Matthew McDonnell – Johnson Space Center

What were the final goals of your project?

We got the variables we’d like to use isolated but are looking now at testing the algorithm with real people. This requires time with approvals through IRB and extended beyond the end of the fall term.

Describe what you did during the internship.

This fall, I worked independently on developing a new algorithm that can measure energy expenditure (calories burned) during zero-g exercise.

Did you achieve your goals? What were the results?

I made good progress on the research. I knew that it was something that 3 months wasn’t enough to complete, so I’m proud of the progress we made and look forward to seeing how it develops in the future!

Describe positive lessons learned.

I learned a lot about the research process, what it’s like to be my own PI, and how to talk about research with people who might not understand all the mechanics.

Describe negative lessons learned.

I had exposure to what a virtual internship is like, and it wasn’t the best experience. I was able to make excellent progress on my work, sure – but the “NASA intern experience” was lacking simply from not being on-site by all the cool stuff!

What impact did this internship have on you?

This is my first formalized research experience, and it’s had such a great impact so far on my appreciation for the scientific process! Nothing like this has been done before and it is fascinating to be on the cutting edge of new developments in such a great field.

Evan Kluch – Ames Research Center

What were the final goals of your project?

My main project was testing the capabilities of using a FDM 3D printer for small-scale rotor blade creation.

Describe what you did during the internship.

To test the printer, I created a family of various thickness rotor blades based on different NACA airfoil characterizations and then printed two of each, one with a carbon fiber spar and one without. each blade was then tested for its chord-wise accuracy and structurally tested using a cantilever beam test.

Did you achieve your goals? What were the results?

Once the tests were conducted, I was able to determine some specific failures of the printer as well as best practices for printing rotor blades in the future. I was able to determine “EI” values for each blade and therefore characterized the structural abilities of the printer and materials.

Describe positive lessons learned.

There were many very positive lessons I learned throughout this internship. First and foremost I learned the motivation and joy that comes from a positive work environment such as the aeromechanics branch at NASA Ames! I learned how positive the impact is on reaching young kids. I learned what it means to be an employee not only for the government but industry-wide. I learned more about myself and my future aspirations. These are only a few of the many many lessons I learned at my internship, but it’s from this internship and the lessons I learned there that will lead me to the job I hope to have in the future!

Describe negative lessons learned.

I had to think long and hard about this question and the negative things I might have encountered during my internship, and the only thing that can come to mind is the impact a mission statement has on an organization. let me explain. At my old internship, the goal was to create a good product to sell, not a bad goal, but while working with NASA the goal was to better humanity through innovation, a much better goal. This is where I learned that the world operates often out of selfish desire and therefore it led me to think about the position I hope to be in one day.

Maxwell Hammond – Langley Research Center

Final Goals of your Project/s:

The primary goal of my project was to develop a simulation framework for continuum/soft robotics in Gazebo (which only supports rigid dynamics).

Describe what you did during the internship:

During my internship, I developed a Gazebo/ROS2 framework for the simulation of continuum systems in Gazebo, and I developed a numerical method for solving the set of nonlinear PDEs that make up the Cosserat rod model. This model captures all relevant modes of deformation for continuum/soft systems that are suitably slender. I implemented the numerical method in a Matlab ROS2 node and used it to control the behavior of a discretized Gazebo model. I also validated this numerical method against existing solvers in the literature. This established a framework for the simulation of continuum/soft systems in Gazebo with an external ROS2 node acting as a dynamics solver for the system.

Did you achieve your goals? What were the results?:

I achieved most of what I set out to achieve however, there is significant room for future work. Specifically, I would like to have a real system that needs to be digitally cloned so more concrete tests can be run. The current results of the work are a generalized framework for the simulation of soft/continuum systems in Gazebo. This is novel and applicable to several ongoing projects.

Describe positive lessons learned:

Before this project, my experience with Gazebo and ROS was limited. I now have a baseline understanding of the capabilities of these tools and a level of comfort to approach tasks leveraging them in the future.

Describe negative lessons learned:

Bureaucratic tasks within government agencies (while important) delay progress and are often frustrating.

Nicholas Saltamachio – Langley Research Center

What are the current goals of your project?

The second half of the internship is going to be a lot of material fabrication and testing. Once the material sample has been manufactured and created by the shop technicians, my team will do the fatigue testing, tensile / compressive testing, temperature testing, and a wide range of mechanical and thermal testing to ensure the material is capable to withstand application criteria of extremely low temperature and a variety of loading.

What accomplishments has your project made so far?

