Planets and Moons ID: 12620

Winter School Class of 2017

Released on June 5, 2017

Each year in early March, a new class of postdocs at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center gathers for the Planetary Science Winter School. This intensive training program takes the young scientists and plunges them into the Instrument Design Lab, to see first-hand what it takes to pitch an instrument that could one day fly in space.

The goal of the Winter School is to design and submit a real proposal for an instrument that will gather scientific data at another planet. As the students learn, however, it's not enough just to ask questions of scientific interest – their proposal must also meet strict engineering constraints on the instrument's mass, power, volume, and even budget. Veteran engineers from the Instrument Design Lab mentor the students throughout the weeklong course, helping to school them in the real-world challenges of planetary science.

Credits

Dan Gallagher (USRA):
Producer
Editor

Rob Andreoli (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.):
Videographer

John Caldwell (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.):
Videographer

Walt Feimer (KBR Wyle Services, LLC):
Animator

Brook Lakew (NASA):
Scientist

Jacob Richardson (USRA):
Scientist

Giada Arney (NASA):
Scientist

Prabal Saxena (USRA):
Scientist

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center