The Center of the Universe – My Experience Interning at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

We often encounter kids in our outreach work who can't wait to be astronauts when they grow up. Somehow this didn't have the same pull for me. Instead, I was mesmerized by the robotic spacecraft  exploring the distant reaches of the solar system. One facility came up over and over again in watching documentary after documentary on PBS about those probes: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. It was a thrill to visit while I was in graduate school. I still don't think I'm completely recovered from having a badge and a parking pass during the 90-sol prime mission of MSL while I was a postdoc!! Because of that, it's always a joy when one of our own here at PVL gets to experience this place for themselves. First there was Raymond, then Emily and, later on, Brittney. Recently, one of our PhD students, Grace Bischof (pictured above), had the opportunity to spend the winter working projects on-lab. She relates her experience below.

By Grace Bischof

In late 2020, I submitted a scientific proposal to the Technologies for Exo-Planetary Science (TEPS) program, with hopes of becoming a TEPS trainee. Upon a successful application, I was able browse through a list of TEPS collaborators with whom I could carry out a four-month long internship (assuming they accepted my inquiry to work with them). There was quite an appealing list of places to intern with – from national collaborators at Canadian universities and within industry, to international collaborators in institutions as far as Japan. There was one collaborator, however, that immediately jumped out of the page for me: Michael Mischna, who is a researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

I had seen Michael’s name previously through a former PVL member – Brittney Cooper – who carried out an internship at JPL a couple years before I had arrived in the lab, and whose internship project with Michael inspired the bulk of my master’s thesis. Not only that, but as a member of the Mars Science Laboratory team since 2020, JPL was a place of legends to me, as JPL is the section of NASA that manages planetary robotic missions including the Curiosity rover. The idea of working there myself was something of a dream. In the summer of 2021, John reached out to Michael on my behalf to inquire if there was a place for me to carry out my internship with him, and luckily there was! Not only would I have the opportunity of working with Michael, but I would also be working with Leslie Tamppari, who had been project scientist on the Phoenix mission. 

After a year’s worth of delays due to the lingering pandemic, in January 2023, I packed two giant suitcases and flew down to Pasadena, California to start my adventure. After hopping off the plane at LAX (haha!), I was immediately greeted to views of the San Gabriel mountains, palm trees, and warm weather. I made my way to the house I was renting with four strangers, which luckily was not an internet scam, and spent the first couple of days unpacking and settling into my new home. 

 

(The first picture I took upon arrival in Pasadena. I couldn’t get over the palm trees.)

Although I had somehow found myself in LA during SoCal’s rainiest winter in a couple decades, nothing could rain on my parade that first day at JPL. Even the 5:30 am wake up call to ensure I was on-time for the first day’s onboarding activities felt exciting. I can clearly remember sitting on the LA city-bus as it approached the JPL gates and feeling awe at the opportunity ahead of me. The first day was spent filling in forms, giving my fingerprints, and taking a photo for my new JPL badge. Afterward, I met with Leslie and Michael to discuss the work I would be completing over the next few months, and then I was given a tour of the 168-acre lab by Michael. At JPL, you often need to have your walking shoes on to get from building to building.

Now, I should probably mention the actual science I did while I was at JPL before returning to the fun stuff. The plan was to work on two projects: the first was polishing some work I did in my master’s, using a radiative transfer model to determine the water-ice opacities at the Phoenix mission landing site. The second was to use the Mars Weather, Research, and Forecasting (MarsWRF) general circulation model to simulate the atmospheres of planets around stars with different stellar type, with future plans to expand this work to investigate the effect this would have on land-ocean distribution.

