While many students spent their summer break at the beach or working to earn tuition money, UCF physics student Jennifer Nolau spent her break analyzing thousands and thousands of digital images beamed to her from an asteroid millions of miles from Earth.

Curled up in her favorite pajamas with her laptop in her off-campus apartment, the 25-year-old from South Florida, spent about 10 hours a week analyzing boulder and rock images from asteroid Bennu, the site of NASA 麻豆精品 S檚 OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) mission. The first American mission of its kind has sent a spacecraft to the asteroid and is currently analyzing where to best grab a sample of its surface to bring back to Earth.

The mission is important because the sample may provide information for the understanding of the origins of the solar system. What scientists learn may also help devise a way to deflect dangerous near-Earth asteroids.

麻豆精品 S淚 still can 麻豆精品 S檛 believe it, 麻豆精品 S� Nolau says. 麻豆精品 S淭his is just so mind-blowing. I mean I 麻豆精品 S檓 an undergrad and here I am part of this NASA mission. I 麻豆精品 S檓 making connections here that will help me establish my career when I graduate. The people I 麻豆精品 S檓 working with are amazing. I 麻豆精品 S檓 still pinching myself. 麻豆精品 S�

麻豆精品 S淭his is just so mind-blowing. I mean I 麻豆精品 S檓 an undergrad and here I am part of this NASA mission. I 麻豆精品 S檓 making connections here that will help me establish my career when I graduate.” 麻豆精品 S� Jennifer Nolau, UCF student

The Road Almost Missed

Nolau originally was on track to become a nurse or doctor.

麻豆精品 S淚 was a biomed major, but then I took organic chemistry and was like, no way, this is not for me, 麻豆精品 S� she says with a laugh. 麻豆精品 S淏ut I always liked physics and I love Star Wars. Yeah, geeky I know. I took [physics] Professor [Humberto] Campins 麻豆精品 S� class last year and I knew I had found my place. I switched majors and here I am. 麻豆精品 S�

Nolau is pursuing a bachelor 麻豆精品 S檚 degree in physics with a planetary sciences emphasis and a minor in mathematics. That 麻豆精品 S檚 one of the reasons she is right for the image-analysis job.

She spends hours looking at images to determine the size and location of each of the rocks and boulders within the pixel set she examines. It involves a lot of math and precision. The images are pulled down from the spacecraft and then sent to her computer. When she 麻豆精品 S檚 done with her work, she sends her data back to the mission 麻豆精品 S檚 science team at the University of Arizona.

麻豆精品 S淪he 麻豆精品 S檚 smart and detail-oriented, 麻豆精品 S� says聽Campins, a co-investigator on the NASA mission, working on the imaging team. In addition to working on OSIRIS-REx, Campins is an internationally recognized expert on asteroids. 聽 麻豆精品 S淛ennifer 麻豆精品 S檚 work has been exceptional. It made such an impression that the entire imaging team wanted to meet her. 麻豆精品 S�

A Trip of a Lifetime: Meeting the OSIRIS-REx Team

Nolau spent the week before classes at the hub of the OSIRIS-REx project, the University of Arizona in Tucson. The mission 麻豆精品 S檚 leader, Dante Lauretta, is based there and every week the mission team meets to talk about the progress of the mission, which launched in 2016 from the Space Coast. Next year the team is scheduled to maneuver the spacecraft so it can collect the asteroid sample and then begin its long journey home.

The work to select the right sample-collection site began months ago when the team received its first images of the asteroid from the spacecraft. The team of experts thought they knew what they would find. What Campins and the rest of the team found was a surprise. The surface was a lot rockier than expected and portions of the asteroid are sending projectiles into space. The team still hasn 麻豆精品 S檛 figured out why. The original plans were modified and more images were requested to select the best collection site, which would pose the least danger to the spacecraft.

Thousands of images have been taken, and Nolau joined the team in time to begin narrowing the field of sample-site candidates from more than 100 in July. Last week the team selected four candidate sites for further study. The final decision 麻豆精品 S� of a primary and back-up site 麻豆精品 S� will be made in December. Even now, the work continues to ensure the navigation team has the most accurate information possible.

麻豆精品 S淭alk about pressure, right? 麻豆精品 S� Nolau says. 麻豆精品 S淵ou don 麻豆精品 S檛 want your miscalculation to be the reason the mission fails. 麻豆精品 S�

Seems to be a low probability of that. Nolau is a self-starter. While taking Campins 麻豆精品 S� class and working on her own research, she applied and was accepted into NASA 麻豆精品 S檚 Lucy Space Pipeline Accelerator Virtual Academy. It 麻豆精品 S檚 a virtual boot camp that prepares participants to properly submit a proposal to NASA for funding.

Campins also introduced her to T.D. Swindle, director of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. They collaborated on a separate research project, which resulted in Nolau 麻豆精品 S檚 first conference presentation. Swindle presented it on her behalf last month at the 82nd annual meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Sapporo, Japan.

Not bad for the daughter of a cargo plane pilot and a dairy farmer from Portugal, she jokes.

麻豆精品 S淵ou have to take advantage of every opportunity, 麻豆精品 S� she says. 麻豆精品 S淧rofessor Campins and UCF have opened the doors for me. I want to do all I can to be ready for my first job, my first grant. I want to make them proud. 麻豆精品 S