Let's Go to Space: BLUE-SKY Learning

Today we meet with two very inspirational space enthusiasts. Dr. Sonny White has accumulated 25+ years of experience working in the aerospace industry with Boeing, Lockheed Martin, NASA, and now with the Limit less Space Institute. He currently serves as Director of Advanced Research and Development at LSI.  Among his numerous awards are the NASA Medal for Excellence in  Achievement for his role in building and delivering the Thermal Protection System robotic inspection tools, to support the STS-114 mission.  Additionally He was awarded the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal for his role in exploring and incorporating advanced power and propulsion concepts into human spaceflight architectures. Dr. White holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Rice University, a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Wichita State University, and a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from University of South Alabama.

He is joined today by Kaci Heins,  a professional science educator with over 18 years of experience and who is now an Education Specialist with the Limitless Space Institute.  Prior to joining LSI, Kaci spent 13 years in the classroom, and five years as the Education Director at Space Center Houston.  She has flown twice with student experiments on the “Zero G” plane, sent student experiments to the International Space Station, and launched over ten high-altitude balloon launches with successful recoveries. Kaci received the 2020 Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award, the AIAA Educator Achievement Award, and the Air Force Association National Teacher of the Year Award.

Stay tuned to learn more about how you, too, as a n educator can be part of the limitless space initiative and stay tuned after for the takeaway

https://www.limitlessspace.org/

Today we interview sophomore student, Maxwell L. Friedman, the Lead Engineer of the A3Sat. A3 stands for Acquire, analyze and apply and is a CubeSat emulator meant to teach students how to build and develop space technologies.  Max has worked on the A3Sat project since his Junior year of high school  After graduating first in his class, Max decided to attend the Worcester Polytechnic Institute where is is studying Robotic Engineering. Max continues to work on the A3Sat as well as other collaborative CubeSat based projects like our own AMARIS Rover and the WPI Satellite Development Club. He is one fascinating engineer and we hope you will stay tuned after for takeaways.

Check out the podcast interview with John Moore here.

Today we meet with Kaye Ebelt-- an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, pilot, and nationally known educator.  She has multiple Bachelor and Masters degrees from the University of Montana, Montana State University, and Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts and she currently teaches Elementary Science, Aeronautics, and Engineering at the Greene School in West Palm Beach, Fl.  Kaye is also a Space Foundation Teacher Liaison, and the recipient of Montana's Gifted and Talented Teacher of the Year, and she was a finalist for the Presidential Award for Math and Science Teaching.  An avid licensed airplane and glider pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Ebelt is the current STEM Curriculum Director of the Civil Air Patrol. Kaye graciously invests in the future generation of pilots serving as director of youth programs for the Treasure Coast 99s and the Treasure Coast Soaring Club.  And, as always, stay tuned after for the takeaway!

Amanda Grodman is an 11th-grade student at Florida Atlantic University High School in Jupiter, FL, where she is participating in a dual-enrollment program and striving for a degree in Biology. During her time working with the AIA, Amanda has written several of the "Let's Go to Space" blogs reflecting the weekly podcasts, and has also co-authored/illustrated the "Let's Go to Space" children's book that was published in 2021. In addition, she is coordinating the Inaugural SmallSat Education Conference's art contests for students and educators. In her free time, Amanda enjoys volunteering, weightlifting, and creating many forms of art and both Kevin and I have had the pleasure of being her middle school teachers, so we know first hand how dedicated to excellence she is with everything she does. Stay tuned after for our takeaways.

Our listeners know that aerospace is not just about being an astronaut or engineer—both of which are fine career options. In fact, almost any field here on Earth will be needed as we becoming space faring nations. Including, yes, you guessed it, lawyers..

Today, we meet with Michelle Hanlon—who IS a  space lawyer.  Ms. Hanlon  is Co-Director of the Air & Space Law Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of both the Journal of Space Law and the Journal of Drone Law and Policy.  Michelle co-founded For All Moonkind a nonprofit that is the only organization in the world focused on protecting human history in outer space.   For All Moonkind is a Permanent Observer to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.  As if all that wasn’t enough to make her an expert in today’s conversation, Michelle is also President of the National Space Society and founding partner of ABH Space Law.

For all our “talkies” out there who love policy work, this is an episode you won’t want to miss and we hope you will stay tuned after for our takeaways.

Today we meet with 19 year old Leeloo Schindelhauer. As a German student, Leeloo attended a STEM based high school where she participated in many extracurriculars including math club. She currently pursues aerospace engineering studies at Technical University of Munich But her love of space became evident about four years ago as she participated in a student internships at DLR, the German Space Agency and even attended Space Camp. LeeLoo has participated in the European Space Design Competition  and International Space Design Competition where she also serves as a volunteer. Recently, she also attended  Space Rush conference at KSC where we were privileged to meet her.

Today, we meet with Michael Starch--  a flight software engineer working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  In the decade that Michael has worked at JPL, he has contributed to a number of JPL missions including several deep space CubeSats and the Mars Helicopter “Ingenuity”.  Now Michael is the Cognizant Engineer and Community Manager for the OpenSource flight software framework F´.  We are excited to chat with him today about his contributions to space and we hope you will stay tuned after for our takeaways.

Today in this special episode I talk with Kevin about the first annual SmallSat Conference coming to the Kennedy Space Center Oct 29-30. We discuss why there was a need for such a conference on the East coast as well as talk about what attendees can expect. Remember students and teachers may attend for free! Head to SmallSat Education. Org to register before it’s too late. And of course you can check the show notes for that link

https://www.smallsateducation.org/

Today we meet with Zachary Clarke—a masters student at Utah State University who works as a Systems Engineer for the F-16 Fighting Falcon. As such,Zach is pursuing his degree in systems engineering with an emphasis in the space environment. Zach has worked as the head system engineer for the student developed satellite mission: ACMES, where he managed twenty undergraduates in their efforts to design a one year mission observing the atmosphere with cryocooled instruments. Zach is a strong team member who loves contributing to the community through mentoring opportunities.  When Zach isn't engineering or presenting, he hangs out at home in Logan, UT with his wife Hailee, and their two year old son, August.

Today we meet with two more extraordinary middle school students who are doing real world aerospace. Argyrios Deanie Vaitsos is entering 8th grade while Dylan Kiesling is entering the seventh. Both boys are finishing up at the same private school in Palm Beach Gardens and are looking at promising high schools in the future. Deanie shares about his team’s work on building a paraglider with the intention of retrieving HAB payloads while Dylan Kiesling discusses his work both with xenobots—live robots made from frog cells as well as how digitial engineering makes space application more approachable for students. These students contine to build impressive resumes based around their particular passions, and we can help your students do the same. To find out more, please visit our website at aerospacehigh.org or our social media links: FB: @Go2space. Youtube: Aerospace and Innovation Academy.