At the start of my internship, I began by diving into fundamental knowledge on the use of composite materials in aerospace applications for space vehicles, and why they are beneficial compared to metals and other materials specifically for the design of the cryotank. NASA Langley is testing the use of thermoplastic materials compared to previous metallic designs on the cryotank that stores liquid propellants at very low temperatures, so gaining fundamental knowledge on the materials is important. I then started to get trained on testing / analysis methods for these materials including TGA (thermogravimetric analysis) & DSC (Differential scanning calorimetry) in order to evaluate the material properties, as well as general mechanical, thermal, and chemical testing / analysis methods that will also be used.

What impact has this internship had so far?

So far, this internship has given me a different perspective on how research is done at the highest level, and how companies like NASA go about testing ideas and projects that haven’t been done at any other period of time. Due to the nature of the company’s mission of trying to improve spaceflight and space travel, it has shown me that there are many possibilities for a career down the road where I can directly improve that overall goal for my full-time career upon graduation.

Jason McNab – Ames Research Center

Final Goals of your Project/s:

The primary goals of my projects were to continue work with the Reduced Atmospheric Pressure Testing of Rotors (RAPTOR) wind tunnel and complete design of the RAPTOR Wind-Tunnel Autonomous Target Characterization for Helicopters (WATCH) flow characterization system. With regards to the Rotorcraft Computation Fluid Dynamics (RotCFD) work, the goal was to verify the performance of the Mars Science Helicopter (MSH) in Mars atmospheric conditions and compare to the results to Comprehensive Hierarchical Aeromechanics Rotorcraft Model (CHARM) predictions. Work on the Mid Air Helicopter Descent (MAHD) test stand involved the creation of a collective control system that could either manually or remotely alter the collective of the rotor blades being used for testing. Finally, my goal with the Blade Evaluation and Structural Testing (BEST) stand involved creating a blast shield to put in the Aerolab and be used during testing and creating a loadcell-motor interface for the new stand system.

Describe what you did during your internship:

I was able to be apart of a lot of projects during my internship and get work done for each one of them. With regards to the RAPTOR WATCH system, I was able to complete any alterations that needed to be made to the previous model in order to reflect the selections for the translation system made by previous interns. After designing the system to fit the components and be capable of assembly, I was lead all the way up to selecting and purchasing all the parts for WATCH which will be assembled by myself and another past RAPTOR intern during the summer.

Work continued during my design process of WATCH on the validation of the MSH’s performance as dictated by CHARM through simulations run in RotCFD. Previously generated files for the RAPTOR wind tunnel were imported into RotCFD and the MSH rotor was tested, inside the simulated RAPTOR wind tunnel, to gather data on how unstructured, viscous, flow effects the performance results. I then took the results and tabulated/plotted them to compare them easily to our CHARM predictions. Work on the MAHD collective control system began with myself understanding the requirements for the project and beginning SOLIDWORKS modeling of possible solutions. Designing both the manual and remotely operated systems involved looking through commercially available parts and inexpensive components to assemble the most effective, mechanically simple, design that could perform the required task.

After it was designed, the parts were 3D printed as a test piece and tested it to ensure it was functional. Finally, the work I performed relating to the BEST stand was a complete design of a blast shield that could effectively protect observers from possible testing failures. This was done through modeling on SOLIDWORKS and tipping analysis to ensure its safety. Also, work performed for the loadcell-motor interface system was done on SOLIDWORKS and, after designing it, I milled the aluminum components myself and tested the interfacing system.

Did you achieve your goals? What were the results?:

Overall I achieved most of what I had set out to do during this internship. Specifically related to all of the mechanical design, I performed on RAPTOR WATCH, the MAHD collective system, and the BEST stand accessories. I learned a significant amount more about SOLIDWORKS and FEA as well as the engineering design process. Going through the process of thinking of solutions, designing them, verifying them, and, in some cases, physically completing them allowed me to accomplish my goal of understanding engineering completely.

Results from this learning process lead all three of my goals to their final stages of construction and final validation which I will also be able to be apart of in the summer. With regards to RotCFD, I gained a deeper understanding of the program and the results we got. While the exact results we got were flawed towards the end of the term, we determined what the issue was and heading into the next internship term, we should be able to effectively validate the results from CHARM.

Describe positive lessons learned:

This internship has provided me with a lot of positive lessons. Firstly, I learned the importance of working with those around me and getting to know them and how much it can positively effect my experiences. I also learned that if you put effort towards learning a new skill and continue to persevere, you can advance your abilities in that skill beyond what you though you could. These skills helped me enjoy my experience here and allowed me to learn more than I ever expected to learn about both engineering skills and STEM itself.

