The NASA Science Activation program’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Enhancement in Earth Science (SEES) Summer Intern Program, hosted by the College of Texas Heart for Area Analysis, continues to develop alternatives for highschool college students to have interaction in genuine spaceflight analysis. As a part of the SEES Microgravity Analysis initiative, 4 interns have been chosen to fly with their experiments in microgravity aboard the ZERO-G parabolic plane. The scholars had 11 minutes of weightlessness over 30 parabolas during which to conduct their experiments.
This immersive expertise was made potential by means of a collaboration between SEES, Area for Academics, the Wisconsin Area Grant Consortium, and the Worldwide Area Station Nationwide Laboratory (CASIS). Collectively, these companions present college students with entry to industry-aligned coaching and direct expertise in aerospace experiment design, testing, and integration.
Congratulations to the 2025 SEES Microgravity Analysis Crew:
- Charlee Chandler, Eleventh grade, Rehobeth Excessive College (Dothan, AL): Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) and Vestibular-Ocular Reflex (VOR) in Microgravity
- Aya Elamrani-Zerifi, Eleventh grade, Hereford Excessive College (Parkton, MD): Thermocapillary-Induced Bubble Dynamics
- Lily Myers, twelfth grade, Eastlake Excessive College (Sammamish, WA): Propellant Slosh Damping Utilizing Polyurethane Foam
- Nathan Scalf Eleventh grade, Lexington Christian Academy (Lexington, KY): Wound Irrigation System for Microgravity
Chosen from almost 100 proposals submitted by 2024 SEES interns, these 4 college students spent months getting ready for flight by means of weekly technical mentorship and structured milestones. Their coaching included proposal improvement, design evaluations, security assessments, {hardware} testing, and a full payload integration course of, working by means of engineering protocols aligned with {industry} and mission requirements.
Along with their particular person experiments, the scholars additionally supported the flight of 12 team-designed experiments built-in into the ZQube platform, a compact analysis service co-developed by Twiggs Area Lab, Area for Academics, and NASA SEES. The ZQube allows over 150 SEES interns from throughout the nation to contribute to microgravity investigations. Every autonomous experiment consists of onboard sensors, cameras, and clear check chambers, returning beneficial video and sensor information for post-flight evaluation.
This microgravity analysis alternative helps the broader SEES mission to arrange college students for careers in aerospace, spaceflight engineering, and scientific analysis. By means of direct engagement with NASA scientists, tutorial mentors, and business aerospace specialists, college students achieve real-world perception into techniques engineering and the technical disciplines wanted in as we speak’s area {industry}.
The SEES summer time intern program is a nationally aggressive STEM expertise for Tenth-Eleventh grade highschool college students. Interns learn to interpret NASA satellite tv for pc information whereas working with scientists and engineers of their chosen space of labor, together with astronomy, distant sensing, and area geodetic methods to assist perceive Earth techniques, pure hazards, and local weather. It’s supported by NASA beneath cooperative settlement award quantity NNX16AB89A and is a part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Be taught extra about how Science Activation connects NASA science specialists, actual content material, and experiences with neighborhood leaders to do science in ways in which activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and past: https://science.nasa.gov/learn/about-science-activation/
