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The 2024 MDSGC Student Research Symposium was held on Friday, August 2, beginning at 8 a.m. EDT. The venue was the Mt. Washington Conference Center in Baltimore, MD. For GPS navigation, aim for “Johns Hopkins At Mt. Washington, Smith Avenue, Baltimore, MD” (link) and park in the nearby visitor parking lot/garage. Here is an image from Google showing the relative locations of parking and the conference venue:

This year’s symposium showcased presentations by student interns and researchers working at sites across Maryland. The cohort of presenters represented diverse institutions, including: Capitol Technology University, Hagerstown Community College, Morgan State University, NASA, Towson University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Maryland College Park, and University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

The program follows.

2024 MDSGC Student Research Symposium

Oral Presentation Session 1, 9:00 – 10:20 a.m.

Saimah Siddiqui graduated in May 2024 with bachelor’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Mathematics from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her academic journey was notably shaped by her involvement in the Space Grant program, where she served as the Senior Launch Director for the Balloon Payload Program (BPP). This role provided her with invaluable hands-on experience and technical skills in aerospace technology.

Currently, Saimah is preparing to pursue a Master’s degree in Space Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. With a strong foundation built through her recent education and leadership experiences in the Space Grant program, she is eager to advance her expertise and contribute to the field of space exploration and technological innovation.

The objectives of NASA’s Artemis project are to “Go, Land, Live, and Explore,” representing a comprehensive approach to lunar exploration. “Go” is launching missions to the Moon, “Land” is safely landing astronauts, “Live” is establishing sustainable living conditions, and “Explore” is conducting scientific investigations to expand human presence on the Moon. To achieve “Live,” a lunar settlement must sustain itself to support ongoing exploration. Our project addresses the challenges of sustaining astronauts by examining the growth of food crops on lunar regolith simulants using space-saving technologies such as aeroponics (growing plants without soil, in which the roots are suspended in the air and misted with a nutrient-rich water solution) and farmbot (an open-source farming technology that combines robotics, automation, and software to facilitate precision farming in small-scale agricultural settings) for plant cultivation. In addition, we investigated the effects of two types of lunar regolith simulants: Lunar Highland Simulant 1 (LHS-1) and Mexico Lunar Mare 1 (MLM-1) on the growth of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and kale (Brassica oleracea), utilizing various mixtures of regolith simulants infused with horse manure under controlled conditions of light and water. Our findings revealed that higher concentrations of regolith simulants supported better plant growth that could be attributed to the growing layer of yellowish-green lichen, Rhizocarpon geographicum, a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus and an alga. This study highlights the potential of regolith-based substrates and symbiotic organisms to support crop cultivation in the lunar environment.

During the internship at University of Maryland College Park we created an Articulating Rover as a “body” or testbed for the BIG Ideas project and future projects. The BIG Ideas project is a program where students work with NASA to create innovative and groundbreaking projects. They are currently designing wheels for the Lunar and Martian rover(s), using CAD and testing wheels for traction along with an inflatable devicel, with grousers, to help the rover cover more ground. The Articulating Lunar Rover (Luna) consists of two boxes and rotating joints made of aluminum, 3D printed Models of the BIG Ideas inflatable wheel designs, and a circuit to actuate the wheels. The Arduino Uno is the main part of the circuit which is connected to a joystick (which is tethered to the Rover), and four motors for rotating the wheels. The process of building the project is very rewarding, even though there were some time constraints and limited resources, we gained a lot of experience in programming with an Arduino, and circuitry.

Precipitation’s global distribution, anomaly, and extremes are fundamental in nature. There are three sequential questions to determine the precipitation climatology: Is it precipitating? What is the phase of the precipitation? What is the amount of precipitation? The response to these three questions comes with uncertainty.  The oceans cover over 70% of Earth’s surface, therefore satellite-based precipitation products are the sole source of global precipitation mapping. NASA’s gauge-adjusted multi-satellite product, IMERG, has been operated and funded by the  Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission and is the most used precipitation product globally.  The poor coverage of ground-based precipitation measurements across the land surface is one of the key reasons for the high demand for external precipitation resources.  NOAA’s Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS) with high spatial and temporal resolution precipitation mapping using national weather radar and multiple gauge platforms, was adopted by the GPM program as a validation product for satellite-based precipitation estimates from IMERG. 

Both IMERG and MRMS have their own precipitation phase algorithms.  MRMS’s deterministic algorithm relies on High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) air and wet-bulb temperature forecast, while IMERG’s probabilistic algorithm uses European Reanalysis (ERA5) wet-bulb estimates.  This study aims to evaluate these two algorithms utilizing data from a three-winter-long field campaign in Connecticut.  The campaign included an All-In-One (AIO) weather station, laser-optical PARSIVEL disdrometer, Precipitation Imaging Package (PIP), and Micro-Rain-Radar (MRR) among other instruments.   MRMS and IMERG algorithms utilizing the AIO temperatures are used as references.  MRMS and IMERG algorithms utilizing HRRR, ERA5, and NASA’s global modeling and assimilation office (MERRA-2) reanalysis have been evaluated. The phase algorithms of particle size and fall velocity-based PARSIVEL, PIP-derived and MRR-measured Doppler fall speed, and PIP-based bulk and equivalent density provided independent resources for the evaluation of MRMS and IMERG algorithms.   The study focused on phase transition events but also included snow events.

