WEBVTT FILE 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.