Sunday, June 5, 2022
By:
It’s week 1! Every day has something new to offer. On Monday, I learned that the White House is next to a whole assortment of monuments and museums, which are all within walking distance of the dorms. The interns and I watched the Memorial Day parade before heading back to the dorms for an early night. I was glad that my roommate Taylor Overcast got to the unit before me; it is spacious and comfortable, but at night time it is scary to be in there alone.
On Tuesday, we went to orientation to learn more about the SPS Internship Program and met our individual mentors for the first time. My mentor, Eric Switzer, introduced me to EXCLAIM and its purpose. We are developing technology at least 10 years ahead of a potential space mission, which blew my mind. In my head, I knew that some technologies are developed specifically for space missions, but I did not realize how far in advance they needed to be finished. I had also never heard of scientific balloons - I thought that hot air balloons (which is what our balloon looks like) only existed in cartoons. I have a lot to learn about experimental research and the aerospace industry. I am equally thrilled and terrified to be working with NASA this summer - thrilled to meet people and contribute to an exciting project, and terrified of breaking their multi-million dollar apparatus! I will receive my NASA badge next week, so I have not yet seen the Goddard Space Flight Center (or had the chance to break anything). I am not completely sure which parts of my project are confidential. Hopefully in future blog posts I will be able to talk about my project in more detail!
I worked from home on Wednesday, and I worked from the AIP office on Thursday and Friday. In those three days, Eric and I called again, this time to flesh out the details of my project for this summer. I also met the Lead Mechanical Engineer, Tatsat Parekh, and the Lead Spectrometer Designer, Emily Barrentine, who respectively walked me through mechanical and electrical components of the apparatus that we will be working with this summer. They recommended visiting the NASA food truck fleet at lunch time!
Dorm life feels like the beginning of college again. Everyone in the program is really cool and it seems like people want to spend time together this summer, which I am glad about. On Tuesday we played Telestrations, which is like telephone but with pictures. Some of us are incredible artists, and at the end of the night, we decided to play with our non-dominant hand to even out the playing field. We are trying to organize a bowling trip next week, and I want to visit the spy museum this summer. I am super excited to be with these people and hear about their internship experiences, and to be in this incredible city.
Nicole Leung