Systems Teaching Institute

Past Program Highlights

Small Spacecraft Summer Study Project (S4P) 2008

Under the supervision of Dr. Erik Asphaug, eleven students were selected to participate in a 10-week program to develop and test ideas for small spacecraft exploration of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) ideas. The program resulted in two asteroid mission draft proposals, one to NASA Discovery (The Didymos Explorer binary rendezvous) and one to NASA's Stand-Alone Missions of Opportunity Notice (SALMON), a microlander called PANIC.

[From the back row left to right] Eugene Fahnestock, E. Peter Olds, Amanda Cook, Karsten Schindler, Tomohiro Yamaguchi, Naomi Murdoch, Cristina Thomas, Vishnu Reddy, Julie Bellerose, Christina Mester, Ben Rozitis (Click to view larger image.)

[Left] First Day: Interns explore the NASA Ames Visitor Center. [Right] S4P Interns visited SSL Berkeley and learned how to build electronic devices.

[Left] Amanda and Naomi: with all the All Terrain Hex Legged Terrestrial Explorer. [Right] Hugo and Naomi take a walk on the moon. [Bottom] Karsten and Naomi explore the worst case scenario