Welcome to Part 2 of my wonder-filled experience at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland! Here, I will share much more of the SOCIAL part of the NASA Social event. In case you missed it, I shared more of the history and significance of the DART mission in Part 1. So, feel free to click here for that post (it’s about a 3-minute read) to get caught up. Now on to Part 2!
Overview
The social part of the event is where a lot of the magic happens. I enjoy meeting new people and learning new things about space exploration. A NASA social event is where both of those joys intersect for me! Our group was a wonderfully diverse and fascinating set of people. We had visual artists, teachers (one of whom was also a magician), students, fashion bloggers, a farmer, and more. Three of our squad were from the west coast, at least one came in from the Midwest, and several of us lived up and down the east coast, from New York all the way down to Miami, Florida. We introduced ourselves at the start as we checked in, and we talked all day and into the evening as we closed out. In fact, we are still texting and messaging each other as we stay in contact!
So, rather than write everything out, I will use this post to share photos of things we saw/did, and the camaraderie that ensued. I’ll use captions to help tell the story. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope that it inspires you to apply to a NASA Social event!
Arrival – Impromptu Meet & Greet
8:30am Attendees arrive near Kossiakoff Center and get on APL shuttles to South Campus
8:45 – 9:00am Shuttle transport to building 200
9:00 – 9:15am NASA Social Attendees arrive in building 200 for check-in
9:15 – 9:45am Opening remarks
We heard more about the details and importance of the DART mission from Dr. Z and Lindley Johnson. Fun fact: DART was the very first attempt at planetary defense…an historic mission!
9:45 – 10:30am Demonstration of Hololens (3D DART spacecraft model)
10:30 – 11:15am Transit to Building 23, Engineer presentation, Clean room tour of High Bay, Q&A
We visited the clean room where technicians and engineers worked on the actual DART spacecraft! No pictures of the clean room could be taken. However, Dr. Betsy Congdon, DART Lead Mechanical Engineer at JHU APL, talked us through the process of the spacecraft in the clean room. She also took time to answer the questions that several in the group asked about the room, the craft, and much more.
11:15 – 11:50 am Transit to Building 300 Tour of Titan Chamber in High Bay, Dragonfly presentation
Our next stop took us to a meet-up with Dr. Zibi Turtle, the Principal Investigator for the upcoming Dragonfly mission. She is only the third female NASA planetary mission PI in history! (Learn more about Dr. Turtle here.) This mission will take us to Titan, a formidable moon of Saturn. Dragonfly is a rotor craft-lander that will explore the possible origins of life on that moon. Click here to learn more about this mission from NASA.
In addition, Dr. Turtle took us into the room where the craft will be tested with simulations of the atmosphere on Titan. Fun fact: Titan’s atmosphere is 4 times denser than that of Earth’s and with less gravity! So that will make for an optimal environment in which to fly a vehicle with rotors.
11:50 – 12:30pm Transit to Building 26 for Tour of New Horizons Mission Operations Center
12:30 – 1:45pm NASA Social Attendees back to Kossiakoff Center for Lunch break
2:00 – 4:00pm Q&A session and IMAX screening of “Asteroid Hunters” at the Columbia Mall
Please go see “Asteroid Hunters” when it comes to your nearest IMAX! It is totally based on fact and science, and it is more intriguing than any fiction I have seen over the years on the topic of asteroids hitting the earth. So good!
4:30 – 5:30pm Attendees return to APL – Kossiakoff Center for the second part of Impact Day
5:45 – 6:00pm Gather to watch the live impact broadcast
6:00 – 7:30pm Live impact broadcast
THE moment that made history (skip ahead to time marker 2:35 for the impact moment and the excitement in the room!):
8:00 – 8:15pm Media availability for brief Q&A
8:15 – 8:30pm Program ends
I had a SUPER great time. Met some amazing folks and learned a lot. And the Mission was a success, so we got to celebrate that with the folks at Johns Hopkins who had spent years working on DART. Congratulations on a job well done. And thank you NASA Social Team for making our day an unforgettable one!