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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Some career changes involve small shifts. But for one NASA engineering intern, the leap was much bigger –moving from under the hood of a car to helping air taxis take to the skies.
Saré Culbertson spent more than a decade in the auto industry and had been working as a service manager in busy auto repair shops. Today, she supports NASA’s Air Mobility Pathfinders project as a flight operations engineer intern at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, through NASA’s Pathways program.
“NASA has helped me see opportunities I didn’t even know existed
Saré Culbertson
NASA Intern
“NASA has helped me see opportunities I didn’t even know existed,” she said. “I realized that being good at something isn’t enough – you have to be passionate about it too.”
With a strong foundation in mechanical engineering – earning a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Long Beach, Antelope Valley Engineering Program – she graduated magna cum laude and delivered her class’s commencement speech. Culbertson also earned two associate’s degrees, one in engineering and one in fine arts.
NASA Pathways intern Saré Culbertson, right, works with NASA operations engineer Jack Hayes at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Nov. 7, 2024. They are verifying GPS and global navigation satellite system coordinates using Emlid Reach RS2+ receiver equipment, which supports surveying, mapping, and navigation in preparation for future air taxi test flight research.NASA/Genaro Vavuris Before making the switch to aeronautics, she worked at car dealerships and independent car repair facilities while in college. She also led quality control efforts to help a manufacturer meet international standards for quality.
“I never thought land surveying would have anything to do with flying. But it’s a key part of supporting our research with GPS and navigation verification,” Culbertson said. “GPS measures exact positions by analyzing how long signals take to travel from satellites to ground receivers. In aviation testing, it helps improve safety by reducing signal errors and ensuring location data of the aircraft is accurate and reliable.”
A musician since childhood, Culbertson has also performed in 21 states, playing everything from tuba to trumpet, and even appeared on HBO’s “Silicon Valley” with her tuba. She’s played in ska, punk, and reggae bands and now performs baritone in the Southern Sierra Pops Orchestra.
Saré Culbertson, NASA Pathways intern at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, adjusts the Emlid Reach RS2+ receiver equipment that connects with GPS and global navigation satellite systems on Nov. 7, 2024, in preparation for future air taxi test flight research.NASA/Genaro Vavuris The NASA Pathways internship, she says, changed everything. Culbertson was recently accepted into the Master of Science in Flight Test Engineering program at the National Test Pilot School, where she will be specializing in fixed wing performance and flying qualities.
Her advice for anyone starting out?
“Listen more than you talk,” she said. “Don’t get so focused on the next promotion that you forget to be great at the job you have now.”
During her internship, Culbertson is making meaningful contributions toward NASA’s Urban Air Mobility research. She collects location data for test landing sites as part of the first evaluation of an experimental commercial electric vertical takeoff landing aircraft, a significant milestone in the development of next generation aviation technologies. From fixing cars to helping air taxis become a reality, Saré Culbertson is proof that when passion meets persistence, the sky isn’t the limit – it’s just the beginning.
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Last Updated Jun 23, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactLaura Mitchelllaura.a.mitchell@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
Armstrong Flight Research Center Air Mobility Pathfinders project Careers Internships What We Do Explore More
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
From Sunday, June 22 to Wednesday, July 2, two research aircraft will make a series of low-altitude atmospheric research flights near Philadelphia, Baltimore, and some Virginia cities, including Richmond, as well as over the Los Angeles Basin, Salton Sea, and Central Valley in California.
NASA’s P-3 Orion aircraft, based out of the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, along with Dynamic Aviation’s King Air B200 aircraft, will fly over parts of the East and West coasts during the agency’s Student Airborne Research Program. The science flights will be conducted between June 22 and July 2, 2025. NASA/Garon Clark Pilots will operate the aircraft at altitudes lower than typical commercial flights, executing specialized maneuvers such as vertical spirals between 1,000 and 10,000 feet, circling above power plants, landfills, and urban areas. The flights will also include occasional missed approaches at local airports and low-altitude flybys along runways to collect air samples near the surface.
The East Coast flights will be conducted between June 22 and Thursday, June 26 over Baltimore and near Philadelphia, as well as near the Virginia cities of Hampton, Hopewell, and Richmond. The California flights will occur from Sunday, June 29 to July 2.
