Orion - Blog Posts
Space Launch System (SLS) booster test screen shots from today. This booster uses 5.5 tons of propellent a second! The booster will help sling shot an unmanned Orion Space Craft around the Moon in late 2018. In mid July I will going to a SLS engine test in person.
NASA Intern Wrap Up
Some of the world's brightest minds and some of the most ambitious students have been my colleagues for my ten week adventure as a NASA intern. Week ten we scrambled to complete documentation for our projects. I was creating tutorials about making displays until my last hours as an intern. Our journey came to a close with an intern award ceremony, a branch competition playing laser tag and lunch with friends eating stir fry and drinking bubble tea. At the award ceremony a number of interns were recognized for their outstanding work and I was so proud to see one of the interns from the team I was in, Avionics System Division, be recognized! Students worked on so many game changing projects that if everyone was recognized the award ceremony would have lasted many hours. I am so thankful to be working alongside these talented people!
During my journey I learned two major lessons. I learned about the state of NASA and what exciting things I want to be a part of in the futurel.
The State of NASA NASA is filled with passionate professionals that love what they are doing and want what they are working on to succeed. These professionals are engineers, scientists, physicists, biologists, geologists, business majors, art majors, professionals from many disciplines. The word that best describes NASA is resilient. Outer spaces is a brutal place and yet the International Space station, a space lab larger than a football field, orbits the Earth every 90 minutes. Things malfunction and systems fail yet NASA picks themselves off the ground, brushes the dirt off and tries again refining, enhancing and improving. In addition to engineering challenges, NASA faces financial challenges. The returns for investing in space exploration is hard to visualize on the surface but can be illustrated after a bit of investigation. Cordless drills, MRIs and Solar Panels are all thanks to NASA's space exploration. These and other technologies are called "Spin-Offs", world changing technologies that are developed during space exploration. The microchip, like the one in your smart phone, was perfected by others but a technology first designed and implemented by NASA. There was little need to micro-size technology until humans had the desire to lunch it into space and conserve weight. NASA has created jobs by opening up the suborbital space industry and showing that such a crazy concept like that could be profitable. NASA is in a state of continued innovation and can propel even father and faster with greater financial support.
Future Endeavors Designing a display for a project I worked on two summers ago at another NASA center and seeing the collaboration of two centers on such an ambitious project was the most rewarding part of my internship. In the summer of 2013 I interned at NASA Glenn in Ohio testing and making a circuit board for a solar array regulator. The regulator insures that a space habitat has the correct amount of power at all times. This summer I worked on the displays for that same power system. I loved the birds eye view of the project understanding the electronics inside and the programming filtering data into the display. In the future I would like to be a part of multi-center projects like these and be able to follow the various aspects that tie it all together. In addition to high level understanding I also enjoy low level work as well. I would love to work on a team that is tasked with rapid prototyping. Feeling anxious about being able to meet a deadline is exciting; especially if I'm adding last details onto a system as its being loaded on a rocket, that's basically what we did in FIRST Robotics making last minute changes as we transported it tot the field. In addition to NASA projects I would love to intern or study abroad in Norway. As I am Scandinavian, I am interested in learning the language and spending a summer over there.
How to Get Involved I am so thankful I had the opportunity to intern at Johnson Space Center. Family members, teachers and mentors have supported me and shaped my trajectory to make this opportunity possible.Very shortly I will be starting a Pathways Internship, what they call their Co-Op program, back at Johnson. I wish everyone could have a NASA experience and I encourage you to apply for an internship, Co-Op or other program. Please comment or message me with any questions about applying.
