The first full day of the Virginia Earth System Science Scholars Summer Academy began peacefully. Despite a full night’s rest, the students were oddly quietly as they headed out to breakfast. However that would soon change After presenting their pre-Academy assignments to their respective groups, the scholars headed out to Forbes Hall to meet with Elaine Seasly and Gugu Rutherford, Contamination Specialists from NASA. Seasly and Rutherford shared their own education and work experience with the students, explaining how they became involved in the field and sharing a few notable projects they had worked on. The students were astonished to learn that something as small as a mistake in a cleaning procedure can incapacitate a satellite. For example, a spherical aberration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s lenses caused by over-polishing prevented the telescope from focusing clearly. Similarly, biofilms released by materials used in the construction of satellites can cloud images and interfere with sensors. Seasly and Rutherford noted that even though there is no academic degree for contamination control, the field is thriving because of the threat these problems pose to the success of missions. As Seasly put it, “Contamination control specialists are basically the Guardians of the Galaxy!” |
After this introduction to contamination control, Seasly and Rutherford tasked the students with an engineering challenge: design and construct a glovebox using common household materials, such as aluminum foil and packing tape, with a limited budget. The students eagerly took to the challenge, sketching out potential designs during lunch.
The challenge did not go quite as smoothly as the scholars expected. Halfway through the construction phase of the challenge, Seasly and Rutherford told the students that the packing tape had been recalled due to contamination issues! Many of the students were forced to make unexpected changes to their designs in order to replace the recalled product with weaker masking tape. Despite seeming unfair, this unforeseen challenge mirrored the contamination specialists’ real-life experiences.
The challenge did not go quite as smoothly as the scholars expected. Halfway through the construction phase of the challenge, Seasly and Rutherford told the students that the packing tape had been recalled due to contamination issues! Many of the students were forced to make unexpected changes to their designs in order to replace the recalled product with weaker masking tape. Despite seeming unfair, this unforeseen challenge mirrored the contamination specialists’ real-life experiences.
Construction, though, was not the hardest part of the challenge. As the activity moved from construction to production, the students learned that they would have to clean and assemble a puzzle inside of their gloveboxes. With only thirty minutes to meet this seemingly impossible goal, the students were uncertain if they would finish in time. Some students decided to present the puzzle pieces, unassembled but clean, while others chose to deliver a partially completed (but unclean) product. |
After a short period of judging, Seasly and Rutherford revealed the solution: It was better to present a partially completed product than just the pieces. In other words, the product was more than the sum of its parts. Having grasped this solution, Team Instinct from the Atmosphere group seized an unexpected victory!
This evening, the students interviewed for positions on their mission teams and will continue to work on their mission science goals. We can hardly wait to share the results of these interviews with you on Monday!