Assateague Voices

This month, Assateague Voices celebrates “NASA November,” with a three-part series on the RockOn and RockSat-C and -X education programs at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. For the third and final episode we highlight Cubes in Space, a RockOn and RockSat partner, and the only global STEM program that gives middle and high school students the opportunity to fly experiments aboard NASA sounding rockets and balloons. I spoke with Amber Agee-DeHart, founder and director of Cubes in Space, on the eve of this year’s RockOn launch. She shared with us the extent of Cubes’s global outreach, the depth and variety of student experimentation, potentially life-saving student research, the importance of grit, and the value of working with the Wallops education team.

 

Here’s our episode.

 

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE:

 

Cubes in Space: cubesinspace.com

NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/

Wallops STEM Engagement: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/stem/

RockSat and RockOn programs: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-rocksat-program/

This month, Assateague Voices celebrates NASA November, with a three-part series on the RockOn and RockSat-C and -X education programs at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. These programs draw higher education students from around the country to Wallops every summer, to fly experiments of their own design aboard Wallops sounding rockets. In this episode, we talk with Jonathan Herberger, a double-major senior at Northern Nazarene University in Idaho. Together with his student team and faculty advisors, Jonathan is conducting Project Daedelus, which may one day make space safer and life better here on earth. We spoke shortly before the RockSat-X launch with his experiment on board. We discussed performing complex tasks in microgravity, clearing space debris, reusable rocketry, and advancing civilization without destroying it. We also spoke a second time about the challenges that come with rocket science, lessons learned, and the role of the Wallops program in helping young scientists advance.

Here's our episode.

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE:

Jonathan Herberger:  https://jonathanherberger.com 

Project Daedelus: https://jonathanherberger.com/projects 

Space Debris

Stuff in Space real-time space debris tracker: https://sky.rogue.space

Kessler Syndrome: https://www.space.com/kessler-syndrome-space-debris

Clean Space Initiative, ESA: https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Clean_Space

NASA Orbital Space Debris Program: https://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/photo-gallery/

Washington Post, "Space Junk is Out of Control": 49gzRF5

Reusable Rocketry

The Rise of Reusable Rocketry: https://www.kdcresource.com/insights/the-rise-of-reusable-rockets-transforming-the-economics-of-space-travel/

Stoke Space: https://www.stokespace.com

Rocket Lab Reusable Rockets: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/launch/reusable-rockets/

Blue Origin New Shepard: https://www.blueorigin.com/new-shepard

Space-X Falcon 9: https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/falcon-9/

One of the most important missions undertaken by NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility is STEM engagement—delivering programs and resources that support education in science, technology, engineering, and math. And key to that mission are the RockSat and RockOn programs. These programs draw higher ed students from around the country to Wallops every summer to fly experiments of their own design into space on NASA Wallops Flight Facility sounding rockets. This month on Assateague Voices we celebrate “NASA November” with episodes focused on RockOn and RockSat-C and -X. We’ll talk with an Idaho university senior whose team is conducting an amazing multi-year experiment aboard RockSat-X, and a Virginia-based collaborative partner whose program lets students nationwide design, research, and test experiments on RockSat-C. And we start right at Wallops, with Dr. Joyce Winterton, Sr. Advisor for Education and Leadership Development.

 

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE:

NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/

Wallops STEM Engagement: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/stem/

RockSat and RockOn programs: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-rocksat-program/

RockOn 2024 Application: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/stem/rock-on/ 

RockOn MSI Faculty Workshop: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-rocksat-program/ 

RockOn/RockSat-C launch video (courtesy NASA): https://www.youtube.com/live/f2kmaYtW_7s?si=f7E7Z_6WGOXWhxSN

RockSat-X launch video (courtesy NASA): https://www.youtube.com/live/VJGH7GrnEuk?si=C5gyJ0VllbKbPcAo 

If you’ve visited the Maryland side of Assateague Island over the last few years you’ve encountered the Pony Patrol. It’s the small, all-volunteer year-round force dedicated to keeping the island’s two dominant invasive species—wild horses and humans—safe from each other. This summer I spoke with two Pony Patrollers—Marcus Urioste, a retired nuclear submarine commander, and Rick Bocian, a retired Baltimore firefighter. We were joined by Liz Davis, then the national seashore’s Chief of Interpretation and head of the Pony Patrol. Our conversation ranged from best ways to get wild horses to move along to the challenges of managing pandemic-driven crowds, and from the dangers that humans and wild horses pose to each other to the continuing equine soap opera that is the island’s Maryland herd. 

 

By the way, you can hear more from Liz reflecting on her Assateague years in Episode 20, “Assateague Farewell.” You can also hear my interview with Kelly Taylor, who gets a big Pony Patrol shout-out here, in Episode 10, “Welcome Visitors.”

 

AINS Volunteer Page: https://www.nps.gov/asis/getinvolved/volunteer.htm

 

Washington Post: "Why can't tourists stop messing with wild animals?", June 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/06/16/yellowstone-bison-selfie-gored/

 

Wall Street Journal: "Volunteer 'Pony Patrol' Wrangles Humans and Protects Wild Horses," photo/video essay, June 4, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/story/volunteer-pony-patrol-wrangles-humans-and-protects-wild-horses-a3255515

 

Wall Street Journal: "No Pay, Big Bugs and Obnoxious Tourists. But Many Love the Job," May 29, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/national-park-service-summer-job-wild-horses-tourists-73bb065a (Note: This may be behind a paywall)

In this episode, I speak with Carly Toulan of the Maryland Coastal Bays Program. Every spring, working with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, she and her team of volunteers conduct a survey of spawning horseshoe crabs in Maryland's coastal bays. These surveys provide invaluable insights into not only horseshoe crabs but the environment around them. (They also rescue stranded spawning horseshoe crabs.)