The flights, part of NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program (SARP), will involve the agency’s Airborne Science Program’s P-3 Orion aircraft (N426NA) and a King Air B200 aircraft (N46L) owned by Dynamic Aviation and contracted by NASA. The program is an eight-week summer internship program that provides undergraduate students with hands-on experience in every aspect of a scientific campaign.
The P-3, operated out of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, is a four-engine turboprop aircraft outfitted with a six-instrument science payload to support a combined 40 hours of SARP science flights on each U.S. coast. The King Air B200 will fly at the same time as the P-3 but in an independent flight profile. Students will assist in the operation of the science instruments on the aircraft to collect atmospheric data.
“The SARP flights have become mainstays of NASA’s Airborne Science Program, as they expose highly competitive STEM students to real-world data gathering within a dynamic flight environment,” said Brian Bernth, chief of flight operations at NASA Wallops.
“Despite SARP being a learning experience for both the students and mentors alike, our P-3 is being flown and performing maneuvers in some of most complex and restricted airspace in the country,” said Bernth. “Tight coordination and crew resource management is needed to ensure that these flights are executed with precision but also safely.”
For more information about Student Airborne Research Program, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/early-career-opportunities/student-airborne-research-program/
By Olivia Littleton
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
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Last Updated Jun 20, 2025 Related Terms
Airborne Science Aeronautics Wallops Flight Facility View the full article
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By NASA
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Advanced Composites Consortium team members gathered during May 2025 at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia for a technical review of activities in the Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing project.NASA NASA and its partners in the Advanced Composites Consortium gathered at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on April 29-May 1, 2025.
Team members from 22 organizations in the public-private partnership are collaborating to increase the production rate of composite aircraft, reduce costs, and improve performance.
The team discussed results from the Technology Development Phase of NASA’s Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project.
The project is evaluating concepts and competing approaches at the subcomponent scale to determine technologies with the greatest impact on manufacturing rate and cost. The most promising concepts will be demonstrated on full-scale wing and fuselage components during the next four years.
Through collaboration and shared investment, the team is increasing the likelihood of technologies being adopted for next-generation transports, ultimately lowering costs for operators and improving the U.S. competitive advantage in the commercial aircraft industry.
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Last Updated May 13, 2025 EditorJim BankeContactShannon Eichornshannon.eichorn@nasa.gov Related Terms
Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing View the full article
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A Boeing-built X-66 full-span model underwent testing in the 11-Foot Transonic Unitary Plan Facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley between January and March 2025.NASA / Brandon Torres NASA and Boeing are currently evaluating an updated approach to the agency’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project that would focus on demonstrating thin-wing technology with broad applications for multiple aircraft configurations.
Boeing’s proposed focus centers on a ground-based testbed to demonstrate the potential for long, thin-wing technology. Work on the X-66 flight demonstrator – which currently incorporates a more complex transonic truss braced wing concept that uses the same thin wing technology as well as aerodynamic, structural braces — would pause for later consideration based on the thin-wing testbed results and further truss-braced configuration studies.
Under this proposal, all aspects of the X-66 flight demonstrator’s design, as well as hardware acquired or modified for it, would be retained while the long, thin-wing technology is being investigated with more focus. NASA and Boeing would also continue to collaborate on research into the transonic truss-braced wing concept.
The proposal is based on knowledge gained through research conducted under the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project so far.
Since NASA issued the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator award in 2023, the project has made significant progress toward its goal of informing future generations of more sustainable commercial airliners. Boeing and NASA have collaborated on wind tunnel tests, computational fluid dynamics modeling, and structural design and analysis aimed at exploring how best to approach fuel-efficient, sustainable designs.
This research has built confidence in the substantial potential energy-savings benefits that technologies investigated through the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project and other NASA research can make possible. The Boeing proposal identifies the thin-wing concept as having broad applications for potential incorporation into aircraft with and without truss braces.
NASA and Boeing are discussing potential options for advancing these sustainable flight technologies. NASA’s ultimate goal for this sustainable aircraft research is to achieve substantial improvements for next-generation airliner efficiency, lower costs for travelers, reduced fuel costs and consumption, and increase U.S. aviation’s technological leadership.