• • • Exploration of Emergent Technologies In Sustainable Lunar Agricultural Engineering — Alena Zheng (UMCP/UMES)
    • Thermal Analysis of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — Francesca Sciarretta (UMCP/NASA)
    • NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) — Ismail Shah (Oxon Hill HS)
    • Diamagnetic Loop Diagnostics in CMFX — Justin James (HCC/UMCP)
    • Articulated/Segmented Body Lunar Rover with Pivoting Joints — Danny Puwo (UMES/UMCP)
    • Evaluation of Precipitation Amount Products in Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England — Amalie Rebstock (UMBC/NASA)
    • Radiative Cooling Properties in Cellulose Materials — Bryan Yang (UMBC/UMES)
    • New Insulators and Mechanical Supports to Prevent Arcing in CMFX — Ismail Aadan (UMCP)
    • Design of an Arc Chamber for Plasma Impedance Matching — Makai Martin (UMES/UMBC)

Group Photos, 10:20-10:30 a.m.

Poster Session, 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Oral Presentation Session 2, 11:30 – 12:55 p.m.

This summer internship project was undertaken at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) under the auspices of synergistic projects titled AIRSPACES (Autonomous Instrumented Robotic Sensory Platforms to Advance Creativity and Engage Students) and DREAM (Developing Robotic Exploration with Agrobots and Moonbots) ongoing at the university funded by Maryland Space Grant and NASA-MSTAR program respectively. Autonomous navigation and artificial intelligence integration with the recently acquired Agilex Limo 4-wheeled multi-modal mobile robot equipped with various navigational sensors including LiDAR and stereo depth camera was the primary focus of the project efforts outlined. Limo works with open-source ROS and the Gazebo simulator allowing access to significant reserves of robotic application development capabilities both in virtual and physical domains providing a rich educational and research platform. A specially designed simulation table was also utilized to simplify the process of testing model applications.

Understanding the neural mechanisms associated with cognitive functions such as problem solving and decision making is crucial to the development of a human systems integrative architecture for long-term spaceflight missions. Such neural mechanisms are characterized by unique patterns of communication between brain regions. Therefore, we require robust methods for identifying the level of interaction between the neural activity recorded from different cortical locations (as EEG time series signals). While existing approaches do exist, they may not be enough to provide adequate insight. In this research, we evaluate a new method which is based on computing the similarity between graphs formed from the time series themselves (from a notion of visibility between data points). Initial results suggest that our method is an improvement over some existing approaches, but further investigation is required.

Flight Safety Analysts require tools to accurately carry out analysis for launches out of Wallops Flight Facility. Overtime, these tools become outdated. This summer internship focused on updating the old excel tools to interactive MATLAB Apps. These apps increase efficiency and allow more detailed risk-based assessment by Safety Analysts.

Long-duration space missions can lead to numerous upper airway issues for astronauts, potentially impacting their health and mission performance. Nasal drug sprays offer a promising solution to these problems. This project aims to investigate the suitability of over-the-counter nasal drug sprays for use in space. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), we will model the droplet transportation of drug sprays under zero gravity conditions to evaluate their effectiveness and behavior in a microgravity environment. Additionally, we will investigate the contributing parameters that can assist in increasing the efficacy of these drug sprays in reaching a target location within the nasal passage. This will allow for an individualized nasal spray delivery system for each astronaut..

Consider autonomous agents in an unknown environment with very limited communication. They must leverage what limited information about the environment they can send to aid in an agent’s objectives. In our project, we explore the use of bounding hulls to reduce the necessary data needed for a sampling-based motion planning algorithm to reconstruct a path in minimal time. We consider three different map types (zig-zag, maze, forest) and the number of vertices in each constructed bounding hull. Our findings indicate that a bounding hull of as low as 4 vertices can significantly reduce the time it takes for another agent to reconstruct a path using RRT*.

USNA STEM is an organization that strives to increase the pursuit of STEM-based careers by directly teaching hands-on STEM learning modules to students and teachers alike. I spent my summer observing and helping USNA STEM, learning how hands-on activities can benefit me as a student and an engineer.

Thermal management is crucial for ensuring the dependability and safety of space exploration missions. The extreme temperature fluctuations encountered during rocket launch, reentry, and in the vacuum of space pose significant risks to the lives of astronauts and the proper functioning of onboard equipment. Without proper thermal insulation, with temperatures exceeding 1600°C during atmospheric passage and plummeting to -270°C in space, the structural integrity of spacecraft is severely compromised. This research explores the potential development of an aerogel-based, novel thermally insulated paint designed to offer superior insulation properties. By reducing material weight and volume to effectively mitigate heat transfer, this innovative coating enhances the survivability of spacecraft. Additionally, the potential applications of this technology extend beyond aerospace, presenting a promising solution to global thermal challenges across various industries.