I met up with Carly at the Oceanic Motel in Ocean City, along the inlet and in the shadow of Trimper Rides. It was a surprisingly windy day, and even with a fitted windscreen my microphones still picked up the wind noise you hear in the background. We had an amazing conversation that covered seemingly everything about horseshoe crabs: habitat, spawning, anatomy, mortality, importance of coastal bay islands, and LAL and the role they play in keeping us all safe. It's a rich and enriching journey into the life of Carly's (and mine) favorite living fossil.

Resources, or Down the Rabbit Hole:

Horseshoe Crab survey final reports https://mdcoastalbays.org/the-programs/outreach/horseshoe-crab-surveys/

Video of baby horseshoe crabs (yes, they are adorable) https://fb.watch/mjsMoGOQqW/ 

Oceanic Motel https://oceanicoc.com/?/oceanic 

Horseshoe Crab brochure—a great primer https://mdcoastalbays.org/app/uploads/2023/06/Horseshoe-Crab-Brochure.pdf 

Today, August 31, 2023, marks Liz Davis's last day as Chief of Interpretation and Education for Assateague Island National Seashore. Liz is retiring from the National Park Service after a 32-year career, all of it spent on Assateague. 

Liz sat down with me recently and took a look back at a career that spans half the park's existence. We covered a lot of topics, from migrating birds to the pandemic, in a sometimes-emotional conversation that I'm sure barely scratched the surface of a lifetime of Assateague experiences.

 

The little islands that dot the coastal bays around Assateague Island are among the world’s top spots for colonies of island-nesting birds. These include Black Skimmers — the birds that give Skimmer Island its name — as well various species of terns, from the Common to the Royal. Both Assateague Island and the adjoining Maryland coastal bays region are recognized by BirdLife International as globally Important Bird Areas. They’re two of more than seven hundred global IBAs in the United States.

But erosion—from rapid sea level rise and increasingly stronger storms caused by climate change—are washing the islands away, and man-made structures like the Ocean City jetty prevent natural processes from building them back up. And as the islands go, so go the birds. Audubon Maryland-DC notes that since 1985, Black Skimmers have declined by more than 95 percent in Maryland. And over the past 16 years Common Tern populations have been reduced by 90 percent and Royal Terns by 78 percent.

The Maryland Coastal Bays Program works year-round to restore the region's coastal bays and islands. As their Science and Restoration Director, Dr. Roman Jesien leads their efforts to restore both the islands themselves and their dwindling bird populations.

In this episode, I join Roman on a drone survey of one such island in Sinepuxent Bay. The island, Mark 12, has seen its nesting area—and nesting colonies—shrink dramatically over the last few years. Aerial surveys like the one Roman was conducting are vital to tracking the island’s erosion and assessing the restoration’s progress. As we traveled we learned the history of island formation in the coastal bays, all about oyster castles, how to land a drone on a bobbing boat deck, and much more. 

Episode resources:

Audobon Maryland-DC, "Saving Maryland's Iconic Beach Birds," https://md.audubon.org/news/saving-marylands-iconic-beach-birds   Audobon IBA map Assateague Island IBA Site 361 https://gis.audubon.org/portal/apps/dashboards/1742bc47f980490da9c23e23dc4d5e86#site=361   Audobon IBA map Maryland Coastal Bays IBA Site 363 https://gis.audubon.org/portal/apps/dashboards/1742bc47f980490da9c23e23dc4d5e86#site=363   "Climate Change and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge," http://www.landscope.org/article/VA/climate_chincoteague_nwr/1/   Chesapeake Bay Magazine, "Saving Island Birds." Nov. 17, 2022, https://chesapeakebaymagazine.com/saving-island-birds/ [Editor’s note: Saving Island Birds won first place in Boating Writers International’s annual writing contest in the Environmental Awareness category.]

Billy Weiland of Assateague Coastal Trust is a long-time friend of the podcast, and I’m happy to welcome him back for this third visit. We spoke in ACT’s spacious new offices, into which they had just moved. Even with unpacked boxes lining the walls it’s a very impressive space, and we can look forward to some awesome public events there in the future.

In this episode, Billy updates us on a few new projects that ACT is undertaking, most importantly a three-year program to extensively monitor the Pocomoke River’s health. The results will help guide policy and practice to improve and maintain the river’s water quality. And they’d love you to lend a hand.

Meghan Rhode, Assateague State Park's assistant manager, hadn't given much thought to pollinator habitats until she was put in charge of one. Since then, she and the habitat have blossomed. In this episode Meghan gives us a fascinating guided tour of the park's pollinator habitat, discusses COVID's impact on park operations, introduces us to a determined osprey, and much, much more.

This is the third and final episode in our three-part series on Assateague State Park's shoreline resiliency and wetland enhancement project. You can hear Underwood & Associates's Chris Becraft in part one, our Episode 14, and Maryland Coastal Bays Program's Kevin Smith in part two, our Episode 15. 

In this episode we meet Sandi Smith, marketing and outreach coordinator for The Maryland Coastal Bays Program. MCBP  celebrates 25 years of education, restoration, and collaboration this year, and Sandi Smith has been a key part of it for 14 of those years. She jokes that she came here on a surfing scholarship, but she has found much more here than the perfect wave. As she tells it, she found connection and community — two things often cited by people who have found a home here. She’s also made tremendous contributions to Maryland Coastal Bay’s mission.

In this episode, Sandi discusses program outreach, the first Water Keeper, turning COVID-19 into an opportunity for growth, engagement with the local business community, and much more.