Internship Management System

Analysis and Interpretation of CIRS data

• (Space Science (Astronomy) - Planetary Science-Comparative Planetology)
• (Space Science (Astronomy) - Planetary Science-Geodynamics)

The Cassini spacecraft, orbiting Saturn, has been returning data about its icy satellites.  One instrument in particular the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) observes these targets in the infrared spectral region.  This data provides among other things the temperature of the surfaces of the icy satellites.  Interpretation of this data allows us to study the thermal properties of a target’s surface.

Analysis of Heliophysics Datasets with the Virtual Wave Observatory (VWO)

• (Space Science (Astronomy) - Heliophysics-Magnetospheric Physics)
• (Space Science (Astronomy) - Heliophysics-Solar Wind and Magnetosphere Physics)

The Virtual Wave Observatory (http://vwo.nasa.gov) enables scientists to search and compare wave data from several Heliophysics* missions.  This project will involve analysis of data from multiple spacecraft to study wave processes in the magnetosphere, processes that require these multiple viewpoints in order to understand the fundamental behavior taking place. To enable a uniform method of searching for data from among many different space and ground-based observatories there needs to be a standard format for describing these data. This project may also involve extracting information from other sources describing the wave data produced by these observatories and creating a set of metadata descriptions in an XML format conforming to the latest accepted standards used in the Heliophysics Virtual Observatory community.         *Heliophysics- the study of particles, fields, waves and their interaction in the Solar System's space plasma environment.

Astrophysics flight mission concept development

• (Engineering - Aerospace-Flight Dynamics)
• (Space Science (Astronomy) - Astrophysics-Gravitational Wave Astrophysics and Black Hole Theory)

The mentor, Steve Leete, is a mission systems engineering supporting the Astrophysics Project Division of NASA Goddard, working primarily on studies of (1) Gravitational Wave measurements from space, (2) an infrared spectrometer to measure distant galaxies from a cryogenic observatory built by Japan, and (3) various options at the Hubble Space Telescope's end of mission. Depending on the work at hand and the student's interest, the project would consist of a portion of one of these three efforts.

Gravitational wave measurement involves making exquisitely precise measurement of the distance between two or more satellites which are very far apart, and the more physics the student has studied, the better. The spectrometer involves a type of exotic device called an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR), a difraction grating to spread out the light frequencies, and super-cold (40 mK) detectors to measure the light. Again, lots of physics and special areas of engineering. The HST end of mission involves designing spacecraft to autonomously rendezvous and either grapple or dock to the telescope, and fire rockets to either move it to a higher orbit or de-orbit it. This is more of an aerospace engineering design study.

There is a possibility that a proposal will win for Goddard to build a vegetation lidar instrument to go on the ISS, in which case the mentor will switch jobs and be doing that instead. So, the student should be flexible and prepared, to instead of working on astrophysics concept studies, to work on an Earth science flight project, with details to be determined.

Buried impact basins on Moon and Mars

• (Space Science (Astronomy) - Planetary Science-Comparative Planetology)
• (Space Science (Astronomy) - Planetary Science-Geodynamics)

This project uses space-craft-derived topogrpahic, crustal thickness and other data to search for previously unknown large impact basins on the Moon and Mars and develop a relative age sequence for them. Large impacts were very important in the development of the crusts of the terrestrial planets, and in either aiding or limiting the start of early life on the Earth (and maybe Mars). The goal is to understand the early bombardment history of these smaller bodies and to use that as a basis to understand the earliest evolution of the Earth.

Characterizing Magnetospheric States

• (Space Science (Astronomy) - Heliophysics-Magnetospheric Physics)
• (Space Science (Astronomy) - Heliophysics-Solar Wind and Magnetosphere Physics)

This project involves using solar wind and geomagnetic observations to characterize different states of the magnetosphere during geomagnetic storm/substorm and "sawtooth event" intervals. The global state of the magnetosphere changes in response to the variable input of the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). But how the magnetosphere responds to a given set of solar wind and IMF driving conditions may also depend on the prevailing magnetospheric conditions or configurations (as a result of past history of solar wind/IMF input) and the response times of various processes. For this project, the student(s) will exercise existing data archives to search, select and download magnetospheric observations associated with specific magnetospheric phenomena, such as geomagnetic storms, substorms or sawtooth events, and categorize those observations by magnetospheric state parameters. The student(s) will input and organize all the data and pertinent information (e.g., documentation) into an electronic database for further analysis, using EXCEL, Mathematica, or (if the students choose to) application programming.

