VSGC | NASA ESMD 2008 Internships

NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) Virginia Student Internship Program

The Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) is coordinating NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) Internships at NASA centers. The ESMD Virginia Internship program is a higher education project that will distribute funds to university students for exploration-oriented design projects and internships. The purpose of these internships is to train and develop the highly skilled scientific, engineering, and technical workforce of the future needed to implement the Vision for Space Exploration.

Students will be engaged in hands-on engineering projects with a placement mentor during a 10-week period in summer of 2009. The internships will be open to juniors, seniors and graduate students. All ESMD Internship positions include a stipend of $6,000. No additional funding for travel or lodging will be provided. These positions are open only to students attending Virginia Space Grant member universities and community colleges (Hampton University, Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, College of William and Mary, Old Dominion University, and the entire Virginia Community College System). Application deadline for all positions will be February 2009.

To apply, visit the ESMD Virginia online application site (application is closed)

Position descriptions and locations are summarized below.

Internship Code	ESMD Internship Location and Contact Information	Position Description
ESMDVA-2 ESMDVA-3 (two positions)	NASA Langley Research Center Electronic Systems Branch Hampton, Virginia Arthur T. Bradley (757) 864-7343 Arthur.T.Bradley@nasa.gov	Rover-Electronic Design and Algorithm Development Using LabVIEW Design & integration of a robotic platform for science instrument testing. Our efforts this year focused on designing the robot & integrating the components, and next year's efforts will be heavily focused on software. There are many possibilities for algorithms relating to autonomous mobility, navigation based on stereo, omni-directional, & thermal imagers, in addition to a litany of tasks from image registration, to behavioral robotic intelligence, to user interfaces for robot guidance and supervision. Any major equipped with strong programming background and possessing an interest in robotic systems; knowledge of LabVIEW a plus. Ideal candidates for participation are technical people well-versed in algorithms, kinematics, machine pattern recognition, guidance and controls, and computer programming.
ESMDVA-5	NASA Wallops Flight Facility Scientific Balloon Program Office Wallops Island, Virginia Debbie Fairbrother 757-824-1717 Debora.Fairbrother@nasa.gov	Planetary Ballooning: The development of balloon platforms for development in the atmosphere of Mars could benefit both the scientific and eventual human exploration of the planet. Aerial exploration by a balloon platform will provide increased knowledge of the highly variable Martian atmosphere. The goal of this project is to assist in the planetary ballooning activities underway which will include performance modeling of different balloon systems and materials assessments for balloon envelopes.
ESMDVA-6	NASA Wallops Flight Facility Advanced Projects Office Wallops Island, Virginiaa Bruce Underwood bruce.e.underwood@nasa.gov	Supporting development of the Max Launch Abort System (M-LAS). The Orion launch abort system, known as LAS, will offer a safe, reliable method of pulling the entire crew out of danger in the event of an emergency on the launch pad or during the climb to Earth orbit. Mounted at the top of the Orion and Ares I launch vehicle stack, the abort system will be capable of automatically separating the spacecraft from the rocket at a moment’s notice and setting the stage for a safe landing. NASA is sponsoring the M-LAS as a risk mitigation effort for Orion. NASA is retaining the current “tower” concept as the baseline launch abort system design. The M-LAS concept will be validated by conducting an unmanned pad-abort test in late 2008 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. The Wallops Advanced Projects Office has overall program management for the Wallops support to this effort. The intern will support this program management effort.

To apply, visit the ESMD Virginia online application site (application is closed)

Virginia Space Grant Consortium is funded in part by a NASA training grant.