1 00:00:01,001 --> 00:00:13,714 [music] 2 00:00:13,714 --> 00:00:17,150 Fenway Park may be the home of Boston's most beloved team, but 3 00:00:17,150 --> 00:00:19,987 another is about to steal some headlines. 4 00:00:19,987 --> 00:00:23,090 This group consists of students from MIT and Harvard who are 5 00:00:23,090 --> 00:00:25,959 getting the chance to build an instrument that will help NASA's 6 00:00:25,959 --> 00:00:29,696 OSIRIS-REx spacecraft explore the asteroid Bennu. 7 00:00:29,696 --> 00:00:33,400 This group of student scientists are building REXIS - the 8 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:35,502 Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer. 9 00:00:35,502 --> 00:00:38,505 Its purpose is to collect and image X-rays coming from the 10 00:00:38,505 --> 00:00:41,675 asteroid, to determine its elemental makeup and 11 00:00:41,675 --> 00:00:45,178 distribution of elements across the surface. 12 00:00:45,178 --> 00:00:47,748 Each student has a unique task on the project. 13 00:00:47,748 --> 00:00:52,552 "I get to practice being a thermal engineer and honing my 14 00:00:52,552 --> 00:00:56,590 thermal engineering skills." "My role is to work with the solar 15 00:00:56,590 --> 00:01:00,093 x-ray monitor as well as some of the avionics side." "On a daily 16 00:01:00,093 --> 00:01:05,399 basis I write test plans and assembly procedures." "I work on 17 00:01:05,399 --> 00:01:07,334 the REXIS avionics system. 18 00:01:07,334 --> 00:01:11,405 And what that is, is the electronics that take the x-ray 19 00:01:11,405 --> 00:01:15,742 signals from the asteroid, and make sure they get back to the 20 00:01:15,742 --> 00:01:18,712 ground for the scientists to process." "As systems engineer, 21 00:01:18,712 --> 00:01:21,148 I'm responsible for making sure that all the different technical 22 00:01:21,148 --> 00:01:23,951 disciplines come together - thermal, structures, avionics, 23 00:01:23,951 --> 00:01:27,554 software - they all come together to make one working 24 00:01:27,554 --> 00:01:30,123 instrument that meets our science requirements." 25 00:01:30,123 --> 00:01:33,727 And making sure everything stays in check is Becky Masterson - 26 00:01:33,727 --> 00:01:37,464 the REXIS instrument manager and the group's faculty supervisor. 27 00:01:37,464 --> 00:01:40,334 "REXIS is an interesting instrument on OSIRIS-REx in that 28 00:01:40,334 --> 00:01:42,469 we're a student collaboration experiment. 29 00:01:42,469 --> 00:01:46,106 The goal here is to educate students, and the REXIS project 30 00:01:46,106 --> 00:01:48,542 has been a fantastic way, you know, to do that. 31 00:01:48,542 --> 00:01:51,378 Both undergrads and graduates go through this project and get a 32 00:01:51,378 --> 00:01:56,550 real, a real-live view into what it is to build space hardware." 33 00:01:56,550 --> 00:01:59,853 And building REXIS is an intense process with strict 34 00:01:59,853 --> 00:02:02,189 contamination controls and elaborate software and hardware 35 00:02:02,189 --> 00:02:03,190 testing. 36 00:02:03,190 --> 00:02:06,793 And there's one thing every college student can relate to: 37 00:02:06,793 --> 00:02:07,794 note-taking. 38 00:02:07,794 --> 00:02:10,964 "On REXIS the reason that we have such careful procedures and 39 00:02:10,964 --> 00:02:14,134 note-taking is that in the future if during an 40 00:02:14,134 --> 00:02:18,405 environmental test or other integration activity we notice 41 00:02:18,405 --> 00:02:22,609 an anomaly, we can try to trace it back to a root cause. 42 00:02:22,609 --> 00:02:26,480 And if you have detailed notes it's easier to go back and 43 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,851 figure out what may have happened during assembly." 44 00:02:30,851 --> 00:02:33,253 So what's the biggest challenge in building REXIS? 45 00:02:33,253 --> 00:02:35,656 The answer may surprise you. 46 00:02:35,656 --> 00:02:38,392 "Having students involved in REXIS has been a wonderful 47 00:02:38,392 --> 00:02:41,028 experience; it's been an adventure. 48 00:02:41,028 --> 00:02:43,630 One of the difficulties of it is that students are always coming 49 00:02:43,630 --> 00:02:44,631 and going. 50 00:02:44,631 --> 00:02:48,368 So you get a student in, they're here for a two years Masters and 51 00:02:48,368 --> 00:02:50,437 they learn a lot, and they are doing great, and then they're 52 00:02:50,437 --> 00:02:54,641 gone." So working on REXIS is a bit like riding the "T" in 53 00:02:54,641 --> 00:02:57,811 Boston - some students going outbound some coming inbound. 54 00:02:57,811 --> 00:03:01,515 But all are getting the same collective learning experience. 55 00:03:01,515 --> 00:03:03,950 "So the biggest thing I've learned while working on REXIS 56 00:03:03,950 --> 00:03:07,054 is really that instruments like this and spacecraft like 57 00:03:07,054 --> 00:03:09,056 OSIRIS-REx are very, very complex. 58 00:03:09,056 --> 00:03:11,792 It has a lot of dependencies, a lot of requirements, a lot of 59 00:03:11,792 --> 00:03:14,594 relationships and a lot of design decisions that all impact 60 00:03:14,594 --> 00:03:15,695 one another." 61 00:03:15,695 --> 00:03:18,532 "REXIS provides a hands-on experience for students 62 00:03:18,532 --> 00:03:23,003 to build flight hardware for a NASA mission, and that's 63 00:03:23,003 --> 00:03:26,940 incredibly rare that as a student you can build something 64 00:03:26,940 --> 00:03:30,110 that's going to fly in interplanetary space. 65 00:03:30,110 --> 00:03:33,880 So this is like a lead in to a future career in NASA, 66 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,283 a future career in rocket science." 67 00:03:36,283 --> 00:03:37,751 "That's exciting for me, I get a 68 00:03:37,751 --> 00:03:40,887 kick out of thinking that, you know, these pieces that I am 69 00:03:40,887 --> 00:03:43,356 touching and this assembly that I am building is actually what 70 00:03:43,356 --> 00:03:44,224 is going to fly in space. 71 00:03:44,224 --> 00:03:47,661 So I think that's pretty cool." And between Fenway and Boston's 72 00:03:47,661 --> 00:03:50,564 other attractions, students must feel completely spoiled with 73 00:03:50,564 --> 00:03:53,667 their social life, right? 74 00:03:53,667 --> 00:03:57,204 "Yeah, well, I don't go out much (laughs). 75 00:03:57,204 --> 00:03:59,539 I don't know (laughing). 76 00:03:59,539 --> 00:04:00,874 What is there much to say? (Laughing) 77 00:04:00,874 --> 00:04:03,977 Usually I have to work on REXIS." 78 00:04:03,977 --> 00:04:05,045 So, while it's true 79 00:04:05,045 --> 00:04:07,881 these students may strike out trying to find that perfect 80 00:04:07,881 --> 00:04:11,518 balance between schoolwork, a social life, and working on 81 00:04:11,518 --> 00:04:14,488 REXIS, as scientists they are hitting a home run for the 82 00:04:14,488 --> 00:04:16,490 OSIRIS-REx team.