Intern program: https://intern.nasa.gov/ossi/web/public/main/
Co-Op program: http://nasajobs.nasa.gov/studentopps/employment/opportunities.htm (More spots will open soon for Spring)
Blog post about other opportunities: http://kirsikuutti.blogspot.com/2015/06/launching-your-aerospace-career.html
Photos by NASA Johnson Space/Allison Bills
Also pictured Caleb the author of this awesome tumblr: http://astronomicalwonders.tumblr.com/
Intern Week 8: Pool, Control & Opportunity
Neutral Buoyancy Lab Tour A familiar faint smell of chlorine wafted in the air as we entered the Sonny Carter Training Facility. We stared at a vat containing 6.2 million gallons of water, enough to fill nine Olympic swimming pools. Looking into the lagoon, 1:1 scale International Space Station (ISS) mock-ups were resting 40 feet below. Divers went about their daily routine escorting astronauts to various modules. Astronauts practiced EVAs (Extra Vehicular Activities) learning how to repair parts of the modules. Divers would retrieve tools astronauts drop and hold a camera up to their work for instructors to see. We saw where practice EVA suits are assembled and where modules are constructed before being submerged.
Mission Control Once again we return to Current and Historic Mission Control. Apollo 11 and 13 were among the great missions flown with less computing power than your smart phones. Controls were analog and sending messages via pneumatic tubes was common.
NASA Co-Op This week I was accepted into NASA Johnson Space Center's Pathways Internship Program, what NASA calls their Co-Op program. What does this mean? I will be sworn in as a U.S. Government civil servant and switch between semesters studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Minnesota Duluth and working at NASA. My NASA updates will continue throughout my experience.
Intern Week 5: Astronauts, Shuttles and Excitement
Excitement is unavoidable after experiencing a week like this. Attending an exclusive unveiling of TIME's new Documentary Series 'A Year in Space', creating a display for a water distiller on board a space habitat, meeting Astronaut Clayton Anderson, touring the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, and listening to Ginger Kerrick speak about her journey through NASA. Where do I start?
A Year In Space
"We must test the only hardware we didn't design, the human body". Jeffrey Kluger, Author of Apollo 13, reflects on the importance of Scott Kelly's year long mission in space. Two summers ago during my internship at NASA Glenn I was frustrated with how slowly our journey to Mars was taking. Even co-workers and fellow interns were perturbed by what seemed to be minimal progress. What I didn't understand at the time is that there are many variables to test, that are currently being tested, before we can ethically send a human to Mars. Scott Kelly's mission is one of those trial runs to learn about the effects of long duration space flight. During the unveiling we watched the first to episodes of 'A Year in Space', produced by Jonathan Woods, which captures Scott Kelly's professional and personal trials and tribulations while preparing for the mission. The first two episodes were cinematically spectacular and emotionally captivating. You can watch them here:
http://time.com/space-nasa-scott-kelly-mission/
Distiller Interface
Resources are extremely precious, especially if you are 250 miles or further (distance of the ISS) away from spaceship Earth. Among the human essentials for life absent in the big black vacuum of space is water. According to NASA's Consolidated Launch Schedule approximately 420 kg of water (887 bottles of water) has been transported to the International Space Station (ISS). This may seem like a lot of water however it is used for consumption, washing, experimenting, cooking, and many more activites. ISS has a highly efficient distiller system which takes the waste water and separates un-salvageable waste from reusable drinking water. This week I created a display so the crew members to monitor the water distiller's functionality. By programming visuals that illustrate the direction the liquids are flowing, visually displaying liquid levels with dynamic images of tanks filling and emptying, indicating the pressure, temperature, and amount of liquid flowing through the system crew members can keep track of the vitality of their distiller system.