Communications and Public Engagement

• (Communications)
• (Communications - Public)

National Space Club Scholar – Communications and Public Engagement Project

Summer 2012

Selected candidates will work in the midst of the dynamic environment within NASA Goddard’s Office of Communications. The office is responsible for a wide range of activities including media relations, multimedia and television, social media, and all activities that involve NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s interactions and engagement with the public. 

Candidates should have a background or interest in communications, public relations, journalism, writing or marketing. Candidates will conduct and be exposed to a diverse set of communications and public engagement efforts, including writing stories, developing web features, creating content for social media sites, assisting with special events and activities, including those events specifically designed for Goddard summer interns.

Crop characterization and determination of the minimum water requirement for agricultural irrigation

• (Earth Science - Biospheric Science)

This project explores an inverse modeling methodology using a biophysical model forced by observed satellite and climate data to quantify the irrigation water demand in semi-arid areas. We constrain the carbon and water cycles modeled under both equilibrium, balance between vegetation density and prevailing local climate, and non-equilibrium, water added through irrigation, conditions. We postulate that the degree to which irrigated dry lands vary from equilibrium climate conditions is related to the amount of irrigation water used. The amount of water required over and above precipitation, if any, is considered as the minimum physiological water requirement.

The method estimates both the minimum physiological amount of water required to sustain unstressed photosynthetic production for crops and the total water used for irrigation including agricultural efficiencies and losses.

To calibrate and validate the approach, we need physiological parameters to characterize the different (major) crops.

The student will work with the mentor to do literature search and web search for such parameters and in present them in a table form assimilable by the model.  The student will also be involved in the comparison of the model results with observations.

The position requires skill in web research [basically Google] and a lot of organization.
The student is expected to develop a multi-dimensional table containing information about the geographic region, the crop type, the crop seeding and harvesting period s and other parameters characterizing the crop. The student will also develop and present a poster describing his/her work at the end of the internship program.

Crop characterization and determination of the minimum water requirement for agricultural irrigation

• (Computer & Information Sciences - Information Systems-Data Analysis SW)
• (Computer & Information Sciences - Computer Science-Vision)

This project explores an inverse modeling methodology using a biophysical model forced by observed satellite and climate data to quantify the irrigation water demand in semi-arid areas. We constrain the carbon and water cycles modeled under both equilibrium, balance between vegetation density and prevailing local climate and non-equilibrium, water added to irrigation, conditions. We postulate that the degree to which irrigated dry lands vary from equilibrium climate conditions is related to the amount of irrigation water used. The amount of water required over and above precipitation, if any, is considered as the minimum physiological water requirement.

The method estimates both the minimum physiological amount of water required to sustain unstressed photosynthetic production for crops and the total used for irrigation including agricultural efficiencies and losses. To calibrate and validate the approach, we need physiological parameters to characterize the different (major) crops.

[Propulsion Subsystem] Deep Space Climate Observatory

• (Engineering - Aerospace-Flight Dynamics)
• (Engineering - Mechanical-Fluid or Structural Dynamics)

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) is one of the missions under the Earth Science Program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The purpose of the DSCOVR mission is to predict space weather, solar wind, and geomagnetic  storms critical to the nation’s power and transportation industries. This is a unique mission involving refurbishment of an already-built satellite at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center.

The student will be responsible for organizing technical data on flight propulsion system components and creating propulsion subsystem design documents that will help verify the propulsion subsystem is prepared for launch.

Digital Media Internship

• (Communications - Public)
• (Space Science (Astronomy))