As science so often goes, the first project encountered many issues. A bug was found in the radiative transfer model which resulted in spending much of my time compiling and re-compiling, running and rerunning the model to determine the source of the issue. The MarsWRF work, however, went much more smoothly. I first spent a couple weeks becoming comfortable using the model. MarsWRF is a giant model, with many moving parts. I was set up with a NASA Supercomputing account so that I could run the model with relative quickness (often, this still took hours to days). Once I had the hang of using the model, I ran some cases simulating the ancient Martian environment to send to a team at Rice University who would use the inputs I provided for a Paleo-Mars lake model. Then, I got to work on the stellar-type investigation. I learned how to make changes to the source code of the model (which could be quite a task – altering several files to ensure that all the correct inputs were feeding into the correct scripts). Once I edited MarsWRF such that the user can define the temperature of the star they wish to simulate around, I ran the model for a Mars-like planet with a thin atmosphere around F-, G-, K-, and M-type stars. From this, we determined that, for the atmosphere that was set up, hotter stars will have more shortwave flux reach the surface of such a planet. This work was the first step in understanding exoplanet atmospheres around different stellar type and will eventually be applied more widely to understand the habitability of exoplanets based on star-type. Working on these projects with Leslie and Michael was such a delight, as they were incredibly supportive during this work.

Not only was the work I was doing at JPL extremely cool, but also the lab itself is one of the most incredible places to work. I was fortunate enough to have an office in the Science building (yes, there was big sign atop the front door reading Science). Although the office was very small and windowless, it got the job done, and I had two great office-mates. There was also ample seating around lab when I was craving a change of scenery. Sometimes I would work in the main cafeteria to be around the buzz of people conversing over their morning coffee, but my favourite place to work was the JPL mall. The mall is a big open area near the front of lab, which had plenty of tables set out to work or eat lunch outside in the fresh air. Working all day on the mall was how I managed to get a sunburn in February – a phenomenon I am not used to during Februarys in Canada. 

At JPL, cool things are happening all the time. In the main cleanroom, High Bay 1, they were assembling the Europa Clipper spacecraft when I was there. How amazing it was to look upon the brilliant people putting together a spacecraft that will one day be orbiting the moon of another planet so far out in the solar system. As cool as it is, this was one of the buildings I was only able to access if I brought an American with me. As a foreign national, there were several areas of lab that were off limits without an American escort – they take security very seriously at JPL.

 

The main cleanroom where the Europa Clipper Spacecraft was being assembled. If you look closely, you can see the workers in their bunny suits. Don’t be fooled by the worker at the front left of the picture – that’s a mannequin known as High Bay Bob, who is often moved around to appear to be carrying out various tasks. Currently, Europa Clipper has been removed from the cleanroom for testing, but a livestream of the cleanroom can typically be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKDA6smS9_k

One of the most memorable days for me was when I was able to visit the Mars Yard to watch the Perseverance Rover’s twin, OPTIMISM (Operational Perseverance Twin for Integration of Mechanisms and Instruments Sent to Mars) out into the yard completing some mobility testing. The Mars Yard is a big, sandy yard that is used to mimic the terrain of Mars. Here, OPTIMISM and MAGGIE (Mars Automated Giant Gizmo for Integrated Engineering – also known as Curiosity’s twin), are brought out for a multitude of testing purposes, including mobility and instrument testing, sample collection, or testing new autonomous algorithms. This day, I was also able to go into the garage to see MAGGIE, which was so incredible after working with the Curiosity rover for the past 3 years.

(Top: Outside in the Mars Yard with OPTIMISM as it completes mobility testing. Bottom: Inside the garage with MAGGIE)

Now, why is the blogpost titled, “The Center of the Universe”? Well, within the Space Flight Operations Facility on lab is the Mission Control Center. Here is where the data from the Deep Space Network antennas in Canberra (Australia), Goldstone (California), and Madrid (Spain) are managed. These giant dishes talk to the spacecraft that are currently exploring the solar system (and beyond for the Voyagers), and that communication is all funneled through the mission control room at JPL. This is also the room from which spacecraft, such as the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, were landed on the surface of Mars. The story goes that former-JPL director, Charles Elachi, upon thinking about how all the information from the solar system comes into this room once said, “This must be the center of the universe!" There is now a big plaque in the floor in this room declaring it as the Center of the Universe. The JPL mission control center has someone within it, monitoring data around the clock to ensure there are no issues. In fact, since Southern California is so Earthquake-prone, Space Flight Operation Facility was built to be Earthquake-proof to protect the precious control center inside.

