From the outset, the NASA Academy was determined to provide an unprecedented experience for it members. Since the Academy was in its pioneering year, no one knew what to expect or how to go about reaping the most benefits. However, it became clear that being in the unique position of having access to resources at Goddard as well as the time and talent of very bright individuals with a wide range of interests, there was an opportunity to give something back to Goddard, the Space Grant and the communities the students represent. Since the shared experience is at the heart of the Academy program, a group project was a means by which the participants could work with each other toward a common goal.
The natural tendency was to choose a project which allowed the individual to take a piece of Goddard back to the states and brought the hometowns into contact with their country's space program. Since the Academy focused on educating the individuals with the role of NASA in the government, and the role of Goddard within NASA, it was incumbent upon us to share this knowledge with those who were not able to participate. With this goal in mind, a slide show presentation was developed which pulled together the living history, science and future goals of the space program. This presentation was carefully researched and written to provide a base level of knowledge and commonality among the students. We saw ourselves as ambassadors for NASA, and hence wanted to present as complete and accurate a picture as possible. We wanted to prepare ourselves for any question that might arise, and build the confidence the audience members have in AmericaÕs space program.
After working on the project for a few weeks, the group realized what a rewarding experience this had become. Inspired by recent events in the space community, a portion of the Academy was determined to take on atechnical challenge in addition to the slide presentation. It had been discovered only a few months earlier that the comet Shoemaker-Levy-9 was going impact Jupiter the following year. This is an event of magnitude which occurs only once in about 10,000 years. Unfortunately, the impact was going to occur in a region that was not directly observable from Earth. The group realized that this was not an opportunity to be missed. Therefore, they took it upon themselves to determine what level of effort would be required to send a space craft to Jupiter to observe this phenomenon. Obviously, the aerospace community does not move on timescales which could develop a spacecraft and fly it to a planet which on the best of trajectories takes on the order of two years. But, we searched for existing vehicles planned for other missions, which could be matched with the best upperstages to perform this mission. It became apparent that the mission would require a prohibitively high delta V, which could not be accomplished with any of the boosters of the day. But, if it were not for this project, the space program would not have known whether or not this was a viable opportunity, and a unique observation may have slipped away.
The idea of group project has become an integral part of the Academy program which promotes interaction between the students on a technical level. It is a means by which the students can give back to the sponsoring center and space grants, and leave a mark on future program participants as well as the aerospace community at large.