Written by Daniel Power
Last spring, I spent endless hours sorting through hundreds of internship opportunities across a wide range of engineering companies. After 35 successful applications (meaning 35 essays and resume revisions), I was selected for an internship at NASA in Palmdale, California. I was ecstatic to be accepted for an internship at all, let alone one of the coolest internships I applied for! So, when June finally rolled around, I packed my bags and drove halfway across the country.
I was hired as an intern on the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) project. SOFIA is a highly modified Boeing 747 with an infrared observatory mounted on the back section. The advantage of a telescope on an airplane is that it gets clearer images than ground-based observatories, has a lower operating cost than space telescopes and is more easily upgradable than space telescopes.
I was given three primary tasks as a part of my internship. The first task I was assigned was dubbed the Science Instrument Mounting Device. In order to view a broad range of celestial bodies, SOFIA has the ability to attach various Science Instruments (SI) to the Telescope Assembly (TA). These SI are large, weigh nearly a ton and must fit onto the tight tolerances of the TA, making them quite difficult to install. My role was to develop a device that will ease the installation of these Science Instruments. The second task dealt with internet capabilities, a subject I was not familiar with prior to the internship. A new internet system was needed in the aircraft, so I created a Trade Study comparing the capabilities of several companies’ systems. The third task was to design the layout of a website for organizing the flow of paperwork needed in order for people to fly aboard SOFIA. The process was unorganized and scattered between several people, and a more efficient system was needed.
All of these tasks were completely unrelated, which frustrated me at first, but toward the end of my internship I came to appreciate it. Because I had such distinct projects, I was able to see a broad, yet detailed view of the many fields of work within the engineering profession. After progressing on my tasks and after talking with several engineers, I decided that I liked design engineering better than systems engineering. I am now planning on entering that field of work after college. On top of all the engineering work, I was able to make several friends from across the nation and had the opportunity to explore southern California. Overall, this was one of the best summers of my life and will shape my future career.
