12/9/13-12/13/13

    This week, we finished with oral presentations. I went on Tuesday. Overall, I thought I did a good job. I should have slowed down and spent more time on my product because I started talking about it at the seven-and-a-half minute mark when the cutoff was eight minutes. I also think that I got too excited and passionate for the audience.

     I also did a peer review for one of my fellow students. It was overall a decent paper. I learned that I don't want to be an English teacher for a living though.

     I also sent my second rough draft to my mentor. He had mostly technical comments and he helped me solidify my conclusion. I have yet to look at the peer edit and that will help my paper more.

     I have yet to begin on my product. I'm not sure why I keep putting it off. I have to call the JSC and ask about companies they contact.

12/2/13-12/6/13

     This week, I have been listening to peer presentations during class. They help me in that I know where I should be with my project compared to other students. Many of them have been very interesting and all of the students that have presented thus far are very knowledgable on their respective topics. I have not yet presented and I hope to do as well as my fellow students because they are all presenting very well. 

     I have been working on my rough draft, getting it ready to submit on the 6th. I am very confident in my paper as both my mentor and mother didn't have very many revisions to make. For the final draft, all I have to get done is add a Works Cited and get feedback on the new conclusion I put in over the Thanksgiving break. 

     I still need to contact the Office of Public Affairs at the Johnson Space Center for my product which hasn't yet been approved by Ms. Bullis. But, the comments she made were mostly logistical comments and I sorted them all out in my revised product proposal. 

11/18/13-11/22/13

     This week I finished writing my first rough draft. I also sent a copy of it to my mother, an English major, and my mentor who will correct factual inconsistencies. I have also started on my annotated bibliography, which is due on the 25th of November. Once I turn that in, I can spend Thanksgiving break on editing my rough draft.

     I also want to start contacting the Johnson Space Center concerning companies that they regularly contact in hopes of contacting those companies and organizing a job fair for the upperclassmen.

11/11/13-11/15/13

    This week I started heavy work on my rough draft. I also did some last minute research, like the ore density of asteroids, for my paper. I finished my intro, and started work on my first main body paragraph. I plan on finishing my first body paragraph on Friday during class, and finishing the majority of the paper over the weekend.

     Next week, I will be doing my annotated bibliography which will probably take the majority of my class time next week.

11/4/13-11/8/13

     This week, I talked to my mentor about my product. We have decided to attempt to amend the National Aeronautics and Space Act which is essentially the NASA constitution. I want to change the clause that states that any invention created by NASA or one of its employees or contractors can be given, license free, to another entity. I want to change it so that NASA would receive some sort of monetary compensation for the use of their invention. This would in effect, bring in more money for NASA, by NASA, without increasing the government's spending on NASA. This would require me to draft an amendment, which I will do using the assistance of lawyers in the family. I will then write a letter to my congressman asking him to bring this proposal to Congress.

    

10/28/13-11/1/13

     This week was relatively productive. I wrote and turned in my outline which is key for writing a successful paper. I sent it to my mentor and got his feedback on it and his opinion was generally positive. I also fixed gaps in my research concerning un-supported topics I am planning to write about. I currently have all of the research that I require unless something comes up.

     Next week, my primary goal will be working on my product proposal. I have to meet with my mentor so we can discuss a viable and meaningful product. I am thinking of either an internet petition or maybe a symbolic fundraiser, i.e., I as a student can not raise the money necessary to start intensive research on the topics I am discussing, but it can be seen as inspiration for future fundraising.

     Some sources I found this week are various essays discussing some award-winning NASA Spinoff technologies like "Hearing is Believing" which is about the creation of the cochlear implant by a NASA engineer. This particular technology is meaningful to me because by brother is deaf and has a cochlear implant and it has made a large impact on his life.

10/21/13-10/25/13

     This week, we finished our three to five minute presentations for the class. I also met with my mentor concerning my research so far. We discussed my outline and my thesis and the progress I have yet to make.
     Next week I want to get into heavy spinoff research, and other products that are economically beneficial.
     My mentor sent me a book called Societal Impact of Spaceflight which is a compilation of various articles written by several different authors concerning social impact or economic impact of space.

10/14/13-10/18/13

     This week we presented our projects and what we had done so far with them. I presented on Thursday. I also met with my mentor on Thursday and we discussed what I had done so far, my thesis, and my plans for the paper in the future.
     Next week, I need to have another meeting with my mentor before the 25th and I scheduled that with my mentor. Next week, I plan on digging through history.nasa.gov now that it is back up.