Astronaut Clayton Anderson
Tenacity is a key ingredient in becoming an astronaut. One of the things Astronaut Anderson is known for applying to become an astronaut candidate 15 times before being accepted into the program. I was honored to meet Astronaut Anderson at his book signing for "The Ordinary Spaceman" telling his journey as a NASA intern-employee turned astronaut. He has spent 167 days living and working on the ISS. Check out his work: http://astroclay.com/ "Astro Clay" is also very active on Twitter and fun to follow: @Astro_Clay
Space Vehicle Mockup Facility Tour
Although these are referred to as "Mockups" in reality they are exact replicas of the vehicles in space right now so astronauts can accurately simulate missions. My mentor gave us interns a ground tour of the facility. We were able to explore inside the shuttle replica, visit Soyuz spacecraft and look inside the latest Orion mockup where they are currently positioning the displays to the correct eyesight for crew members. Visitiors to Johnson Space Center (JSC) can also tour the Mockup Facility also known as the astronaut training facility. If you are ever in Houston stop by Space Center Houston and you can take a tram tour which takes you around JSC and into a walkway overlooking the mockups: http://spacecenter.org/
Ginger Kerrick
Interns and Co-Ops (Pathways Interns) had the gracious opportunity to attend a lecture by Ginger Kerrick. As a young girl Kerrick dreamed to become an astronaut. From childhood dream to intern to Co-Op to employee to astronaut candidate to astronaut assistant to Capcom to Flight Director to essentially the head of ISS to... *catching breath* - Ginger Kerrick is amazing. Hear her story on Women@NASA: http://women.nasa.gov/ginger-kerrick/
It has been an amazing week with sadly only five more to come. I wish you all could have this experience and I encourage you if you are interested in an aerospace or space related career to intern at NASA: https://intern.nasa.gov/ossi/web/public/main/ All photos were taken by myself or fellow interns of me.
NASA Intern Bonus Update
Recently my coach from FIRST Robotics past visited me and we toured Johnson Space Center (JSC). We got a look into Building Nine where astronauts train for their missions in mock vehicles. There were shuttle, international space station, Orion, rover, and robotic mocks. I was so glad my mentor could visit, FIRST Robotics is a huge reason why I am here!
For photo descriptions see captions. All taken by me at JSC.
Links: FIRST Robotics My old HS team Duluth East Daredevils
Intern Day Two: The HIVE
When we looked around the room there were Orion Mockups, huge displays, and technological toys we couldn’t wait to get our hands on.
After I met my mentor for the first time two fellow interns and I were briefed about our goals for the summer. This summer I’m working with NASA’s group called the HIVE (Human Integrated Vehicles & Environments). HIVE’s goal is to get new technologies in front of astronauts, operators, and users as soon as possible during development to make the technological interface human friendly. Some of the projects HIVE is working on includes user interfaces for onboard Orion, wearables to alert astronauts about important information, and test beds to simulate mock missions.
Within HIVE my main goal is to translate packets of information sent by devices on Orion’s Deep Space Habitat (DSH) and display this data in a meaningful way. For example, one of the devices on the DSH is a device which insures the habitat maintains a constant amount of power no matter how much light the solar arrays are receiving. This device is actually the same device I helped work on at my summer internship at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. Using LabVIEW programming software I translate these packets into meaningful data and display that data as a graphical user interface.
The HIVE lab were we work is a large glass room overlooking a warehouse room with Orion’s parachutes and a NASA meatball shaped simulator that used to be for acclimating astronauts to motion/ zero G sickness. HIVE has a mockup of the Orion crew helm that we have the opportunity to update as well.
Pictures of the lab coming soon!
Alright, I have two more. They don't look as stylistically on point as Anubis but here they are ^^
This is Atalanta, Slayer of The Calydonian Boar, and Orion, The Celestial Hunter
i HATE seeing fanfictions where they portray Sirius as a bad, neglectful father who cares more about Harry than his own child. Sirius would NEVER. He knows what it feels like to have bad parents. To be the black sheep. To have your sibling be picked over you every. single. time. He hates his family for being like that. He hated his childhood and the way he felt about it. But then some people say, 'oh, but he loved Harry more than anyone, that's why he wouldn't care about his kid!'. Yeah, he cared about Harry and loved him like his child, but that was because he didn't have his own. Sirius Orion Black would never, EVER want his child to see their friends family and think, 'I wish mine was like that.' He would never want his child and Harry to behave the way him and Regulus did. No, he would want to look at their relationship and see himself and James. So no, Sirius would not be a bad father, because he would never wish a parent like that even on his worst enemy.
☄️and 🌌
Credit-Dandan Huang
Orion nebula
Credit: @tagbacktv
Waiting (๑✧◡✧๑)
Orion belong to @myloh (he he surprise, I hope you like him, even though he ugly in that drawing)
Photos of The Orion Nebula that I took over the past few nights. I took these without a phone adapter (it's arriving on Tuesday), so they turned out surprisingly well
The first photo is orange because of the glare from a nearby light, the rest were taken in a different location and are slightly blue because it was dawn.
