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For NASA Intern Jimmy Bilello, Second Time’s a Charm

Conversations with Goddard: Intern Edition

Man with black, curly hair wearing a white polo stands in front of a wall with the NASA Goddard logo.
 Courtesy J. Bilello

Name: Jimmy Bilello
University: University at Buffalo in New York
Major: Engineering, Guidance, Navigation and Control
Title: Propellant Transfer Engineer Intern
Organization: Code 480, Satellite Servicing Project Division

Do you remember where you were or what you were doing when you got that first call or email that told you that you were going to be an intern here at Goddard?

I was in the nanosatellite lab I work at in school, and this was the beginning of May. I open my email, and there it was! I was just kind of caught off guard.

Now that you’re here for your second time as an intern at Goddard, how have your responsibilities and perspective changed?

One thing I’m really excited about is that this is something completely different. My entire college engineering part has been all GNC (Guidance, Navigation and Control) stuff, and then this time around it was just, “Hey! Do you want to do propulsion and propellant stuff?” It’s something I don’t really have experience in, but I’m totally about it, so that’s really cool. Also, coming back is really nice because now I know where everything is.

Have there been any surprising differences between your two different internships?

Last time, it was kind of like, here’s your one project for the summer. Get it done. This time around, there’s more little tasks that all fit together instead of one major thing.

Going back a little bit, when you were deciding to study aerospace engineering in college, what steered you toward that?

I was working on Wall Street for a year, and I realized that I was super bored. I was not happy where I was. I decided, “I’m going to go back to school, and I’m going to do space things because I always really liked space.” Now, this is my second time at NASA.

So you had a full four-year college experience before you did aerospace?

Yeah, I got the whole four-year college experience. It was a good experience, but the second time around was definitely, “All right. Let’s put a lot of time into school now.”

How would you describe what you do here on a daily basis?

I’m working with Restore-L, which is a satellite servicing project. Basically, there’s Landsat 7, which is in space. One of the things that we want to do is to send up this spacecraft, Restore-L, and we want to basically refuel it with propellant so it can continue its mission for even longer. Why send up another $100 million satellite when you can send up something that’s a fraction of that to help the satellite keep doing its thing?

The other one I’m working on is Lunar Gateway, which is basically part of putting people on the Moon and going to Mars. What I’m hoping to work on is looking at the propellant side of it. We want to send people there– are we going to need to do refueling for the Moon, going to and from? What about deep space missions that can come by the Moon, maybe refuel before going on their way to the outer planets?

Those are the two main things I’m working on.

What are you excited about for the Artemis program and future space missions?

Mars 2030! That is the goal. I do think the Moon is a good stop. Let’s see if we can do a “smaller” mission by going back to the Moon before going to Mars– not that that’s a small feat. If we can do that, if we can get people there even temporarily, then let’s just extend it to Mars. Obviously it’s not just another small step. It’s another very large hop, but if we can do this, I don’t see why we couldn’t extend it even further. I’m 100% all for Mars.

What are you most curious to learn about Mars?

Can we sustain people there? Is it possible to have humans there for an extended period of time? First is getting people there. Then the next step is, can we keep them there for longer? Can we keep them there forever? We’ll see. Who knows?

What appealed to you about NASA, and Goddard specifically? What made you want to work here?

I will say that I’ve always wanted to work for SpaceX, but NASA’s still NASA. You go talk to anyone in the space industry, and they’re going to tell you all about NASA and how great it is and all the things that it’s done. It’s incredible.

I wouldn’t say I applied to Goddard specifically. I kind of looked through each of the internship opportunities and just decided, “Okay. This sounds really cool– let’s apply there!”

So it was more about the topic and less about the location?

Yeah! It just so happened I got back to Goddard.

In the future, is there a specific field or subject you’re hoping to specialize in? Or are you open to anything involving space?

I’m open to anything. I’m mainly focused in GNC and propulsion, so I’d like to do something along those lines.

Is there anything surprising about yourself that others might not know?

I talk to people here, and they’re like 19 and 20. I’m 26, and here for an internship still. It’s never too late to do the thing you want to do! I went back to school, and now I’m on the right track. People are always surprised. Usually people are really caught off guard.

By Elizabeth Tammi
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center