A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between Palmdale’s Aerospace Education Research and Operations (AERO) Institute partnering with Armstrong’s education office and the Antelope Valley College (AVC) implemented the NASA Flight Scholars (NFS) Program summer internships through the Minority University Research Education Program (MUREP).
NASA’s Office of Education developed MUREP to ensure that underrepresented and underserved students participate in NASA education and research projects to assist more of these students in their pursuit of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers.
The MOA allows the AERO Institute along with NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Office of Education to provide hands-on research and development experience for STEM students using career-related activities along with their coursework.
“During the summer program, NFS students are designing, building and testing the scientific payload for the Mars Glider,” said Dave Berger, Armstrong’s university affairs officer. “The scientific objectives include characterization of the atmosphere and a detailed photographic mapping of the terrain. These tasks will demonstrate the scientific merit and technical feasibility of the Mars mission for the glider.”
The 10-week program will join STEM professors with Armstrong Chief Scientist Al Bowers and NASA research engineers to test flight a remotely piloted glider, subscale aircraft, that will be released from a high-altitude balloon, which is expected to reach 100,000 feet.
“We’ve already built several small vehicles and flown them,” Bowers said. “Our students attempted to launch them in many extreme attitudes, and the little gliders have shown a remarkable ability to recover and fly away. These experiments give us a great deal of confidence about our flight from off the balloon.”
Students will collect data throughout the flight from take off to landing. The data are expected to assist in answering questions on whether a glider could be sent to Mars for exploration.
“This experience allows students to apply the theoretical constructs they learn in the classroom in a hands-on application. We are grateful to NASA for the opportunity and hope to continue the relationship well into the future,” said AVC President Ed Knudson.
NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Flight Opportunities Program will provide the opportunity on a high-altitude balloon for the glider flight test.
NFS gives the student a unique opportunity to apply their STEM curriculum with enhanced academic course materials along with the hands-on research. The program experience is meant to encourage students to transfer toward four-year STEM degrees.
The NFS program addresses NASA’s strategic objective to advance the nation’s STEM education and workforce. The program works collaboratively with other agencies and colleges to engage students, teachers and faculty in NASA’s missions and unique assets.
The NFS pilot phase is for quick-start research that capitalizes and builds on current Armstrong flight projects, encouraging students to delve deeper into the test-flight environment. There is potential for follow-on phases that may expand into Southern California and Arizona.
For more about NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong
Leslie Williams
NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center
661-276-3893
leslie.a.williams@nasa.gov
Liz Diachun
Executive Director, Marketing and Public Information
Office: 661.722.6300 ext. 6312
E-mail: ediachun@avc.edu