Bachelor of Science graduate Jack Naish, Master of Engineering student Celine Jane, and Physics PhD student Daniel Wrench, will travel to NASA’s Jet Propulsion laboratory (JPL) in California later this month.
Jack and Celine have been awarded the publicly-funded New Zealand Space Scholarship and Daniel received the privately-funded Alexander J. Willoughby Fellowship. All three scholarships are administered by the New Zealand Space Agency, part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), and cover return airfares to the United States and visa costs, plus a stipend for accommodation and living expenses.
The students were awarded their scholarships at an event at the Beehive on Wednesday 15 March by Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash, attended by the head of NASA, Administrator Bill Nelson, and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy—the first time a NASA Administrator has visited New Zealand.
Minister Nash said at the event that space science is an area where Aotearoa has much to gain through collaborations with NASA like this programme.
“Importantly, to take advantage of the research opportunities with NASA and other space agencies, we need skilled people.
“These internships enable our young people to work on leading projects with some of the best people in the world.”
Speaking at the event on behalf of the interns, Jack said they were all very excited.
“It’s also important to recognise that we go standing on the shoulders of the interns who have gone before us. And not only them, but the incredible men and women who make JPL what it is today.”
While on their internships, students will work on space-related projects guided by NASA JPL mentors, gaining hands-on experience in their fields of study and access to NASA’s best and most advanced research facilities.
Celine graduated from Te Herenga Waka in 2020 with a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours in Electronic and Computer Systems Engineering, and is currently working towards her Master of Engineering.
During her internship, Celine will be working on creating the capability to use a tiny piece of code (a ‘micropatch’) to fix a single software vulnerability, without requiring a system reboot, on mission-critical spacecraft.
Jack also graduated in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Artificial Intelligence, and while on the internship will work on the Exo-biology extant life surveyor (EELS) mission concept. EELS is a robotic snake platform designed to explore englacial conduits on Earth and subsurface features on ocean worlds such as Saturn’s moon, Enceladus. Jack’s project aims to develop intelligent control algorithms to help EELS explore extreme terrain.
Daniel is currently completing his PhD in Physics at Te Herenga Waka, after completing his Bachelor of Science, Statistics and Geology in 2019 and his Master of Applied Statistics in 2021.
He will work with a Jet Propulsion Laboratory data scientist to apply neural networks, a popular machine learning algorithm used in AI, to speed up an engineering calculation called topology optimisation. This calculation involves finding the best layout of materials, given certain constraints to the design.
NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy says the internship is a totally unique opportunity.
“You will contribute to the science and the knowledge that we have of our solar system and you will be bringing back this knowledge to your country to help grow your capabilities in this area.
“And, although you may not know it yet, you will be an inspiration and a role model to the students who follow you.”