Celestine Ananda

I am working with the NASA Kennedy Space Center Analytical Laboratories and Applied Physics Laboratory to support window pane stress and structural health monitoring for the ISS and future spacecraft. My research involves collecting stress-induced birefringence measurements from Shuttle-era window panes with micrometeoroid impacts. I am writing an algorithm that linearizes images of the defect and applies a mathematical model utilizing birefringence stress analysis to predict the breaking point of the window panes. This research supports the development of a prototype device for astronauts to use while in space to determine the structural health of window panels.

I was selected to work with the NASA Kennedy Space Center Advanced Engineering Development Branch to commercialize a structural monitoring technology I supported and developed during my research experiences at college. I constructed a structural diagnostics and fuel gauging framework through characterizing the structural health and modal signature of a composite-overwrap liquid propellant tank used for testing purposes. I accomplished this through: writing and implementing algorithms that apply broadband white noise signals to piezoelectric actuators adhered to the tank surface, processing acoustic data using Fourier analysis, and producing frequency response functions to experimentally determine resonant modes of the tank structure. The results of my research agree with finite element models and is in the process of being published in NASA’s Technical Reports Database.

I have devoted most of my undergraduate experience to developing an experimental Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technology that utilizes acoustic data to monitor structural health and infer internal fuel mass of liquid propellant tanks. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I joined a small team of undergraduates in developing payloads that employ the SHM technology for parabolic and suborbital flight campaigns. Although I enjoyed contributing to the mechanical and electrical designs, I was most interested in working with our advisor, Dr. Kevin Crosby, to advance the SHM technology itself. I became responsible for acquiring data from piezoelectric sensors adhered to the walls of the tanks, meticulously refined SHM analysis algorithms, and automated data acquisition systems for future flight campaigns. As the Mission Team Lead of this research project I ensured the successful development of a SHM payload that has flown on a Blue Origin New Shepard Mission and the advancement of a larger SHM payload that has participated in parabolic flight campaigns. Advancing this technology through supporting research payloads cemented my ambition to pursue structures research in Aero/Astro engineering at the graduate level.

During my first week of undergraduate studies I joined the Canopy Near-infrared Observing Project (CaNOP), an earth-imaging CubeSat (small satellite) being built on campus which required in-orbit autonomous attitude knowledge and adjustment. In joining the Attitude Determination and Control Systems (ADCS) team during my Freshman year, and shortly after leading the subsystem group, I gained unique experience in satellite design and professional collaboration. During the summer after my freshman year I designed and constructed a Helmholtz Cage to generate a uniform 3-axis adjustable magnetic field to simulate on-orbit magnetic conditions to test the orientation and attitude determination system.