Describe negative lessons learned:

The main negative lesson I learned during this experience was that it is important not to focus too hard on your work and continue to enjoy the other parts. I found myself getting stressed at times by work and it began to effect my time out of work as well. A better balance of not letting work effect the other times I should be enjoying is very important and I have improved with this significantly.

Yajatra Kulkarni – Johnson Space Center

Final Goals of your Project/s:

Previous versions of a gravitational offloading device for limbs have utilized passive mechanisms, such as springs, to alleviate the effects of gravity on the shoulders and upper arms of test subjects and astronauts. This device is used for training in reduced-gravity environments. The goal for the active version of this apparatus is to introduce a variable offloading mechanism capable of providing a more precise gravitational offload, depending on the arm’s orientation. In essence, the kinematics of this method have been developed, alongside an initial prototype. A pulley system is employed to lift the upper arm similarly to a marionette puppet. Ongoing rapid prototyping is focused on iterating through improved designs for the ARC-ANGEL, aiming to reduce both its volumetric footprint and material costs.

Describe what you did during your internship:

My role as an intern was to focus on improving the CAD design to reduce the footprint of the brackets and pulley system for ARC-ANGEL. Currently, the device utilizes custom-made aluminum parts produced by a third-party supplier, which are costly and lead to delays incompatible with rapid prototyping needs. I also explored alternative materials such as NylonX and manufacturing techniques like 3D printing as ways to maintain structural strength while significantly cutting down on production time and costs.

Did you achieve your goals? What were the results?:

Yes – the goals of this project were achieved as improved designs were proposed for ARC-ANGEL. While the success criteria relies on prototype testing which has not been completed yet, new designs were proposed in hopes of achieving a smaller volumetric footprint and cost.

Describe positive lessons learned:

As this internship was done virtually, I learned to create a work-life balance and improve my communication skills with my lab and mentor to make sure I was in the loop on project changes and updates.

Describe negative lessons learned:

The virtual aspect of this internship made it challenging to feel well-integrated into the projects and networking opportunities that would have been available if I was on-site. It also made it difficult to ask questions and be more involved on numerous projects like I have been able to do in the past.

Rudolph Nahra – Ames Research Center

What are the current goals of your project?

The goal of the internship is to investigate how to optimize path planning and on-board decision making so the UAV can collect the best data with its limited battery.

What accomplishments has your project made so far?

The project I am working on, Streamflow, aims to automate the United States Geological Survey (USGS) task of measuring river flow rates across U.S. rivers. The project uses a UAV equipped with advanced optics to measure flow rate from visual and thermal data. One broad goal of my internship is to develop the data processing pipelines that allow us to understand the flow rate of a river.

So far, I’ve implemented several scripts necessary for efficient processing of the data collected by the UAV, such as a script to interpolate water flow rates where the measurements are missing. Currently, I am building a system to stabilize the video feed from the UAV by using data collected from its IMU. This involves several steps such as the measurement of intrinsic parameters of our cameras, which I have accomplished, as well as an implementation of the mathematics that transforms images based on this data.

What impact has this internship had so far?

I think this internship will be instrumental in shaping my career. Before beginning this internship, I had questions about whether I should pursue a PhD for a career in research or simply enter industry. Thanks to the wonderful environment at Ames Research Center, I have been able to observe what a career in cutting edge research looks like, as well as get advice from people who have walked the path before me. My experience here is motivating me to continue my education even further and has provided me with connections to make the process easier.

Nicholas Barber – Glenn Research Center

What are the current goals of your project?

With most of the work toward my original deliverables already complete, I plan to spend the second half of the internship on my personally assigned projects. The creation of calculator demos was actually suggested by me after doing some initial research in the first two weeks. I found a better way to run the backend of our simulators, which I plan to use to convert all of the remaining calculators on the site.

I was also recently assigned to a team for a collegiate design challenge held by NASA for interns, which involves designing and prototyping a small cleaning robot meant to operate in zero gravity environments. That work will be completed over the next 4 weeks, along with several of the other interns in my office. Of course, any more page migration or implementation of already completed work after review will also be necessary, and I hope to have several new sections of the website complete and published before my time here is finished.

What accomplishments has your project made so far?

Throughout my five weeks at NASA so far this summer, I have accomplished a number of tasks focused on the migration and further development of the public Beginner’s Guide to Aeronautics website maintained by GRC. My project outline focused on three main tasks: the conversion of equations from text / HTML format to LaTeX, the migration of the Guide to Hypersonics page, and the creation and presentation of a new calculator.

