Small Spacecraft Industry Day

(Yeah, it's not an exciting post, but it is good info...)

So, you've made posters before, right? No?

Well, then. Aaron gave some good info that would probably be hella useful for everyone. If you've got more tips, put 'em in the comments, please!

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Notes from Aaron [bracket notes by me]:

Stanford's poster page [the template dimensions and those comments don't apply, but good info going around, and templates could be modified to fit your posters]

'The first time I made a poster it was quite an intimidating task and required a couple of printings to get it right. One suggestion is to print it in color on an 8.5x11 sheet.... shrink the page to fit when printing. It should be about "border line" as far as readability. ' [this should definitely help you see the balance of it and help make sure it'll look good and pleasing to the eye when you see it printed large as life.]

PowerPoint poster tips [pdf]

In the past I've started with the templates from the Stanford media services.

***

This link also has some good info on structure to get you started. Plus it makes pop culture references, which I'm all for.

I (and your mentors*) can check them out on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday... if I'm in the county, I'd be happy to look at them.

Thanks, guys! Good luck!


* probably not on the weekend for your mentors, unless we know where they live; then we could probably arrange something.

Meeting the lost members

Hello,

Let's make this blog more lively. It's a nice way to know what on Earth is everybody doing.
Today we had the sexual harassment POSH training. I have to admit I was kinda reluctant at the beginning that these almost 2 hours would be useful. And I still don't know if they were, however, I can say it was interesting (for me). The woman talking was quite energetic and even quite convincing in whatever she spoke.

After that I had the chance to go to the original Small Spacecraft Office and find there the rest of the mates/interns/colleagues/friends in this office. Because we are splitted in two groups. There I met the rest of our team and we decided to have lunch together. Actually I decided to have lunch together and then I "shared" my idea with Lulu, Suzanne and Chip (I hope I understood all the names right). So at 12:30 we met in the Cafeteria. There we exchanged some experiences together and also exchanged rooms. In the lodge is a tradition that instead of exchanging cells to socialize, we exchange room numbers.

And this is all, let's see what happens this noon in the Softball match.

Forgive me if the expressions here are not the correct ones.

Nil

HIYA

Hey everyone I'm here at NASA and it's been a good 2 days so far.

Yesterday: I moved in, and went food shopping later in the day with my new friend Katy ($91 at Safeway) , the amenities are good, my fridge is too small but everything else seems okay. If I get a roommate she's screwed though so I'm sorry. Then I leeched off her internet at night because she's on the RIGHT side of the building and I'm on the WRONG side. Oh well.

Today we went shopping in Mountain View the absolutely most gorgeous little town I've ever seen and it was fabulous and the weather was perfect and I bought a beautiful little sundress. I was looking for mugs but did not find any within my price range. I bought a kitchen knife. I'm slowly building up my cooking repertoire

I start work tomorrow... blahblahblah got kicked off the internet.

-lulu

second week, and already a holiday

So, how did everyone spend the holiday weekend?

What do you want to do next weekend?

Intro: Hugo

Hello everyone, my name is Hugo and I am now a 4th year at UC Berkeley majoring in physics. I am a long time admirer of astronomy and grew up near the Vandenberg Launch Facility in the small town of Lompoc, California, near Santa Barbara.

I am currently a brother of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity and hold the position of brotherhood chair. I also love sports and am currently a member of Cal Men's Lacrosse team.

Most of my past experience involves computer use such as programming, CAD, and the use of various software, and by the looks of things, those are currently the areas I will be involved with at the MDC.

My first day was exciting, and though I cannot say with certainty what I will be doing for the entire summer, I do imagine it will involve good experiences, a gain of knowledge, and the creation of some strong friendships.

First Days at Ames

My first few days working here have been pretty cool. I've met a bunch of interesting people, and I'm going to be involved in a host of different projects, both with CAD designing and fabrication / assembly. I'm also learning about Co-Lab, and look forward to getting involved with that. So this is looking to be a really cool summer.

first day posts, go!

