My name is Farrar Desloge, and I am a student at Montezuma-Cortez High School. My internship this summer is at the Colorado School of Mines, working with Dr. Andrew Petruska, a prof. of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Petruska specializes in robotics and magnet manipulation. I am working with Richard Pratt, a PhD student, and Lunar Outpost, a Denver-based start-up, on designing a prototype lunar rover that will prepare landing sites for larger spacecraft landing on the Moon. I am also working alongside fellow intern Alise Hardie, although we are working on different projects.
The first two days were spent discovering and choosing from the projects available. The projects included CAD and CAM* work for a robotic arm, designing an event camera system for subterranean mine exploration, or designing a system to recycle debris in orbit, such as old satellites. Along with Alise and myself, there are four interns from a different program. I have gotten to know all of them except for one, who has not been able to come this week due to COVID.
The first day, while we decided on our projects, Dr. Petruska assigned us to assemble new computers for one of his upcoming classes. We also helped fix Raspberry Pi robots for his robotics basics class. The second day, we met with Petruska and told him our decisions. For the rest of the week, I worked under Rich’s guidance to assemble a list of possible sensors to be used for the prototype. I assembled a spreadsheet of options, and a short rationale explaining which sensors were best. The list is still in progress, and I will revise it as I find more sensors. My advisor, Rich, was not at the lab Wed, Thurs, or Fri, so I had to be more independent. This first week has been relatively boring, as I have had to spend much of my time teaching myself the necessary concepts specific to the field, but hopefully as I gain more experience, I will be able to spend more of my time doing impactful and interesting work.
Outside of the internship, I have spent most of my time outdoors, mountain biking and running. There are many great trails in the area, and the weather has been quite agreeable. I have also gotten to spend time with my host family. I am staying with family friends who live in Morrison, 20 minutes south of the campus.
Below are some assorted photos taken throughout the week. The first photo is of Marco, a coworker, constructing a shell for the event camera system. The next 4 are photos taken during my rides in the area. The final photo is of one of my host family’s dogs, Nova, next to their koi pond.
*Computer Assisted/Aided Design and Manufacturing, respectively
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