While the first two weeks of my internship were spent mainly completing orientation assignments and waiting for admin access to the website, I was still able to view the public side of the site, creating several organized sheets of information for later use. During the third week, I completed several small updates based on user error submission forms, and was granted admin access to both the main site and a training site to use as a personal sandbox. I used the training site a significant amount in the fourth week, during which I completed a number of my original deliverables. I drafted and fully completed the calculator demo early in the week, sending it off for review shortly afterward. I then created over 100 pages of LaTeX equations in the training site to use for comparison to the main site and easy integration once they have been reviewed. This, along with several pages I updated without review, finished almost all of the work toward my first deliverable.

I ended the fifth week by finishing the migration of the Hypersonics page, my final deliverable, and completing reviews of another two sections of the site, making this my most productive week by far. Most recently, during the fifth week, I began work on converting more calculators, which should be completed within the next two weeks.

What impact has this internship had so far?

So far, this internship has been a unique look into the operations that keep large public sites up and running. Web development was one of several topics I was interested in after beginning a computer science minor, and working on the BGA website has given me a much more in-depth guide on using various tools, including site plugins and even methods of team communication. Additionally, much of the information I spend my time converting from one format to another ties directly into content I am currently learning in my aerospace classes in college, making my work feel much more relevant to my current education.

Outside of the actual assigned work I have been completing for the internship, I have also toured several of the other buildings and research facilities on site, giving me a better idea of what exactly I want to pursue in the future. Being able to talk face-to-face with professionals during their everyday work schedules is rare, and being surrounded by experts in their fields makes learning about their everyday work that much more enjoyable. This internship provides a glimpse at what NASA actually accomplishes on a day-to-day basis, and definitely has me looking forward to my future work in the aerospace industry.

Halle Northway- Johnson Space Center

What are the current goals of your project?

My goal is to keep working on the user interfaces and ideally reach a level of completion for each one before the end of the internship. I’m exploring new skills, like soldering, and I want to continue taking on more opportunities to explore other skills and projects within NASA. I also spent a lot of time on a virtual summer class after work, but now that that’s done, I definitely want to get more involved with other intern events.

What accomplishments has your project made so far?

I have been fortunate to work with other interns to develop new user interfaces for two astronaut exercise devices. One of them is the Flywheel, an existing rowing-like device that flies on the ISS, and the other is the Wobbleboard, a prototype device that behaves like a balance board. These user interfaces exist to track data for each astronaut during their exercise session, as well as let the astronauts modify the weight or load of the equipment. The new software we’re writing will replace existing software that is outdated and needs updating. We’re using the programming language Dart, and a framework called Flutter to basically develop an iPad application from scratch, which is all completely new to me so I’ve been learning a lot!

What impact has this internship had so far?

This internship has greatly impacted my future goals. I honestly didn’t know what to expect coming into NASA, but I would really love to see myself come back here for another internship and/or full-time work. I was planning on graduating in a year, but I’m exploring another opportunity to return to the Johnson Space Center for the Spring 2025 term, so graduation might have to wait!

Jason McNab – Ames Research Center

What are the current goals of your project?

For the second half of the internship the plan remains to finish the inlet section of RAPTOR and complete the accessory work that was being done in the first five weeks. Work will also begin on the new RAPTOR sections as they get approved. In between doing RAPTOR Wind Tunnel work, assembly of the RAPTOR WATCH system I picked up design work for in the spring will begin. Finally, I am looking forwards to hopping on any new projects I am assigned and hope to see all the projects I did in the spring come to fruition as they begin testing in the summer.

What accomplishments has your project made so far?

Construction work for the RAPTOR Wind Tunnel has been ongoing for multiple years with a variety of interns working on both the tunnel itself and methods for characterizing the flow through the test section. From the start of the summer session a large quantity of my time has been spent continuing RAPTOR construction with another returning RAPTOR intern. With our combined experience of RAPTOR we have been able to design two to three new RAPTOR wind tunnel sections to facilitate the new drive system the tunnel uses, begun work on the tunnel window, completed gasketing for the sections, and begun work on the inlet to allow for smooth flow through the test section. Along with RAPTOR work, many of the projects I started in the spring came to a close as I finished the assembly of a blast shield and completed other smaller projects.

What impact has this internship had so far?

This internship has continued to verify my interest in aerospace engineering. I enjoy my work and the feeling I get from being able to see my projects develop from an idea to a design to a completed product. The passion I have for engineering, design, and problem solving has helped me realize that my primary goals are to get into the field as soon as possible and eventually get a masters as needed. My time at the Rotorcraft Aeromechanics division has been fantastic and a combination of the people I get to work with and the meaningful work I get to contribute to has helped me realize that I am on the right path!