This month, Assateague Voices celebrates "NASA November," with a three-part series on the RockOn and RockSat-C and -X education programs at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. For the third and final episode we highlight Cubes in Space, a RockOn and RockSat partner, and the only global STEM program that gives middle and high school students the opportunity to fly experiments aboard NASA sounding rockets and balloons. I spoke with Amber Agee-DeHart, founder and director of Cubes in Space, on the eve of this year's RockOn launch. She shared with us the extent of Cubes's global outreach, the depth and variety of student experimentation, potentially life-saving student research, the importance of grit, and the value of working with the Wallops education team.

Here's our episode.

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE:

Cubes in Space: cubesinspace.com

NASA's Wallops Flight Facility: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/

Wallops STEM Engagement: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/stem/

RockSat and RockOn programs: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-rocksat-program/

This month, Assateague Voices celebrates NASA November, with a three-part series on the RockOn and RockSat-C and -X education programs at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. These programs draw higher education students from around the country to Wallops every summer, to fly experiments of their own design aboard Wallops sounding rockets. In this episode, we talk with Jonathan Herberger, a double-major senior at Northern Nazarene University in Idaho. Together with his student team and faculty advisors, Jonathan is conducting Project Daedelus, which may one day make space safer and life better here on earth. We spoke shortly before the RockSat-X launch with his experiment on board. We discussed performing complex tasks in microgravity, clearing space debris, reusable rocketry, and advancing civilization without destroying it. We also spoke a second time about the challenges that come with rocket science, lessons learned, and the role of the Wallops program in helping young scientists advance.

Here's our episode.

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE:

Jonathan Herberger: https://jonathanherberger.com

Project Daedelus: https://jonathanherberger.com/projects

Space Debris

Stuff in Space real-time space debris tracker: https://sky.rogue.space

Kessler Syndrome: https://www.space.com/kessler-syndrome-space-debris

Clean Space Initiative, ESA: https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Clean_Space

NASA Orbital Space Debris Program: https://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/photo-gallery/

Washington Post, "Space Junk is Out of Control": 49gzRF5

Reusable Rocketry

The Rise of Reusable Rocketry: https://www.kdcresource.com/insights/the-rise-of-reusable-rockets-transforming-the-economics-of-space-travel/

Stoke Space: https://www.stokespace.com

Rocket Lab Reusable Rockets: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/launch/reusable-rockets/

Blue Origin New Shepard: https://www.blueorigin.com/new-shepard

Space-X Falcon 9: https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/falcon-9/

One of the most important missions undertaken by NASA's Wallops Flight Facility is STEM engagement—delivering programs and resources that support education in science, technology, engineering, and math. And key to that mission are the RockSat and RockOn programs. These programs draw higher ed students from around the country to Wallops every summer to fly experiments of their own design into space on NASA Wallops Flight Facility sounding rockets. This month on Assateague Voices we celebrate "NASA November" with episodes focused on RockOn and RockSat-C and -X. We'll talk with an Idaho university senior whose team is conducting an amazing multi-year experiment aboard RockSat-X, and a Virginia-based collaborative partner whose program lets students nationwide design, research, and test experiments on RockSat-C. And we start right at Wallops, with Dr. Joyce Winterton, Sr. Advisor for Education and Leadership Development.

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE:

NASA's Wallops Flight Facility: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/

Wallops STEM Engagement: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/stem/

RockSat and RockOn programs: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-rocksat-program/

RockOn 2024 Application: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/stem/rock-on/

RockOn MSI Faculty Workshop: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-rocksat-program/

RockOn/RockSat-C launch video (courtesy NASA): https://www.youtube.com/live/f2kmaYtW_7s?si=f7E7Z_6WGOXWhxSN

RockSat-X launch video (courtesy NASA): https://www.youtube.com/live/VJGH7GrnEuk?si=C5gyJ0VllbKbPcAo