Evidence of Learning #5 - Primary Learning

Name: Mr. Aaron Paz

Profession: Aerospace Engineer
Location and business name: Phone, NASA
Date of mentor meeting: 2/9/17
Time: 8:30 a.m.

After one meeting, I was thrilled by the progress I had made with Mr. Paz as we had
already brainstormed the process I was to go through but not the situation I was going to solve. I
assumed that this meeting would be when we finalized my idea for my original work considering
the progress made in the last meeting, but things don’t always work out as I think they will.
Sometime, as in this instance, a great start can be followed by a mediocre middle due to the
phenomena of thinking there is enough time left. That phenomena reared its ugly head in this
meeting with Mr. Paz as we were both laid back and simply conversational rather than on a
timeline. Despite that, Mr. Paz and I did get some new ideas in mind for my original work, and
some newer relevant topics to the space industry.
Coming into this meeting I had already brainstormed some ideas for the situation I would
be designing for such as experiments in microgravity and resource collection on planets other
than Mars or Earth. As I spoke with Mr. Paz in detail about each idea though, I realized each of
their shortcomings. Firstly, I had not factors cost and time into my ideas which are two very
important, if not the two most important factors that limit this original work project. Even for
engineers in the real world, cost and time limits are factors that can determine the success or
failure of every project, and they must be accounted for every step of the way. My idea for
helping in microgravity was not viable for these two specific reasons. Firstly, as Mr. Paz
explained, microgravity research to help astronauts keep up their health is actually a highly
complex field that requires knowledge of body systems, physics in microgravity, and mechanics
in space. It is possible to learn and apply these things, but not in the amount of time I have for
this original project. Additionally, to design and build a device that would help in situation like
the one above, I simply do not have the materials or money to acquire materials since I am
starting from scratch. So the microgravity idea is something for when I have a little more
experience behind me.
Next, I introduced Mr. Paz to my second idea which was to design a device that could
collect samples from Jupiter’s moon Europa. Europa is covered in a thick layer of ice over a
gigantic sub-surface ocean. This moon holds a high level interest for researchers and scientists
because an ocean setting is the most likely the type of environment to have a forms of life.
Additionally, water on other planets could contain different properties than here on earth, which
is fascinating. The problem is that in the future when we send a rover to Europa, the rover needs
a special type of system to reach the subsurface ocean and safely collect samples for testing. As I
was speaking more and more about this idea, Mr. Paz revealed to me that because he works in
resource collection at NASA, a company had previously contacted him about this exact problem.
They had even gone as far to have a working prototype of a drill with modifications that just
needed a few adjustments. Mr. Paz led me through their process and I learned a great deal
through their venture, but it made me realize that I once again did not have the time, money, or
experience necessary to carry out a large project like this one.
Finally, on a more exciting note, I asked Mr. Paz for his opinion on the launch of the
Falcon Heavy rocket that had occurred earlier that week by the company SpaceX. The launch
was a very important one for space history as it was the most powerful rocket to ever be built, it
carries the second most load into the atmosphere, and its section were reusable. With all of these
characteristics, the Falcon Heavy was the most efficient rocket in the history of rocketry ever
built. Additionally, what is more astonishing about it is that it took SpaceX only 5 years to build
it while other space companies have been trying to build a similar rocket for 15! Because Mr.
Paz is an employee of NASA (SpaceX’s “competitor”), I was curious to hear how he took this
advancement. Mr. Paz revealed that even though many of his colleagues resented SpaceX’s
accomplishment, due to industry rivalry, he himself was proud of all the advancements that were
made and excited to see where this technology could go in the future. With his words, I was once
again reminded that in any job/career I will have in the future, there is always competition, and
there will always be bitterness. The important lesson to learn here in the end is to not let these
rivalries get out of hand and have a negative impact on a working environment.
In conclusion, this meeting was not as productive as I wanted it to be, but it helped me
focus my vision into something more contained but still ambitious, and now I can search for
more ideas with a clear head. I am not thrilled with the lack of progress I made, but I am glad I
can overcome failure this early into this mentorship, so later when I undoubtedly face challenges
again, I will have previous experiences to draw upon.

2/9/18
1. Mentor Bio and Mentor Log
 Talk about picture
 Google hangouts
 Meeting change
 Skype meeting - business thing worked well

2. Falcon Heavy Launch

3. Original Work Situations

 Microgravity situation
 Enter scholarship competition
 Ac (alternating current) plug into wall, isolated vehicle - dc (direct current)

4. Call to Action
 Electrical circuits
 Arduino projects
 SITUATION
 Next time, talk more about the space exploration project

5. My Research BEFORE
 Log set up
 Physics water droplet thing-
 Ardunio - UNO, Mega, C++, sensors and shields, $25 amazon
 raspberry pie
 3 situations - collection on Europa, device to help in microgravity (ISS),
excavation/material transport