(Top: The Mission Control Center, where you can watch the DSN dishes communicating with spacecraft all over the solar system and beyond. Bottom: There is a superstition at JPL that peanuts must be passed around to ensure that launches and landings are successful, dating back to the 1960s. The lucky peanuts were eaten for Curiosity and Perseverance’s landings, among many others)

From my first day, the other interns who I met were incredibly kind and open. The JPL researchers and staff were all supportive and encouraging. I was lucky to experience only friendly and inviting people. The interns I met came to JPL from all over the world – Singapore, Australia, Italy, and Iceland, to name only a few – and were all open to having the most fulfilling experience at JPL, and in Southern California, as possible. I felt satisfied with not only the work I was doing at JPL, but also felt enriched by the experiences and memories I was making with my fellow colleagues.

Top: A hike up Echo Mountain trail which begins just north of Pasadena. This hike was organized by the Australian interns who had heard there was snow at the top of the hike. By the time we got there, one singular patch of snow about 0.25 square meters in size remained. They still made a few snowballs out of it to throw. Bottom: The view of the sunset from Joshua Tree National. My first time in the desert! We spent two nights camping in Joshua Tree, filling the days with hiking and rock-climbing (which I observed from the ground….).

The month of May came quicker than I could’ve imagined, and soon I was flying back to Toronto to continue my PhD back at York. While it was great to be back seeing my family, friends, and pets, my experience at JPL is one I will cherish forever. I feel incredibly grateful to have spent four months at such an amazing place, working with people who have such a hunger to explore what is out there in the universe. I will take the lessons I learned there with me through the rest of my degree – and hey, maybe in 2.5-years’ time when I’ve graduated with my PhD, JPL will have not seen the last of me (wink, wink, someone hire me!!).

Completing an Internship at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)

Last fall and into the winter term, PVL PhD student Charissa Campbell completed an internship with the Canadian Space Agency. Internships with industry, other academic labs and government are a key part of life at the PVL, giving graduate students the opportunity to get to know career paths close up during their studies.
(Above: CSA headquarters in St-Hubert, QC with the Agency's new logo in the top-left corner)

By Charissa Campbell

From September 2022 until April 2023, I was completing an internship at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) on top of my grad studies. Being a part of the Technologies for ExoPlanetary Science (TEPS) NSERC CREATE gave me the opportunity to do an internship in another (or similar) area of space exploration. This could be with another researcher or with a company such as MDA who created the Canadarm that is on the International Space Station. However, one area of expertise in space missions that I was particularly interested to learn more about was how the government prepares for a mission through their space agency. Luckily, we were able to find someone at the CSA who connected me with someone who could teach me these skills.

Based on my experience with the Curiosity rover and surface missions, I was added to the team working on the Lunar rover. Even though my expertise is with Mars, it was great to learn on the differences between Mars and the Moon. One big change is that the Lunar rover will be at the south pole, while Curiosity is at Mars’ equator, so solar lighting is extremely different than what I’m used to. This lighting is not unlike what you would find on Earth if you were to travel far up north. There are even some parts of the year that do not see the Sun for several months. However, if you are at the equator then the amount of sunlight throughout the year is very consistent. When planning for a rover at the pole, knowing how the sun lights up your workspace is very important for understanding power conditions.

There are several objectives for the rover, but the main one is to find water-ice on the Moon. Water has been thought to be in Permanently Shadow Regions (PSRs) on the Moon due to the little-to-no sunlight these regions receive. Having water directly on the Moon would significantly help future crewed missions as not only do we need water to live, but the Hydrogen in water could be used as a source of energy for rockets launched from the Lunar surface. Knowing that finding water-ice is the main objective of the rover, 6 payloads will be added. Five will be Canadian and the other will be provided by NASA. Canadensys Aerospace Corporation was selected as the Canadian company to build the rover and develop the Canadian payloads. These payloads include:

