THE INSPIRE PROJECT, INC.
SPRING 2008 ACADEMIC YEAR PAID
NASA INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Application Deadline: December 17, 2007
With support from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, The District of Columbia Space Grant Consortium, Aries Scientific and Woman Friday, LLC, The INSPIRE Project, Inc. in conjunction with the Dr. Bill Taylor Memorial Science Competition is proud to announce the Spring 2008 Academic Year Paid NASA Internship Program.
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INTERNSHIP DESCRIPTON
The INSPIRE Project, Inc. is sponsoring part-time, paid internships at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for the Spring 2008 academic year - mid- January 2008 through mid- May 2008. Four (4) part-time internships are available.
Students will be paired with a mentor at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Each student will work with their mentor to design a project that they will work on throughout the duration of the internship. Internships at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center will be focused on science and engineering research.
INTERNSHIP AREAS
Goddard Space Flight Center
INSPIRE (DC Space Grant) Research Opportunities
Spring 2008 |
Research Period: January 20 to May 20, 2008 |
Branch/Division |
Research Position Description |
Instrument Systems
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Technology Division, Integrated Design Center |
The GSFC Integrated Design Center (IDC) performs instrument and mission architecture studies for future space flight missions. Over the 10 years of operations, almost 400 such studies have been performed. While the products of these studies have been maintained in the IDC databases, valuable information contained in these products has not been identified and captured in a manner that would facilitate easy search and access. Such a capability would be extremely useful in assisting future studies, and for analyzing the overall performance of the IDC.
We would be interested in someone who would like to work with the IDC study leads and database personnel in capturing this information. The ideal candidate would have a general interest and knowledge of space missions and systems, in terms of understanding the top-level aspects of such missions like launch vehicles, orbits, spacecraft systems (solar array/power systems, attitude control systems, etc.), and instrument systems (telescopes, detectors, etc.). He/she would also have an equal interest and knowledge of data-capture techniques, such as working with Excel spreadsheets and servers. The assigned individual could look forward to becoming much more familiar with these systems and to being exposed to the design process that helps initiate future NASA space missions.
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Electromechanical Branch |
FPGA Implementation of a Motor/Actuator Controller Core.
New flight instrument and spacecraft mechanism control electronics increase the challenges for higher performance and safety parameters as well as low development cost. A promising technology that can help achieve this is “System-On-a-Chip”, or SOC , where many functions are integrated onto a single integrated circuit. By using a single device instead of many, printed circuit board size can be dramatically reduced, which translates into size and mass savings. Typically, a SOC is developed by coding and simulating each of the functions in a hardware description language ( HDL ). Integrating those functions into a system, simulating and synthesizing the integrated system for implementation on a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The ability to use these coded functions as “intellectual property cores” (IP cores) in multiple applications can significantly reduce development cost. However, one major obstacle to using SOC technology for many instruments is the lack of IP cores to perform motor and actuator control. This effort proposes to develop a motor/actuator control core ( MACC ) that will allow a complete instrument data system to be implemented on a single FPGA. This will allow the advantages of SOC architectures to be fully leveraged across a wide variety of upcoming instruments.
Required skill set:
- Electrical Engineering,
- Analog electronics,
- Digital electronics,
- VHDL/Verilog,
- FPGA design,
- Control systems,
- MATLAB,
- C programming.
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Laser
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Electronic Optics Branch |
The Expandable, Reconfigurable Instrument Node (ERIN) is a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based processing system that will be used to provide small instruments with the power of a processing platform not usually available. The intern will work with a team of engineers who are currently developing this concept and will provide support related to the implementation and/or testing of digital signal processing algorithms in the FPGA.
Skills and knowledge requested:
- Electronics design
- Computer programming
- VHDL design
- Signal processing concepts
- Computer architectures
- Matlab
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Laser
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Electronic Optics Branch |
The Extreme Environment Electronics project enables spaceflight systems to operate in environments with harsh temperatures, a feat required for NASA to meet its science and exploration goals. Extreme environment low temperature ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) for telescope readouts and instrument front-ends are needed to provide these systems with robust electronics capable of operating in extreme temperature conditions, while consuming minimal space, volume, and power. Instruments and subsystems operating in Planetary and Lunar environments could benefit greatly from such technology. The intern supporting this effort would perform the following duties: aid cryo-lab testing, assist with data conditioning, perform literature research on the state of the art, and aid in development of data analysis GUI.
Skills and knowledge requested:
- Electronics design
- VLSI design
- Software programming
- Matlab
- Excel
- Labview
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Propulsion Branch |
The student will assist in developing technologies for In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) - specifically the production of oxygen on the Moon, and dust mitigation technologies, specifically the modification of the regolith surface to consolidate the dust (prevent it from being kicked up by rovers or landers). The student will work in the lab with a variety of techniques, possibly including mass spectrometry, RF heating, vacuum systems, optical systems, cryogenic systems, and RC systems.
Skill set:
- Basic Engineering skills (drawings, spreadsheets)
- Aerospace Engineering Preferred
- Experience with the lab techniques listed is preferable, but not required.
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Flight Dynamics Analysis Branch |
The research project will be LRO Flight Dynamics. The intern will work with the LRO Flight Dynamics team on mission design and maneuver planning for the upcoming LRO mission. LRO will be launched in Oct 2008 and will orbit the moon for one year. It is the first NASA mission to the moon since 1999. The intern must be at least a Junior with a basic understanding of orbital mechanics and Matlab. Familiarity with Satellite Toolkit ( STK ) is a bonus.
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Mission Applications Branch |
A spring student intern is requested by Code 583 to support development of the Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC) project. GMSEC is an integrated effort across multiple GSFC organizations to provide a mission enabling, cost limiting, and risk reducing data system solution and operations architecture for current and future NASA missions. The student will work with an experienced GMSEC developer to implement and test the GMSEC Test Integration Tool (TestIT). Primary responsibilities will include programming of the backend and graphical user interface (GUI) for the tool. The student will help define the scripting commands for TestIT, develop the scripting execution engine, and develop the GUI to control TestIT. Desired Skill Set: Software Engineering, Software Programming in Java, C++, and/or Pascal.
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HOURS & COMPENSATION
Interns will work approximately 15-20 hours per week, and will be paid $3,500 after successful completion of the internship. Additionally, interns will receive a $325.00 travel stipend to aid in their commute to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
- Mandatory U.S. citizenship
- Minimum 3.2 G.P.A.
- Submittal of current resume
- Submittal of current University transcripts
- Submittal of two (2) letters of recommendation, including at least one from a faculty member
- Three hundred to five hundred word essay discussing general internship objectives, future career plans, and how they relate to workforce development in the sciences
- Undergraduate or Graduate student majoring in the sciences at one of the following academic institutions in Washington, DC: American University, Catholic University, Gallaudet University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Howard University, Southeastern University, Trinity College, University of the District of Columbia
Complete application packages must be received by the INSPIRE Project, Inc. by no later than 5:00PM on Monday, December 17, 2007. Incomplete and late application packages will not be considered. Students will be notified if they were selected by early January 2008.
Download 2008-09 Internship Poster!
For more information or questions, please Email: kathleen@womanfriday.com or call (202) 547 1364.
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