This study, conducted at Morgan State University, aims to analyze various nose cones with different lengths, shapes, and materials to determine which variation meets certain apogee, aerodynamic, and structural conditions. These conditions were calculated, modeled, and simulated to exhibit positive behavior during liftoff. The research was supported by the Base 11 award to build a Liquid Propellant Rocket (LPR) in 2020. Before analyzing the cones, familiarity with the software used throughout the study was essential to accurately interpret the results. The software includes OnShape, OpenRocket, and Autodesk Inventor. Initially, OnShape was used to plan the 3D modeling of the cone after gathering the dimensions from simulations. OpenRocket was then used to determine the necessary length, shape, material, and average apogee value by running various simulations with different nose cone configurations. After modeling and simulating the optimal cone variation, an experiment was conducted using Inventor due to its ability to do pressure analysis. The results from this experiment suggest that analyzing various nose cones with different parameters allows for accurate anticipation of rocket deployment, stability, and the ability to reduce aerodynamic drag and control airflow. This study will demonstrate these findings.

Lunch and small group discussions, 12:55 – 2:00 p.m.

MDSGC offers our sincere congratulations to our student presenters, a huge thanks to our internship mentors, collaborators, and supporting staff, and our hope that all attendees enjoyed and learned from these presentations!

While most of our attention may understandably be consumed by events taking place here on planet Earth, it’s a good practice to pause occasionally and take in a larger perspective. A fine occasion for such activity presents itself whenever clear skies align with favorable Moon phases.

Each year, International Observe the Moon Night, marked in 2020 on Saturday, September 26th, encourages Earthlings to point our gazes skyward and appreciate our closest celestial neighbor. (NASA organizes a list of events that might allow for an in person experience, as well as ways to participate from home.)

The first quarter lunar phase each month is widely considered to be best for viewing because of its evening visibility and the oblique angle of sunlight that throws its surface details into sharp relief. When looking at the Moon from Earth, we definitely recommend grabbing a pair of binoculars, if available, as any amount of magnification greatly enhances the visibility of surface features such as craters.

And while you’re thinking about gazing skyward, don’t forget to think about other ways to get your astronomy fix, and be sure to check out Sky & Telescope’s Sky at a Glance for more detail about what’s on the celestial menu these days.

While the MDSGC Observatory remains closed for the time being, with a little inspiration and effort we can still admire the night sky above us — and certainly now, as much as ever, we can all benefit from a cosmic perspective!

Here is a recent article by University of Arizona astronomer professor Chris Impey on ways to enjoy astronomy during the pandemic. It’s a must read for would be backyard astronomers. Of special note is the “Sky at a Glance” from Sky & Telescope, a highly useful guide to tracking the Moon, planets, and other noteworthy celestial events.

Another recommended activity that may be appealing is to construct a planisphere: a device that shows the locations of the stars in the sky each night. You can buy one, of course, or use free astronomy software such as Stellarium, but if you happen to live at a latitude not too different from Baltimore, MD (39.29 degrees North) and have access to a printer, you can also make your own using these files: planisphere instructions and planisphere cutouts. The second file has two pages, which need to be printed on separate sheets of paper. You’ll also need a paperclip.

Until we can once again welcome you to visit our Observatory, happy star-gazing!

Watching live coverage of the successful NASA Mars Insight landing yesterday reminded us of some other excellent space videos we’ve seen lately.

Here’s one to mark NASA’s 60th anniversary. Like science fiction, but real:

Also celebrating an anniversary recently, in this case its 20th, was the International Space Station (ISS). A long sequence of Earth from orbit, with some landmarks identified:

As long as we’re on the topic, here’s one more from ISS. An inbound rocket launch:

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did. If you’re curious about the image at the top, click on it to learn more!

Tuesday, October 16, 2018, is the one hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary of the discovery of quaternions, one of the most difficult discoveries ever in the history of mathematical physics.  The discovery was made — in a sudden moment of inspiration following 11 years of studious toil — by Sir William Rowan Hamilton as he was crossing Brougham Bridge, in Ireland, with his wife.  On the spot, or so it is said, he carved his famous equations on the bridge.

Some years later, Hamilton recalled:

They started into life, or light, full grown, on the 16^th of October, 1843, as I was walking with Lady Hamilton to Dublin, and came up to Brougham Bridge.  That is to say, I then and there felt the galvanic circuit of thought closed, and the sparks which fell from it were the fundamental equations between I, J, K; exactly such as I have used them ever since.  I pulled out, on the spot, a notebook, which still exists, and made an entry….

Although Hamilton’s original inscription does not survive, the plaque shown above hangs on the bridge to this day in commemoration both of Hamilton’s discovery and of his sudden inspiration. The plaque reads:

Here as he walked by
on the 16th of October 1843
Sir William Rowan Hamilton
in a flash of genius discovered
the fundamental formula
for quaternion multiplication
i² = j² = k² = i j k = -1
& cut it on a stone of this bridge

Here’s to Hamilton, to quaternions, to bridges, and to inspiration!