    1)    Lunar Hydrogen Autonomous Neutron Spectrometer will detect Hydrogen to help indicate if water-ice is nearby.
    2)    Frozen Regolith Observation and Science Tools (FROST) imaging suite contains three specific payloads:
        i.    Lyman-Alpha Imager will identify surface water-ice by investigating lunar surface sunlight reflectance.
        ii.    Multi-Spectral Imager will identify minerals in the lunar soil
        iii.    Multi-Spectral Imager Macro is similar to (ii) but with much higher resolution
    3)    Radiation Micro-Dosimeter will measure the amount of radiation at the surface to help determine the safety for future human crewmembers on the Moon.

Even though the launch isn’t till 2026 at the earliest, it is amazing to see Canadian technology and knowledge being developed for scientific missions. It will be the first time that Canada will send something to the Moon. The announcement for the Canadian rover can be seen here: https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/moon-exploration/first-canadian-rover-to-explore-the-moon.asp

Overall, I really enjoyed the internship and learned a lot that could help my future career prospects. For the first four months of my internship, I dedicated my entire time to the CSA and moved to Montreal to attend my internship in-person. Many interns were still virtual, but I wanted to fully experience what it was like working at an agency. This includes getting my own cubicle (with my name!) and my own badge that I had to scan multiple times to reach my office. The opportunity to do this in-person was too hard to pass up, even though it was relatively hard on my family as my husband and 2-year old son stayed back in Ontario. 

However, the CSA was extremely generous and allowed me to work-from-home every second Friday so that I could take the VIA train back home for that weekend to see my husband/son. I loved taking the train back/forth between Oshawa and Montreal and learned it was a great way to get some extra work done on the 4-hour one-way trip. At one point, my husband came down to Montreal with Arthur so he could see where Mommy was working for the past few months. 

One perk of working in-person at the CSA is the extensive library. They have a variety of books and offer weekly colloquium sessions. This was my son’s favourite part as he got to read and play with their space shuttles while I completed a meeting. Even though I did love being in-person and really getting to network (including meeting astronauts!) I decided to do the last four months part-time and virtual so that I could be home with my family and work on finishing up my PhD. 

Now that my time at the CSA is complete, I feel very happy with my decision to pursue this type of internship so that I could understand the finer details about how a mission goes from its early stages to being developed. It is rather a unique experience and I would recommend that if you are interested in an internship with the CSA to check out this webpage: https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/jobs/internships-and-student-jobs.asp. I look forward to watching the news in 2026 (or later) on the Canadian Lunar rover and its success on investigating water-ice at the Moon’s southern pole.

Modelling the atmosphere of K2-141b: June update

 

A model of a planetary environment doesn't spring forth in all of its detail. Typically we start with the simplest model that captures the essential physics, but which also leaves out important details. Sometimes the description of such a model even fits on the back of an envelope! We then build in the complexity piece by piece. This is a process that PhD student Giang has been pursuing over the past couple of years as his models of K2-141b becomes ever more sophisticated. At each stage, we learn something new as we proceed from a solution accurate to a particular order of magnitude, to a 10% level solution to a 1% level solution. There is benefit in the complexity - but it's important not to outrun the data by too much. If we make a prediction or add a minor process that cannot be verified through the data, we run the risk of inventing stories about these worlds that are mere delusions.

By Giang Nguyen

In my previous post, I showed what happened when I introduce UV radiation absorption to K2-141b’s atmosphere. The results from the model went bizarre as the atmosphere kept heating up to essentially become plasma. Although numerically sound within our mathematical construct, this ultra-hot atmosphere simply isn’t realistic as that would make the atmosphere on the planet even hotter than its star.

As I suspected, there was an issue with how I dealt with radiative cooling. The original way for the atmosphere to cool would be exclusively through infrared emissions. Although most of the energy does radiate in the infrared wavelengths, the emissivity of silicon monoxide in that spectral range is very small compared to UV light. Therefore, there is some UV emission that is unaccounted for that would significantly cools the atmosphere.

