Langley Research Center
June 7 – August 14, 2021
Goals of your project/s:
This was my third internship working on this project. My main goal for this session was to complete and fill an aircraft database on ShipWeight. ShipWeight is a mass tracking and estimating tool originally created for naval ships that we have repurposed for aircraft. Another goal I had was to explore other projects and learn as much as possible.
Describe what you did during the internship:
In the duration of all my sessions at NASA I worked with ShipWeight. I began by creating and organizing a Boeing database filled with 75+ aircraft into a weight breakdown structure. I then utilized that information along with parameter, type, and unit information to build an aircraft database in ShipWeight. I did this by erasing all naval ship information and filling in aircraft information. Once that was completed, I imported weight and parameter data from specific aircraft as many separate projects. Once many aircraft of mirroring types are in this database we will be able to find trends to create mass estimating relationships.
Did you achieve your goals? What were the results and conclusions?
During my internship I was able to make the database more elegant and I began filling in specific aircraft data. I also worked with other group members on multiple projects. While working this session I was able to apply my educational knowledge in a real-world setting.
Describe positive lessons learned from this experience:
I learned so much this session about time management. I was able to complete so much more than I though was possible. I also learned how to effectively work in a group in a follower role. Typically I take charge and lead but in a position here where I have a mentor I was able to accept his form of leadership while also providing feedback so we found a balance that benefitted the both of us.
Describe negative lessons learned from this experience:
Throughout this summer I ran into a few IT issues. These issues got in the way of work some days and this taught me the ability to work to fix something right when it happens. This might seem like common sense but it is very easy to push off a problem until the next day. I learned that it is much easier to just fix a problem as quickly as possible but I also learned patience through the process because there’s not always a quick fix.