Hi, I am River Randolph from Ridgway, Colorado who was given the opportunity to experience a future job option. This week was very basic. I met with my instructor Dmitry Vorobiev, a scientist at the Astrophysics laboratory in LASP, who showed me around, teaching me about the current and past projects they have worked on. Also I met a new friend of mine, Graham, who lives only 50 minutes away from my Ridgway house. After Dmitry introduced us to the projects we immediately began working. The first thing we did was capture precise measurements of a $3,000 piece of silicon that had a micro slit in it. The slit was so small that you could barely see it with the human-eye. The purpose of the slit was to act like a camera lens’s aperture. The camera on the telescope will focus on a distant supernova, an exploded star, while the silicon blocks out all other light except for what it is focused on. Graham and I were given the chance to measure the length of the fragile silicon that will be going to space in the near future. Keep in mind this was only day one.
For the rest of the week, Graham and I fixed their very large 3D printer since it had been broken from poor usage. We began by disassembling the printheads then assembling them correctly. One of the printheads was found to be missing an important part so we ordered a brand new printhead with Dmitry. The new printhead wouldn’t arrive until Friday, so we had to wait for it, but there was much more we needed to fix on the printer. Throughout the process of fixing the printer I realized how fun it was to work with my hands and how I don’t want to sit at a computer all day for my future job. On Friday we were able to do our first test print. The print came out successful, but not perfect so we still have some work to do next week.
Not only did I work during the week, but I also explored a nearby indoor rock climbing gym that I got a month pass to. In the 6 days I’ve had this pass I have already gone 4 times and I plan to go again today. I have seen much progress in my climbing and can’t wait to see what else I can accomplish. Overall my week has been a lot of fun and I’m excited for week 2.
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