The solution to this problem is to separately calculate the blackbody radiation of the atmosphere in both infrared and UV. This is done by integrating the Planck function over the desired wavelength range and multiply it with the corresponding emissivity. Here’s the thing with blackbody radiation, especially for hot temperatures of thousands of kelvins. Most of the radiance comes from a very small sliver of wavelengths, and it is pretty much negligible in comparison at every other wavelength. Therefore, when you have low spectral resolution, the estimate of the radiance becomes very inaccurate once you do your integration.

My next step was to do the Planck integration separately solely as a function of temperature with adequate spectral resolution and then to fit that integration to a polynomial. As the integration process now becomes a single line of calculations instead of a bunch of for loops, we’re back to our old speedy model. However, we are at the mercy of our fit coefficients and it seems that our temperature range is too large for a polynomial fit to be accurate; note that our temperature can range from 0 – 3000 K.

All hope seemed to be lost. I was going to have to run the slow model which I estimate will take weeks to pump out a solution, which might not even be correct solution. Thankfully, some scientists in the 1970s ran into the same problem and were able to solve it themselves. When you integrate the Planck function by parts, you end up with an infinite sum (a little bit of math identities is needed here as well). Computing this infinite sum is much faster than the classic way as this sum converges much faster. Finally, with the Planck finite integral taken care of, we can deal with radiative cooling.

As expected, UV emissions capped the temperature of the atmosphere – but it was still hot. The temperature hovers around 2900K across the dayside almost uniformly. Because UV emission only becomes significant when the atmosphere is hot, it never forces the temperature to drop further at low temperatures. When UV absorption and emission cancel each other out at a specific temperature, a very stable sort of radiative balance occurs. This turns out to be important as the atmosphere becomes too thin for IR radiation to take effect.

A warm SiO atmosphere is expected, but for it to be so horizontally consistent and warmer than the surface is a surprise. A welcoming surprise. For emission spectra, a warmer atmosphere means a brighter signal. Using SiO spectral features, we could ultimately see K2-141b’s atmosphere instead of the ground beneath it. Also, the scale height is thicker, even near the terminator (where on the planet you would see the star on the horizon). This means that during a transit, the planet’s atmosphere is optically thick enough to absorb the star’s light that travels through that atmosphere on the way to Earth. With supersonic winds, this might induce an observable Doppler shift when measuring K2-141b’s transmission spectra.

Ultimately, when considering UV absorption and emission, the atmosphere on K2-141b is easier to detect, for either low-resolution and high-resolution spectral instruments. This is very good news as K2-141b is slotted for observation time with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Along with possible future observations from ground-based telescopes, we may definitively detect and characterize K2-141b’s atmosphere - a first for terrestrial exoplanets.

This concludes my update for my current research project. Using a convenient numerical method to evaluate definite Planck integrals, we solved the problem of dealing with K2-141b’s atmospheric radiative cooling. The resultant atmosphere with the full radiative transfer is almost uniformly hot across the planet’s dayside. This suggests that K2-141b’s atmosphere is a lot easier to detect than anticipated. This is exciting as K2-141b is a high valued target for observation, and it might be the first terrestrial exoplanet where we have observed an atmosphere. Although a small step, it is still a step towards finding habitable worlds and life beyond the solar system.

So, what’s it like researching in the PVL!?

This week Ariella reflects on her time spent with the lab over the summer as a TEPS fellow. Above, she is pictured at the Lassonde Undergraduate Research Conference alongside Noah Stanton, another of our Summer Researchers. We wish her well as she enters into her final year of her undergraduate career and sets her sights on what lies beyond!

By Ariella Sapers

Over the last 4-5 months I’ve spent my time being an undergraduate researcher for the Planetary Volatiles Laboratory at York University, which was a huge change to my previous research experience.

I’m used to staring at stars in my previous research projects - but now, it was all about Mars! For starters, I did not realize the amount of incredible Mars research that is done in this lab ... and worldwide. I was very naive before I started - as my head had always been stuck in astrophysics research – so I didn’t realize the cool research that’s conducted in the Planetary Sciences! Before this, the only experience I had was a Planets and Planetary Systems course taught at York University by Dr. John Moores, which is what intrigued me in the first place.

