Guests: Nathan Hirsch, Jonathan Zarate: Topics: Nathan and Jonathan, both students at USC, talked with us about the USC Liquid Propulsion Lab. Our guests answered many questions, including questions about students, the space industry, different types of rocket fuels and human spaceflight.
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We welcomed both Nathan Hirsch and Jonathan Zarate to the program to introduce us to the USC Liquid Propulsion Lab. Be sure to visit the lab's website at http://usclpl.com. Contact information for our guests can be found on this website. Nathan started us of with an introduction to the lab going back to its start in 2015. As stated on the home page and in the tags, the purpose of the lab is to provide for highly motivated graduate students who endeavor to design, manufacture, and test liquid propulsion technologies. Note that the lab is an extra curricula program though our guests were unsure about the potential for some credit in the future. In addition, working at the lab is both voluntary plus students can devote as much time as they want to their lab work. Both Nathan and Jonathan drove home the point of career benefits in aerospace industry excellent job opportunities from their association with this lab. Don't miss this part of the discussion.
Fremont John was our only caller. During the first part of the call, he asked if the students worked with 3 D printing. Both Nathan and Jonathan then explained because the work, engine manufacturing, and testing they do is at a reduced scale, so is their 3 D printing or as they said, additive manufacturing. At one point the students mentioned a demo test flight to about 30 to 40,000 feet. John also asked about their test launch and test site which is a very popular launch and test site in the Mojave area available to lots of users and rocket clubs. Following this call, our two guests talked about foreign student involvement in the program and how good that was for all given they get ITAR exemptions for what the lab does. Once again, don't miss what our guests said about foreign student and ITAR exemptions.
The rocket fuels used at the lab were discussed. I asked about green fuels but the lab does not do that type of research. They stick with the conventional and traditional. We talked about lab funding which often boils down to industry funding for a specific project to be studied at the lab. Hiring upon graduation was part of the discussion. Listen to the stats provided for those grads seeking aerospace industry positions that were part of the lab. Impressive. Our two guests talked about the students designing their own work load at the lab. They can tailor their hours at the lab to their overall study and possible work hours.
As we were nearing the end of the discussion, Wanda asked if the students got blowback for being involved in the space industry from their students or others given many students across the country are a part of the space naysayer advocacy community. They said no to student blowback but then they went on to say their work had a minimal impact on the environment. Our guests elaborated on that so do listen to what they said and then share your comments about it on our blog. As we were coming up on the end, Joanne asked why there were not more women in the program since from the group picture, the lab seems to mostly have men working in it and they mentioned their focus on diversity and equity. You definitely want to hear how our guests responded to this question. Once again, a great opportunity for you to post on our blog.
I noted a few more discussion points you should listen for as we were drawing to a close. One was the repeated use by our guests of "having a good time" when asked about the work, the experience and value of the lab for their education and career. The other point to listen for was when our guests were asked if three was any human spaceflight work done at the lab or anything relating to HSF. Listen to what they said regarding inspiration and HSF in connection with what they do at this specific lab.
Please post your comments/questions for Nathan and Jonathan on our blog for this program. You can email the guests via me or through the lab's website.
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