Attending AIAA SciTech felt like my first real steps into the aerospace industry. It was incredible being surrounded by so many other people with the same passions and interests. There were people there from all over the world to share what they knew and learn from others.
Throughout the conference, I attended over ten sessions for technical presentations – I even ran into Ben during one of them! This was a new experience for me, seeing all these papers and all this research. There were so many different topics from aerodynamics to materials science, to machine learning, AI and more. It was almost overwhelming choosing which to see, then running around the convention center trying to find sessions. I’ll be honest, a lot of the presentations went over my head, but I did learn a lot. One of my favorite presentations was by astronaut Carl Waltz. Afterwards, I saw him in the hallway and asked him if I could ask a few questions about his presentation. He then happily answered every question I had. He is one of the nicest and friendliest people I have ever met. The best part of each presentation was the questions afterwards. Not only did the attendees ask questions to better understand the study, but they also gave suggestions for further research. I remember at one presentation, a study on using shape memory alloys for passive solar tracking in satellites, one of the audience members even drew a diagram with an idea to increase the surface area of the alloy coils by making them ribbons instead. This is a good example of the spirit of the conference: everyone was there to learn and help others with their pursuits in aerospace. It felt so special to be part of a community like that.
Each morning, there was a plenary speaker. On the first day I was there, Tuesday, the speaker was the head of innovation at F1, Arbi Karapetian. The next day’s plenary session was led by Craig Martell, the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Lockheed Martin. He shared what he thought the future of AI and aerospace engineering might look like- and about how careers in aerospace may change. Thursday’s plenary session featured Jason Levin, the senior vice president of Anduril Industries. I enjoyed learning about the process of developing the first autonomous fighter jet and the challenges Anduril faced by being a small company with big competitors when they first started. My favorite plenary speaker was Jonathan W. Arenburg, Chief Engineer for Space Missions at Northrop Grumman. I was so inspired by his presentation about the development of the James Webb Space Telescope. Each of these talks took place in a huge ballroom, and that ballroom was completely full for every single one!
On Tuesday night, we all got together for dinner to meet each other and to prepare for the next day’s panel. I’m so grateful to have gotten to know the other space. We talked about our experiences with the conference so far and school. We talked about how we all first heard of Higher Orbits and our journeys with Higher Orbits and Space Mom.
Emma and I spent hours exploring the expo hall. There was always something new to discover and someone new to talk to. There were students from colleges all over the country, and it was exciting learning about their aerospace programs. I even got an invitation to visit a campus and see their labs. There were lots of new technologies being presented as well- even a centrifugal mixer which the company representative used to make chocolate. Another highlight was General Electric Aerospace’s model of next-generation jet engines. One afternoon, Emma and I were walking through the expo hall when we saw one of those giant robot search and rescue dogs! Of course, we had to go investigate and we learned all about internships at the Air Force Research Laboratory. That same day, we met Charles Norton from JPL – where I now want to work when I’m older! Everyone there was so excited to talk to students and was passionate about their work.
While I was exploring the expo hall, I received an invitation to an aerospace social mixer co-hosted by Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin. There I met a couple of grad students from the University of Colorado in Boulder- one was doing research in machine learning and the other student was researching static electricity. There were also two girls from Texas A&M. I got to see one of their presentations on laminar separation bubbles the next morning! Astronauts Stephanie Wilson and Bonnie Dunbar were there. Talking to Stephanie Wison was a dream come true, getting to meet an astronaut in the Artemis program. A few days after the conference, I went to the Kennedy Space Center and saw Artemis II rollout.
I am so grateful for Higher Orbits giving the other space kids and I the opportunity to attend SciTech. Higher Orbits has given me the confidence to believe that I can accomplish my goals- and has given me a kickstart on that path already. I’m so glad to have met the others and I can’t wait to meet even more space kids at the Alumni Meetup later this year! See you all there!
Written By Stellar Student Keira Roberts