This research experience didn’t just let me work in a cool lab ... I got to attend two conferences throughout the summer. The first was the TEPS conference. This conference was the Technologies for (Exo) Planetary Sciences which allowed all award holders to come for a three-day conference. TEPS is an NSERC CREATE Program that allows undergrads, masters, PHD and Post Docs to be trainees. I was lucky enough to have received one of these awards which officially made me a TEPS Trainee! This meant I got to attend the TEPS conference and meet a lot of Planetary Scientists. The vast amount of research being conducted on Mars, exoplanets and the moon is incredible. It also showed me what masters students and PhD students are working on - since I’m close to graduating, it was nice to see the endeavours of graduate students.  

Dr. Godin’s TEPS Internship or How I learned to stop Physicsing and Love Micro-Biology

PVL PDF Paul Godin recently returned from his TEPS internship at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was a productive trip and he made many friends along the way, including the character over his shoulder to the right in the picture above.

By Dr. Paul Godin

Many members of the PVL receive funding from the Technologies for Exo-planetary Science (TEPS) NSERC CREATE program (http://teps.science.yorku.ca/). TEPS is more than just funding for the group, it also provides opportunities for go on international research internships. This past spring, I was accepted for an internship at the Space Life Sciences Lab (SLSL) at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The SLSL was originally built as a collaboration between NASA and the University of Florida to conduct biology-based experiments relevant to the space program. However, about 10 years ago NASA sold off their portion of the building to Space Florida, a state government agency responsible for promoting the space sector in Florida; the University of Florida portion remains. My internship was under one of these University of Florida professors, Dr. Andrew C. Schuerger. 

Andy’s lab focuses on planetary protection, which is insuring that missions to other planets don’t accidentally contaminate those worlds with terrestrial microbes. As such Andy’s lab conducts experiments testing the limits of bacterial survivability in extreme environments. The centerpiece of his lab is a state-of-the-art Mars simulation chamber, capable of recreating the temperature, atmosphere, and UV light conditions on Mars.

Summer Conference Season – Round 2: TEPS!

A number of members of PVL just completed a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia to attend the annual TEPS Summer Skills Series, organized by Catherine Neish and Christa Van Laerhoven. My trainees tell me they did a wonderful job and reported a very intellectually exciting and collaborative time out west. I asked Alex (4th from right in the first row) to weigh in on his experiences at the conference.

By Alex Séguin

On May 29th, 2018, seven members of PVL participated in the NSERC CREATE Technology for Exoplanetary Science(TEPS) Summer Skills Conference at the University of British Columbia. The workshop brings together young researchers involved in planetary science, exoplanetary science, and space instrumentation to encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations and to expose students of one field to two other complementary ones. Spanning the course of three days, the event offered us six keynote speakers and gave TEPS trainees an opportunity to present their latest research and receive feedback from their peers. This summer, PVL’s presence consisted of Paul (PDF), Christina (PDF), Jake (PhD), Giang (PhD), Charissa (MSc), Brittney (MSc), and myself, Alex (UG).   

As students preparing ourselves to pursue a career in the space sector, it is always encouraging and helpful to observe established individuals already successful in the field. Such were TEPS’ keynote speakers, who not only showed us the type of work they perform, but also shared some useful tips on how to find our place in the industry. The first presenter was Dr. Jani Radebaugh (Brigham Young University) who discussed the significance of using Earth as a planetary analog and common pitfalls when doing so. She used geomorphological features found within the Solar System as examples; Sometimes, features are comparable while other times they only share a similar cosmetic appearance. 

Summer Conference Season

 

Judging by this photo I took in High Park a few weeks ago it would seem that spring has sprung here in Toronto. That can only mean that it is conference season! Paul has agreed tell you all about a few summer conferences we are supporting here at PVL.

by Dr. Paul Godin

Summer is typically considered a productive time for research on university campuses. With courses typically done, professors and students have more time to dedicate towards research. PVL has the addition of 3 undergrads working in the lab full time for the summer (plus one undergraduate volunteer). 