Edited versions of those photos:
Telescope: skywatcher heritage 150p tabletop dobsonian
Eyepiece: 25mm
Camera: Samsung Galaxy A14 camera - ISO 3200, speed 4 or 8 seconds
🌟Pastel Dreams🌟
Hello, everyone! I'm making this post at 5:17am because I don't know what proper sleep is! 🙃 Yaaaaaayyy...! 🫠
Anyways, I recently finished a new bunny hat design that I know for sure you bitches, bros, and enby hoes will absolutely adore! Because I do!
Presenting... 🌟Pastel Dreams🌟
It's soft and simple design is sure to get notice while you're out and about, and for those chilly days/nights where the cold air is a-blowin', do not worry! The long bunny ears aren't just for stimming, but they can also be used as a scarf! Isn't that neat?
I'm considering taking on made-to-order commissions if there are enough people who show interest. Hell, I'll may list them on my Ko-Fi store if need be.
...What? Need more incentive to want your own hat? Really? Hmph! Well... So be it, then! Don't say I didn't want you!
Behold! My SPECIAL ATTACK!!
LOOK AT MY BABIES!! LOOK AT THEM!!! They are so stinkin' cute, it should be a crime! Bein' total pros at modelin' their Mama's bunny hat! 🥺
...Huh? Check the kids? Why, what's—Orion! 💦
...Anywaaaays, I'm long overdue for sleep. I'm gonna hit the sack! If you want your own Pastel Dreams hat, please lemme know! Or if you wanna check out my Ko-Fi store to see what I currently have listed, you can check it out here:
If you have any questions, feel free to message me! My ask box is also available if you're wondering how this succubi has some babies that look awfully similar to some very handsome guardians/deities you may know.😉
Updated look on my succubi-sona since I've gotten better at doing digital art. Aaaand look at this adorable little bean I'm carrying! My sweet little Orion.
Just some self-indulgent art and me showing off my improvement in digital art. I'm actually legit proud!
Artemis Astronauts Have Drills, Too!
Chances are, if you have ever spent time in a school or office building, you have experienced a fire drill. Well, astronauts practice emergency drills, too!
Since we began sending astronauts to space, we have used systems and drills to practice moving people safely away from the launch pad in the unlikely event of an emergency during the countdown to launch.
Early Mercury and Gemini programs in the 1960s used a launch escape system in the form of a solid rocket motor that could pull the astronauts to safety in the event of an emergency. However, this system only accounted for the astronauts, and not other personnel at the launch pad. NASA’s emergency systems have since improved substantially to include everyone.
Artemis II will be NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft. Artemis II will fly around the Moon and come back to Earth. Beginning with the Artemis II mission, we will use a track cable to connect the mobile launcher — the ground structure that supports the rocket before and during launch — to the perimeter of the launch pad. Picture a gondola ski lift beginning at the top of the rocket and ending all the way down to the ground. In case of an emergency, astronauts and support crews move from the capsule into the crew access arm, climb into one of four baskets waiting for them, and ride down to the ground.
There, members of the Pad Rescue team are ready to scoop the astronauts up and whisk them to safety. Think of the Pad Rescue team as spaceflight knights in shining armor. Except instead of saving crew from a fire breathing dragon, they are whisking the astronauts away from a fully loaded skyscraper-sized rocket that’s getting ready to lift off.
The Artemis II mission will also introduce several new ground systems for the first time – including the new and improved braking system similar to what roller coasters use! Though no NASA mission to date has needed to use its ground-based emergency system during launch countdown, those safety measures are still in place and maintained as a top priority.
So the next time you practice a fire drill at school or at work, remember that these emergency procedures are important for everyone to stay safe — even astronauts.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!
Trying to capture the stars with all this #lightpollution from the surrounding cities #losangeles & #sanfernandovalley In some shots you can see #orion #orionsbelt #pleiades cluster of stars #nightsky #celestial #astronomy #samasungphoto #samsunggalaxys9plus (at Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrcPVjvgUHo/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=k8t7xbbeja6b