Catherina, Chip, Amanda, and Suzanne started today. Post away and let us know your first impressions of NASA Ames (and the Lodge, Mountain View, your weekend festivities, etc.), guys. :-)

websought

Okay then, great to get to know you all a bit better :-)

We (Sonja, our website intern and me) are working on a website for the SSO...
What do you guys think would be good things to include?
What do you want to know about the SSO, as a newbie?
What would be an innovative feature that would really reflect the different way of thinking that goes on in the SSO?

If we want creative content, it'll have to be done by either Sonja (who's fairly booked with the base website), or, you know... YOU!
Do you have experience in doing these things?
Would you keep your mind open as you're introduced to the SSO (many of you arrive at the end of next week) to ideas for communicating what goes on here... images, animations, games...

Please give some Comments!

And, for those of you who are here already... what are you working on? Give a post, if you would.

Intros: Jose

Hey everyone! My name's Jose and I recently finished my undergraduate degree in mathematics and engineering physics at Santa Clara University (SCU) and enrolled to start my graduate degree there as well in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in Mechatronics. I was born in Manila, Philippines but was raised in the bay area so, like Suzanne, if anybody needs help finding their way around town, I can definitely offer that.

I've spent two years working with SCU's Robotic Systems Laboratory in conjunction with NASA/JPL and AFRL in a couple of satellite projects including ONYX where I was involved with the Anomaly Management Testbed System Payload and have also worked at the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility in superconductor research dealing with dark matter detectors. I've also worked at Cheesecake Factory as a bakery design engineer designing spiral whip cream for the cheesecakes. :)

I LOVE MUSIC! In fact, when school and work give me free time (which is a rarity and i'm sure most of you can relate), I play drums in a rock band trying to live out the rockstar dream, but for now, i'll have to stick with being a NASA intern :) I run a part time recording studio with my friends recording local talent so if any of you guys are feeling artistic and want to lay down some tracks, let me know. I also like to go to the beach to relax and surf, and in general, just like being outdoors to hike, go biking, play sports, etc. I'm excited for this summer to start working and looking forward to meeting everybody.

Intros: Charles (Chip)

Hi, my name is Charles (though most people call me Chip), and I just finished my second year at the University of Michigan. I'm majoring in Mechanical Engineering, and minoring in Math and Physics. I'm from Monroe, MI, which is not too far from Ann Arbor, and close to Toledo, OH.

I've spent two years as a member of the Remote Sensing Group, a research group in the Space Physics Research Lab at U of M. The group works heavily with NASA centers like Goddard and JPL, working on equipment for remote sensing satellites. With the group I've worked on two NASA sponsored projects, the Correlated Noise Calibration System (CNCS) and the Agile Digital Detector for RFI Detection and Mitigation (ADD). This past year, I was the lead on a project studying the RFI patterns of the wireless internet signals WiFi and WiMAX and their detectability with the ADD system.

I've been a life long fan of Michigan Football, and I'm a big sports fan in general. I'm a brother in the Delta Chi Fraternity, and am active in Tau Beta Pi, Pi Tau Sigma and ASME. When I do get free time, I enjoy video games and movies. I'm looking forward to beginning work, and to a summer in California.

Intros: Suzanne

Hey guys! I'm Suzanne (Suz, Suzie, or whatever you'd like to call me...) and I'm majoring in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan. I've been on the vomit comet twice, including this past March, and hope to be an astronaut in the future. I love sports, the beach, hanging out with friends, biking, playing Dance Dance Revolution, jumping in puddles, having bonfires, and camping. My favorite superhero is Superman. I'm also a big fan of sunflower seeds, especially during baseball season (Go Giants!).