But it’s not just research that gets a boost during the summer months. Academic conferences to present our research are also more frequent in the summer. Attending conferences is a valuable part of academic life; it provides an opportunity to present your research and develop public speaking skills. But that’s not all: even if you’re not presenting your research conferences are a great opportunity to meet others working in your field, share ideas to help improve your research, and even discover employment opportunities.

Giang’s Adventures in the Land of Perpetual Grey

Last month, PVL MSc Student Giang left Toronto on the first International Cross-Disciplinary Internship (X-I2) of the TEPS program. In this week's installment he checks in from Oxford University, in the UK. You can find his two "postcard" images above and further down, below the cut.

by Tue Giang Nguyen

The new term has started and as I finish up my work on Mars’ northern polar cap, I head out to start something new in the UK. As a trainee of the Technology for Exo-Planetary Science (TEPS), I have been accepted to an international internship at the university of Oxford. After going through various potential projects such as looking at the ancient Martian atmosphere, it was decided that I will work on thin condensable atmospheres useful for understanding interesting exoplanets like 55 Cancri e or CoRoT-7b. I’ll be working with established Oxford Professor Raymond Pierrehumbert on the project as well as furthering my studies on the Martian polar cap.

This is the first time I’m going to Great Britain, in fact, it’s the first time I’m stepping on European soil (though British people aren’t keen on associating themselves with the rest of Europe these days). Packing for the trip wasn’t problematic as I don’t really have a lot of stuff; I don’t even have an umbrella which I’ve been told is quite necessary for survival in the UK. I was somehow smart enough to remember to buy outlet converters at the airport just before the flight as I can see how it would be quite problematic arriving in England without being able to charge my phone or laptop.

My Summer Internship

As part of the TEPS program, MSc Candidate Elisabeth Smith has spent her summer working at local space engineering firm MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, better known to us as MDA. She relates her experiences here.

By Elisabeth Smith

This past May, I started a part-time internship with engineering company MacDonald, Dettwiler & and Associates (or, MDA for short) in Brampton, Ontario – located not too far from York University. MDA was founded in 1969 by John S. MacDonald and Werner Dettwiler, and is likely best known for their development of communications and robotics systems. Perhaps their best-known product is the Canadarm, the robotic arm present on both the International Space Station and the Space Shuttles that is used to grab and move payloads from different spacecraft, especially for the assembly of the ISS.  It also has cameras on it that allows for the inspection of spacecraft.  After the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster in 2003, this became a very important step in future manned space missions. 

Being able to work for such a fantastic company with such an incredible position in the space industry was a very exciting prospect indeed. I would be helping develop a robotic arm that will be used in aircraft manufacturing – a very good fit for me, given my prior internship experience with business jet manufacturer Gulfstream Aerospace. I have always dreamed of working in the space industry, and being at MDA is a great way to achieve that goal. I am also very interested in robotics, and being able to combine my interests in space and robotics was perfect. 

My Intern Experience at MDA

Over the past few months, one of our PhD students, Jake Kloos, has been doing an internship with one of Canada's best known and largest space companies, MDA, as part of his fellowship with the TEPS program. In this post, he talks about his experiences.

By Jake Kloos

Over the past 3 months, I have been interning at a robotics company called MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, better known by their acronym MDA.This opportunity came about through my participation in the Technologies for Exo/planetary Science (TEPS) program, a program in which I have been a member since its inception in August of 2016. TEPS partners with various aerospace companies in Canada (namely ABB Bomem, COM DEV and MDA), and as such, TEPS trainees have a chance to apply for a 6 month internship at one of these companies, enabling students to get experience of a different sort from that offered in academia. As I wrap up the first half of my internship, I thought I would share a few thoughts on my experience thus far, and give some insight into the work that I've been doing helping to develop and test cameras for the International Space Station (ISS) at MDA.