10/7/13-10/11/13

     This week, I thought about the three main points that I wanted to talk about in my research paper:
the emotional impact that NASA has on the US such as public support, inspiration to study STEM related topics, or general fascination with the research that NASA is doing; economic impact such as satellite technology and what a boom that was, platinum-group metals with high value that come from mining asteroids, cost reduction for space flight such as using Lagrange points to station "gas stations" or re-usable materials; and the philanthropic value of NASA such as discoveries by them or similar groups affect our lives such as asteroid impact projections, or solar flares that are large and deadly, or the fact that NASA has an educational program that teach students scientific literacy or project them on a path of becoming researchers.
     I researched satellite history this week and the economic trickle-down that comes from each one. http://www.esoa.net/Economics_of_satellites.htm states that for every pound that goes into the creation of a satellite, forty-seven go back into the economy through jobs or use of the satellite.
     I also went through the index of Space Chronicles to find relevant topics, and have been reading the 2009 Presidential Report that my mentor sent me.

9/30/12-10/4/12

     This week was the government shutdown. NASA was one of the programs that was hit hard with this shutdown with 97% of their employees on furlough, and all websites with nasa.gov in the URL are down. This poses a problem with my research, as now I have to search more thoroughly for possible sources. It also somewhat helps with my project as now I can point out that NASA really does need funding, otherwise they will be a very minimalistic government program.
     I found a PDF stating the business plan of Prometheus Enterprises Inc. which is a company with the plan of exploiting the high mineral and water content of asteroids. It is called "Mining the Sky" and was inspired by the book of the same title by Dr. John S. Lewis. This would help me point out the potential revenue sources that NASA could exploit in the future.
     Dr. Steven Dick also sent me the NASA Presidential Reports of the fiscal years 2009, 2010, and 2011 which state how much money goes into NASA and where the money goes.
     I plan on researching satellites, one of NASA's first inventions and how everyday they are now. I also want one more important technology, either past or future that has been important either financially or philanthropically.

9/23/13-9/27/13

     This week I focused more on finding a mentor than research. I sent an email to both Dr. Steven J. Dick, a NASA Historian, and to Wendell Mendell, a longtime NASA employee. Dr. Dick replied and accepted which is great news. I also finished the research goals handout. Next week, I definitely need to get into hardcore research. Dr. Dick, as a NASA historian might be able to point me towards certain helpful sources.
     I found a paper that describes the economic value of NASA according to usefulness and economic return among other things. "USING THE VALUE MEASURING METHODOLOGY TO EVALUATE GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES" by Kevin Foley uses Value Measuring Methodology which  compares both qualitative and quantitative aspects such as usefulness to society, economic achievement, etc. to rate a government program.

9/16/13-9/20/13

     This week, I had a conference with Ms. Bullis concerning my topic. She approved my topic and I told her what I've done so far, for example, I read Neil DeGrasse Tyson's book Space Chronicles which talks all about my topic, which is reasons there should be an increase in NASA's funding. I also found a paper describing public support for NASA in general, and have decided to try to run a school-wide survey with similar questions as in the paper. Dr. Tyson still hasn't replied to my letter, which might be because he hasn't received it yet, so I will look for mentors hopefully directly from NASA, or people related to NASA.
   
     I also got a suggestion from my mom that I should talk to professional researchers to get an insight in the difficulty of getting funding. I want to talk about not only the most popular area of NASA, the space research and exploration, but also talk about how important its more minor programs are like weather mapping or satellite research.

     "Public opinion polls and perceptions of US human spaceflight" by Roger Launius is an analysis of various surveys taken over the years concerning the public opinion on various NASA programs. It also disproves the popular assumption that public support skyrocketed during the Apollo program in the 60s and 70s.

9/9/13-9/12/13

     This week, I finalized my topic into researching the benefits of NASA research. I also mailed a letter to Neil DeGrasse Tyson to ask him to be my mentor for this project. We also did extensive MLA citation practice in class with our 7th edition MLA handbooks. Next week, I want to start doing more serious research and look for more mentors.
     I also found two pictures that both depict the breakdown of the US Budget. One of them is for the 2010 fiscal year, and the other is for the 2013 fiscal year. I found that in both cases, NASA gets around 0.5% of the US Budget, while the National Science Foundation gets a fraction of that.

8/3/13-8/6/13

           This week, I sent my topic idea to Ms. Bullis. I want to research more government-funded science research and its benefits. She okayed it, and now I have to narrow my topic down. Next week, I want to create a question and submit a topic proposal. I also found various sources concerning the 2010 and 2013 US Budget, and spinoff technologies that stemmed from both NASA and general science research.

           "China sets course for lunar landing this year" describes China's plans to launch a rocket towards the moon with a soft landing on top of it. The article also touched upon the fact that the Obama Administration abandoned the plans for a moon launch allowed the Chinese to plan to put a man on the moon by 2020. This site is important because one of the only times NASA got a budget spike was during the Sputnik "crisis". China is about to put the US in a similar situation by becoming the second country to land on the moon.

            The website, spinoff.nasa.gov, is a site that lists and describes useful and innovative technologies that at one point were inspired by technologies used by NASA. The technologies range from medical innovations to advances in gaming landscapes. This site is important because just a little funding to NASA creates a multitude of innovative and useful products that replaces at least 10-fold the money spent.