I'm from Los Gatos, CA, which is about 20-25 minutes away from NASA. So if any of you out of staters need help finding something, don't hesitate to ask. I'm planning on doing a lot of fun things this summer like going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Giants games, and camping, so I'll be sure to post my outings on here incase anyone else wants to come. I'm looking forward to meeting you all in a few weeks :) It should be a fun summer!

hi

hi my name is lulu and I'm a sophomore in college. :D I'm VERY EXCITED to be working with everyone this summer. I've been in boston for the past 2 years and in CT for the 7 years before that and I'm looking forward to spending some time on the WeSt CoAst. I like physics and stuff, and I like warm weather.

I try to eat 2 meals every day, drink lots of fluids, and take generous naps whenever I can. My favorite cookies are big cookies and my favorite fruit is coconut. I like playing on the internet and the beach. I play some sports. I'm taking a yoga class right now. I'm allergic to spring. I have perfect vision.

More later,

-lulu liu

Intros: CrazyAero

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Hello folks!

Just a short introduction in 1's and 0's, but you'll have to meet me in person to get any details.

I've done the common aerospace geek things: NASA visits, ISU, X-Prize, Shuttle launches (where you drive all night long to get there), Yuri's night, worn a space suit, touched a shuttle main engine, stood 2cm from the wheel of Atlantis, floated in the weightless wonder, built a prototype satellite-to-be as a senior project, sat in a Soyuz, flown the shuttle motion base simulator, trained astronauts, and flown a 4-seater airplane for fun 60 hrs in a month. And now I do crazy things like go backpacking in ANWR where a small plane drops you off and you see no civilization for a week.



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Intros: Nil

Well, let's be the first to write in the blog after Jessica. :)
My name is Nil and I live in Vilobí del Penedès (Barcelona, Spain). I am in the way to get my Telecommunications Engineering degree soon. So just right now, while writing this, I am in the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia where I am surrounded of physics and where I am working in my thesis. As Jessica I had the luck to go to the SSP of ISU but in a different year (2006).
Probably getting out from my house at night and staring at the stars when I was a child, was one of the things which made me think of how tiny we are and that going into space will be another big step for humanity.
Maybe I could add that I've been "working" in the SSETI association (there's no single S, hehe). This is something in Europe we have under the supervision of the European Space Agency and that is just for students. The goal is to make students learn about building satellites by making them to do the job. Actually I think I've heard NASA wants to do something similar here in Ames. :))
I enjoy doing many things, but one them is definitely playing a board game called Go. I have also played table tennis a lot (I believe it's not much played here in USA but I could show you it can be much fun ^^) and used to play tennis as well. I am usually open to anything new you wanna show/teach me.

Intros, go!

Can I get a paragraph or two introductions for everyone? First name only is fine (or an alias), your school(s), hometown, major, past experiences, how you became interested in space... whatever things like that you feel comfortable putting out there...


Here's me. I'm the program coordinator for the internship.
My name is Jessica, and I'm from Moore, OK. I got a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Oklahoma after four co-op tours in different directorates at NASA Johnson. Mentored lots of stuff at JSC and OU. I was here at Ames in 2004 in the incredible NASA Academy program. Loved that life-changing summer so much that I went and staffed (Operations/Logistics Manager) for the one at NASA Marshall in 2005 and NASA Glenn in 2006. Did the Summer Session Program equivalent at ISU, and worked at the Oklahoma Space Grant. Moved out here to northern California almost two months ago, just helped with the HUGE Bay Area Yuri's Night party, and am starting work on the Next Generation Exploration Conference, which I attended last year (and at which I met my awesome boyfriend). I think space exploration is the most important thing ever, and the way I can best contribute is by sharing that importance with everyone, and especially keeping young people engaged with and working for their space programs.

PS: put your first name/alias in the tag, if you would :-)

first post, disclaiming away

Hello, all,

I officially state that this is completely unsupported by NASA, and that any statements here do not represent NASA or any other entity, branch, Center, group, or office, in any way, and are not even necessarily agreed to by any participants besides the author of a particular post. Things posted to this weblog do not seek to express the official views of anyone other than the particular author of a post or comment.

We do seek to show you how cool it is to work here, and the kinds of innovative things are going on in the Small Spacecraft Office and surrounding areas.