West Virginia Asteroid Exploration and Research Team

06/24/2016

As we sit here and talk about the future of West Virginia and the great plans for helping their citizens, 44 of the 55 counties are under a state of emergency due to the widespread flooding and destruction associated with these storms. We pray that the weather clears soon, and the citizens receive the much needed help to get back on their feet.

06/24/2016

In addition to visiting with the representatives of the state of West Virginia, Matt also was able to participate in several fun events on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week.

The first event was held at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. The capitol area chapter of the West Virginia University Alumni Association held an annual congressional luncheon in which all the representatives of the state attend, including Senator Jay Rockefeller (retired), in addition to all the senior staff of the university. Several presentations were given by Colonel Sean Frisbee, President of the WVU Alumni Association, and Gordon Gee, WVU President. As per usual, President Gee's speech was energetic and promising for the state. A great experience to see what graduates of the university are taking part in, and also seeing the universities great plan for the future of the state. Check out the video compilation from the luncheon at: https://youtu.be/j6vM_lKK88M I promise, this video does not nearly represent the enthusiasm and energy that President Gee was expressing during his nearly 30 minute speech.

The second event was held at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. It was a presentation and discussion titled Engaging Women and Girls in STEM Through Data Science. During the discussion/presentation, the speakers touched on different activities sponsored by NASA to engage young women and men in STEM, including the Space App Challenge. Matt was able to hear speakers such as Dava Newmann, NASA's Deputy Administrator; Megan Smith, the United States Chief Technology Officer; and Ellen Stofan, NASA's Chief Scientist, among several other women from STEM fields. He really enjoyed the conversation and was glad to have been invited.

The third event was to attend NASA Science Day on the Hill. This is the annual event in which NASA's Science Mission Directorate invites staff to present their cutting edge work to representatives in the Cannon House Office Building. Some of these presentations included heliophysics, astrophysics, planetary science, and Earth science. They even brought the hyperwall! In addition to several congresspersons attending, Matt had the great honor of meeting Astronaut Scott Kelly, who recently returned from his year long campaign aboard the International Space Station! What an incredible experience!

Having called West Virginia home for the past five years, Matt was very proud to represent West Virginia in a national capacity. It was a great honor and experience.

06/24/2016

Although we finished our test campaign in Houston nearing one month ago, the program will continue for the rest of our lives. The memories of the experiences that we had and the work that we put into the project will always be with us and we are so thankful for the opportunity. The team is currently putting the finishing touches on our final report and continuing our outreach campaign.

Speaking of outreach, our team leader, Matt Morrow, just participated in one of our biggest outreach events yet! He traveled to Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. to meet with the representatives of West Virginia. He spent Tuesday and Wednesday of last week visiting representatives in the company of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Director (MD), NASA's Independent Verification and Validation Facility Director (WV), NASA's Wallops Flight Facility Director (VA), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Director of Education, the Program Manager of the West Virginia Robotic Technology Center, and countless other staff. Over the course of the two day trip, he met with Senator Joe Manchin, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, and Representative David McKinley.

During the visits, Matt spoke of his experiences in the Micro-g NExT program in addition to his experiences in West Virginia and at West Virginia University. In addition to his student programs, Matt also was an active participant in discussions pertaining to the growth of West Virginian industry and job market, and how NASA's strong partnership with the state and university could help to facilitate those goals. A common point of discussion was continuing education of the citizens of West Virginia through the university and the retention of those educated after graduation within state industries, specifically the technology industry. It was a great pleasure for him to be able to represent the state and university at the national level and to work with representatives to help propel West Virginia in a positive direction.

05/27/2016

05/27/2016

In addition to our professional stay in Houston, we were also alotted time to visit the local attractions, specifically Space Center Houston. The MicroG NExT Program graciously provided all team members with tickets to Space Center Houston. We took them up on their offer. We were able to take a tram tour, on center, where we visited the historic Apollo Mission Control and the Rocket Garden. By far one of the most impressive portions of the trip was the real, would have been used if Apollo had continued, Saturn V.

We were also provided with an onsite visit on Tuesday. The MicroG NExT Program provided an exclusive tour in which we visited the Environmental Control and Life Support Division which is responsible for developing the space suits for astronauts, the Virtual Reality Lab which is used to help train astronauts, and the Lunar Sample Facility where lunar, martian, and meteoroid samples are stored and processed.

05/27/2016

On Wednesday, in the afternoon, there weren't any operations being conducted within the NBL, leaving the water extremely glassy. We were able to capture some great shots of the ISS mockups and additionally the RRM module that was developed by our NASA mentor and built at Goddard Space Flight Center. The team also grabbed a quick selfie with the pool.

05/27/2016

We also got a few cool pictures of the divers conducting testing just before our run! you can see the divers in all three pictures. Just look for the yellow scuba tanks!

05/27/2016

We had some delay in posting these wonderful pictures, but we snapped some shots of the NBL and wanted to share!

05/26/2016

We're finishing up our test week in the Mission Control Center Building at Johnson Space Center with a poster presentation and a closing ceremony presentation. We are very thankful to have been given this opportunity by the NASA JSC Education Office. We'd like to additionally thank West Virginia Robotic Technology Center and West Virginia University for their support along the way. WVU Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

05/24/2016

It was a success!! Our team and tool performed wonderfully during the EVA test. The tool performed just as we expected. An unofficial pull force of 28 lbs, compared to the requirement of 10 lbs puts us well above what was expected of us! We are so glad to have had a successful test session and look forward to the rest the test week activities!

05/24/2016

Teams from Purdue Univeristy and Columbia University are testing now. We will be third this morning. Watch our testing take place live using the NASA JSC live stream!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ird-testchannel

JSC Information Resources Directorate test channel. Verified 1-04-2016

05/23/2016

The team has made it to NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory for the beginning of our test week! We are all set with out poster, tool, and plenty of NASA stickers. We're really excited to see other schools participate and to take part in this program.