I also keep track of the time of day the mission success panorama images were taken, and which ones were partial. On landing day, my job was to take the images and put them up on the projector screens so everyone in the downlink room could see them. I was on a flexible time schedule, so my shifts would be anywhere from 5 to 10 hours long, depending on the number of images, how many projects I was doing, and the meetings taking place. Now that I'm back at Texas A&M taking classes, I don't do as much, but I still keep up with the mission and keep track of the panorama.

One of the other interesting tasks I do is maintain the Phoenix Facebook profile. I made one for Spirit & Opportunity many months ago as a joke, and now it seems nearly every NASA satellite, telescope, etc. has a Facebook profile.

Most of the other students are either documentarians, work for the atmospheric science theme group, or work on the SSI as engineers. I think most of the SSI team is comparatively young to the other science or instrument groups, which means we're getting the opportunity of a lifetime to work with these images and on some days, be the first to see these images from Mars. I can't think of a more awesome job.

One of the greatest aspects of this job, in my opinion, is simply meeting the scientists and engineers. I was so used to seeing these guys on documentaries or reading their papers that it was a bit of shock to not just meet them, but get to be on a first name basis or have them depend on your work that day.

I honestly still can't really believe I'm doing this job. If someone would have told me at this time last year what I'd be doing this summer, I would've laughed and told you to stop teasing me. It's a dream come true to be involved in such a historic mission. Back in the day, I always wanted to be Dr. Greg Forbes on the Weather Channel because he was the expert on everything, but now I can't imagine doing anything else. When I met NASA administrator Mike Griffin at the LPSC, I told him I was working on the rovers and soon Phoenix, but my eventual goal was to study the Martian atmosphere from the surface of Mars myself. He smiled and said he'd have to see what he could do about that. So here's to hoping!

I watched the landing at the SOC with the atmospheric science team. When they announced touchdown, I leaped out of my chair and one of my friends hugged me hard enough to lift me up off the ground. I ran around the room hugging all the friends I'd made in just my first week there. I met my professor's family and ate quickly at the banquet. The celebration was over quickly because my shift started about an hour after landing.

My family back in Texas and many friends watched the landing and first downlink footage. I was really visible during downlink, because when the camera turned on in the SOC, I was right below it, working on getting the images up on the projector screens. My mom said that her head and her heart knew that was me on NASA TV, but she still simply couldn't believe it. My friends think it's pretty cool that I'm so young and have been given this great opportunity. While I was in Tucson, a friend of mine met astronaut Sunita Williams (I'm a big fan of hers) and when my friend told Sunita that I'd be there if it weren't for me working on Phoenix, Sunita thought it was quite awesome that someone so young was working the mission. It's cool to know I have a fan in the astronaut corps!"

(Photos. Top, Clayton Chu and and Keri Bean in the PIT with the test model of Phoenix. middle right: Keri Bean working. Middle left:  Bean operating the computer screen at the SOC with scientists around. Professor Mark Lemmon is behind her, second from right. Bottom: Engineer Rob Manning and Bean in the PIT. Photos courtsey of Keri Bean)

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Are Students Taking NASA's Place?

Well, not really. But in terms of performing some functions that used to be the exclusive domain of NASA and some major aerospace contractors, they may indeed be filling a significant void. That's the gist of a story a few days ago on Space Review, called "Student satellites: encouraging trend or a sign of panic?"

The story says that there is a growing crisis in the aerospace business: The business is booming, but not enough new people are entering the field to fill the needed jobs. Back in 2002, a national commission called the Walker Commission was formed to look into the problem. They wrote:

"In the 21st century, the U.S. must continue to have a highly skilled, stable, secure, and growing aerospace workforce, and a citizenry that is well prepared in mathematics and science.” But, according to surveys, they found that “Engineering students ... gave the aerospace industry low ratings for its physical work facilities, exciting and meaningful tasks, opportunities for professional development and growth, and supporting and encouraging management.”

So, increasingly schools are taking matters into their own hands, in the US and in other countries as well, the article says.

One major program that has been offering college students -- and even some high-school students -- a chance to go ahead and design, build and operate real space hardware on their own is one that I mentioned here in a previous post: the National Space Grant Student Satellite Program. Under this program, students build satellites that fit into a standardized shape and size but can have a wide variety of purposes. They are called Cubesats, and have so far been successfully designed and built by students at Cornell, California Polytechnic, the Universities of Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska, and Hawaii, and Montana State, among others.

The satellites are small enough to be launched as "secondary payloads," sharing a ride to orbit as a piggyback add-on to major commercial satellite launches -- a very cheap way to get a ride to orbit.

"If these projects become widespread this may have a substantial impact on the 'enthusiasm gap'," the article says. Not to mention providing real, hands-on experience of the whole process of designing and building a satellite to survive the rigors of launch and the space environment, waiting for the launch and seeing what happens (some of these satellites were lost when a Russian rocket that was providing their piggyback ride crashed -- another lesson in the realities of the space business), and then actually controlling and operating the satellites if and when the do reach orbit.

In other countries, some students have had a chance to work on even more ambitious satellite projects, One of these was the Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative Express satellite (SSETI), which was built by students across Europe working together through internet links. It was launched in 2005.

NASA is now going a step further, as I mentioned here in another post: NASA's Ames Research Center, under the direction of its head Pete Worden (a former Air Force officer who has been at the cutting edge in thinking about innovative approaches to space travel and research for a long time), has started a project to get students working on research satellites to go into orbit around the moon. The new project is called American Student Moon Orbiter (ASMO).

Apart from NASA, others have been initiating programs on their own. Numerous universities have initiated satellite projects on their own, and private agencies like the X-Prize Foundation have been offering additional opportunities (for example, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Arizona are collaborating with a student team working on an entry in the Google Lunar X-Prize, a prize of up to $30-million for the first independent (that is, not government funded) craft to reach the moon, travel at least 500 meters, and send back lots of pictures and data. The CMU and UAz students have vowed to achieve this by the time of the 40th anniversary of the first human landing on the moon. In other words, one year from today! (Happy Apollo 11 anniversary everyone! Read Ray Villard's blog entry today for some thoughts about the ever-popular ridiculous claims that the whole thing was faked).

NASA should probably be doing more to encourage, train, and offer interesting positions for the next generation of space engineers. But in the meatime, it's nice to know that there really are some chances for students to roll up their sleeves and do significant work that will actually get to fly.

(Photos: Top 2 pictures from University of Toronto, showing cubesats attached to rocket payload ready for launch, and a collection of cubesats going through final checkout. Lower photo: SSETI satellite, courtesy of ESA)