On December 1st 2023, I had the opportunity to attend an Undergraduate Interaction Day at NASA Goddard. Students from the University of Maryland to the University of Virginia and the University of Delaware attended.
During this event, I spoke to post-doctoral fellows about their research.
I spoke to Dr. Jacopo Terragni. His research explores the properties of the atmospheres of exoplanets. In order to draw meaningful conclusions from exoplanet data, we need lab data to compare it against: in atmospheres with extreme pressures and temperatures, the behavior of compounds is often unknown. Terragni’s work looks to characterize these behaviors to create more accurate models of exoplanet atmospheres. This topic was interesting to me since I am currently taking a thermodynamics course, which explores the behavior of substances based on their pressures, temperatures, and other characteristics.
I spoke to Gael Cascioli, a PHD Research Associate, about his work. Among his large range of work, he has led a project to characterize Venus’ composition. The harsh nature of the planet’s atmosphere makes it difficult to land a rover and collect samples. Cascioli’s work focused on understanding more about the structure of Venus’ interior using remote sensing. He has also worked on projects mapping the seafloor of Europa – this project is exciting to me because of the possibility of finding life on Europa. Its abundance of water combined with its possession of basic elements needed for life make it an exciting candidate to explore. His process of development consists largely of creating models based on theory, comparing it against data, and then validating or fixing his models using the data. This process makes sense to me, so I found his points convincing.
Another researcher I spoke to was Joey Pasterski. His work focuses on developing machine learning models to characterize samples obtained by Dragonfly, the mission to Titan. This allows samples to quickly be classified, and if the sample is deemed as worth investigating further, a more thorough analysis can be run. This saves time and wear on the components of Dragonfly.
Additionally, I learned a lot about the Roman Space Telescope and saw the cleanroom where it is being built. Roman is a valuable addition to the NASA’s suite of telescopes. It can capture an area 100 times larger than that of the Hubble telescope – that means that in just 63 days, Roman can capture what would take Hubble 85 years (NASA)! Roman’s wide view is the perfect compliment to Webb and Hubble: Roman can survey a large area, scientists can identify areas of interest, and then those areas can be observed with greater detail using Hubble and Webb. The observations made by Roman will aid in our understanding of the development of the universe. A gigantic white room with a wall of HEPA filters is a concise way to describe the cleanroom where Roman is being assembled. The positive pressure system and strict cleanroom apparel practices are two ways that the cleanroom is kept cleaner than an operating room. Overall, I learned a lot during my experience at Undergraduate Interaction Day at NASA Goddard. The cleanroom at NASA Goddard where the Roman Space Telescope is being built.
Overall, I learned a lot during my experience at Undergraduate Interaction Day at NASA Goddard.