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Last Updated Apr 24, 2025 EditorLillian GipsonContactRobert Margettarobert.j.margetta@nasa.gov Related Terms
Aeronautics Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Green Aviation Tech Integrated Aviation Systems Program Sustainable Flight Demonstrator View the full article
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
One of several NASA distributed sensing ground nodes is set up in the foreground while an experimental air taxi aircraft owned by Joby Aviation sits in the background near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on March 12, 2025. NASA is collecting information during this study to help advance future air taxi flights, especially those occurring in cities, to track aircraft moving through traffic corridors and around landing zones.NASA/Genaro Vavuris NASA engineers began using a network of ground sensors in March to collect data from an experimental air taxi to evaluate how to safely integrate such vehicles into airspace above cities – in all kinds of weather.
Researchers will use the campaign to help improve tools to assist with collision avoidance and landing operations and ensure safe and efficient air taxi operations in various weather conditions.
For years, NASA has looked at how wind shaped by terrain, including buildings in urban areas, can affect new types of aircraft. The latest test, which is gathering data from a Joby Aviation demonstrator aircraft, looks at another kind of wind – that which is generated by the aircraft themselves.
Joby flew its air taxi demonstrator over NASA’s ground sensor array near the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California producing air flow data. The Joby aircraft has six rotors that allow for vertical takeoffs and landings, and tilt to provide lift in flight. Researchers focused on the air pushed by the propellers, which rolls into turbulent, circular patterns of wind.
NASA aeronautical meteorologist Luke Bard adjusts one of several wind lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on March 12, 2025, in preparation to collect data from Joby Aviation’s experimental air taxi aircraft. NASA is collecting information during this study to help advance weather-tolerant air taxi operations for the entire industryNASA/Genaro Vavuris This rolling wind can affect the aircraft’s performance, especially when it’s close to the ground, as well as others flying in the vicinity and people on the ground. Such wind turbulence is difficult to measure, so NASA enhanced its sensors with a new type of lidar – a system that uses lasers to measure precise distances – and that can map out the shapes of wind features.
“The design of this new type of aircraft, paired with the NASA lidar technology during this study, warrants a better understanding of possible wind and turbulence effects that can influence safe and efficient flights,” said Grady Koch, lead for this research effort, from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
Data to Improve Aircraft Tracking
NASA also set up a second array of ground nodes including radar, cameras, and microphones in the same location as the sensors to provide additional data on the aircraft. These nodes will collect tracking data during routine flights for several months.
The agency will use the data gathered from these ground nodes to demonstrate the tracking capabilities and functions of its “distributed sensing” technology, which involves embedding multiple sensors in an area where aircraft are operating.
One of multiple NASA distributed sensing ground nodes is set up in the foreground while an experimental air taxi aircraft owned by Joby Aviation hovers in the background near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on March 12, 2025. NASA is collecting information during this study to help advance future air taxi flights, especially those occurring in cities, to track aircraft moving through traffic corridors and around landing zones.NASA/Genaro Vavuris This technology will be important for future air taxi flights, especially those occurring in cities by tracking aircraft moving through traffic corridors and around landing zones. Distributed sensing has the potential to enhance collision avoidance systems, air traffic management, ground-based landing sensors, and more.
“Our early work on a distributed network of sensors, and through this study, gives us the opportunity to test new technologies that can someday assist in airspace monitoring and collision avoidance above cities,” said George Gorospe, lead for this effort from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
Using this data from an experimental air taxi aircraft, NASA will further develop the technology needed to help create safer air taxi flights in high-traffic areas. Both of these efforts will benefit the companies working to bring air taxis and drones safely into the airspace.
The work is led by NASA’s Transformational Tools and Technologies and Convergent Aeronautics Solutions projects under the Transformative Aeronautics Concepts program in support of NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission. NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission seeks to deliver data to guide the industry’s development of electric air taxis and drones.
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Last Updated Apr 17, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactTeresa Whitingteresa.whiting@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
Armstrong Flight Research Center Advanced Air Mobility Ames Research Center Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Drones & You Flight Innovation Glenn Research Center Langley Research Center Transformational Tools Technologies Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program Explore More
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