Week 1
This week was mostly getting software set up, reading papers, and going to orientations. I met my
mentor for the first time on Monday, learned more about the project, and got my reading assignments.
On Tuesday, I finally got my laptop that I'll be working on for the rest of the summer! It ended up
being a MacBook, which I'm completely new to, but it's been fun using it so far! I worked with the service
desk to get it set up and got access to my email. I spent the rest of the week working with the service
desk and my mentor to install HEASoft, which is a collection of software packages that are meant to
analyze X-ray data. Specifically, I will be using XSPEC, which is an X-ray spectral fitting package.
The orientations were exciting as well. I learned about the astrophysics research being done at
Goddard, found out more about CRESST II (the collaborative organization between NASA Goddard and
various universities which hired me), and even heard from center directors and astronauts Bill Nelson
and Don Pettit. I also joined the NuSTAR group at Caltech, which is an organization of scientists also
working on NuSTAR data. All the other students in the group are working through the SURF program, so
I’m super excited to be working with such brilliant people!
Going to orientations!
Lastly, I’ve been participating in a Discord that the NASA Goddard students created. It’s been so fun
getting to know everyone, and they’re all some of the nicest and most dedicated people I’ve met! It’s
also great to meet so many people that all have similar research interests to me and who just love
NASA and space as much as I do. I’m excited for next week when I can hopefully really start doing
research!
Meme from the Discord of astronaut Don Pettit showing how the urine collection tubes used
on the ISS can also be used as lightsabers.