JPL Visit #1

Undoubtedly my favorite part of touring NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs was the exploratory star-shield that we were able to observe in the making. When we first entered the room, I was immediately entranced with just the pure size and reflective material that was suspended from the ceiling. The technology behind what they were creating, a shield to block out suns in other solar systems, was far beyond my grasp but somehow the project seemed tangible as they were approaching it from a design perspective. The man (whose name I wrote down completely illegibly) who was teaching us about this technology spoke first about the phenomenally vast amount of solar systems there are beyond ours and how difficult they are to observe. Small planets are actually the most common and there are plenty of them within the habitable zones in relationship to their respective suns. The problem in observation is that there are always stars that are brighter than these smaller planets that over shine them and make them difficult to see. The scientists on this project decided to utilize the idea of coronagraphs, which allows the study of eclipses and the corona around the sun- a field that is not difficult for people to understand on a surface level. With this in mind, they came up with the idea to fabricate a star shade to block out light from the brightest stars in order to observe the smaller planets.

            The most exciting part about learning about all of this was getting to see their process develop from idea to sketch to model to prototype. It made the scientists feel more like humans and more like artists as they explored different ways of creating, messed up, and tried again. We were able to see one of the first models they created which was just paper. They commissioned an Origami artist to devise a way to fold up the star shade that would allow for easy packaging in its journey to space yet allowed it to expand. From this, they created a smaller prototype out of metal that folded in upon itself. When we were there, we could see people assembling the next half-scale version of the sun shade. The design of it was almost like a flower, as it had multiple petals that extended out from the center. The petals actually had a very specific purpose which was to prevent the bright stars from leaking out over the perfect circle. Each of the petals themselves even had small deviations on them to allow them to protect from bright stars as much as possible. It was so interesting to watch the interplay of form and function and get to see the process from inquiry to inspiration to project. Visually, I also found the skeletons of the petals quite interesting in their vein-like structure. They really reminded me of intricate paper cut-outs or veins in flowers. I felt that this project really embodied the combination of art and science and I look forward to learning more about it!