Kush Pandit of the hydrosphere sub-team, “Glove-in-Hand,” demonstrates their glovebox to a fellow student. A student works inside their glovebox | Today the scholars were visited by Elaine Seasly and Gugu Rutherford, contamination specialists from NASA. Seasly and Rutherford discussed the effects of contamination on space missions, and the procedures they follow to identify and remove contaminants from hardware. The scholars had the opportunity to experience the difficulties of contamination control firsthand in an activity newly developed by Seasly and Rutherford for VESSS. The scholars were directed to build gloveboxes out of common household materials like aluminum foil, popsicle sticks, plastic bags, and straws. A surprise twist turned the seemingly simple challenge into a Herculean task. However, the RECTANGLE sub-team of the Lithosphere group pushed through to an unlikely first place victory. |
The scholars found the activity to be both engaging and uniquely challenging. Kush Pandit of the hydrosphere group found that he learned that “sometimes unexpected things happen, and you just have to move on, because you don’t have time to complain. You just have to start over, and that requires a lot of cooperation and a lot of focus.” Pandit is keen to take this lesson to heart as his team prepares this evening for their mission planning to begin in earnest. When asked to explain why her team was able to grasp victory in the form of a lucrative (if fictional) contract, Morgan Re of the winning RECTANGLE team had the following to say: | The RECTANGLE team at the start of the challenge. Clockwise from Center Right: Rudo Kashiri, Morgan Re, Chris Martin, Jessica Zohlen, Jack Craddock |
“Our solution was to put our creative minds together and push engineering design - how we thought through problems. We could only use what we had, and that pushed us to ask questions, because otherwise we wouldn’t have done as well.”
This evening, the scholars started to outline science and mission goals for their respective teams. Figuring out exactly what they will study may prove to be a tough challenge indeed, but after seeing their problem-solving firsthand today, they are more than ready!
This evening, the scholars started to outline science and mission goals for their respective teams. Figuring out exactly what they will study may prove to be a tough challenge indeed, but after seeing their problem-solving firsthand today, they are more than ready!