Idaho State University working with NASA on research projects
Some students at Idaho State University are working with NASA scientists.
The university has partnered with NASA on a recent project to do underwater submarine explorations, called the “SUBSEA project.”
NASA provided a little more than $360,000 in funding to ISU to be able to work on this project.
The project will focus on studying underwater volcanoes. Crews will use underwater submarines to study volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean, looking at volcanoes near Hawaii and Tahiti.
“Why this is really cool is because those volcanoes can give insight into whether or not we have life on Enceladus, which is one of Saturn’s moons,” said Dr. Shannon Kobs-Nawotniak, assistant professor of geosciences and co-investigator on SUBSEA.
This means that the volcanoes will act as a sort of analog, or substitute, for moons in the solar system.
Kobs-Nawotniak said Enceladus is entirely covered in ice and there is a liquid ocean of water under that ice. There is also evidence that inside those layers is a rocky interior. Similarly, Earth is layered with a crust of rock, then mantle and core.
“It could have hotspot volcanoes there underneath the water, which means it could feature heat and water, two really critical things in our understanding of what it takes to support life,” Kobs-Nawotniak explained. “We’re interested in looking at similar situations on the Pacific sea floor in which we have isolated hotspot volcanoes interacting with water.”
Students who are a part of the project said it’s a great learning opportunity for them.
“So incredibly exciting,” said Angela Garcia, a student working on SUBSEA. “I get to work with experts all over the field, get some professional experience and make personal connections. One day I do want to work for NASA as a professional research scientist and so projects such as this is so important to actually get experience.”
“It’s really important for us here at ISU to make sure that our students are actually experiencing the careers in advance or helping shape the future while they’re still a student,” Kobs-Nawotniak said. “The only way they’ll know if these are the fields they want to go into is if they’ve been there and they’ve done it hands on.”
There are currently two ISU team members on SUBSEA but Kobs-Nawotniak said it is still a new project so ISU does plan to add more people.
But SUBSEA is not the only project that ISU is working with NASA on. There are two other projects going on too. One is FINESSE, which explores the Snake River Plain as an analog for the moon. It helps understand the formation of the moon and how it has changed over time. Another project is BASALT, which focuses on simulated missions to Mars. Those simulated missions helps scientists learn how to be able to effectively gather and use science from NASA’s space explorations, especially because techniques are not necessarily the same on other planets. So Kobs-Nawotniak said it’s important to understand how to best do science on other planets.
“It is a privilege to get to work with these teams and it is very exciting to be bringing these opportunities to students right here in Idaho,” Kobs-Nawotniak said.
