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By NASA
“People are excited and happy about working at Goddard,” said optics engineer Margaret Dominguez. “Most people are willing to put in the extra effort if needed. It makes work stimulating and exciting. Management really cares and the employees feel that too.”Credits: Courtesy of Margaret Dominguez Name: Margaret Dominguez
Formal Job Classification: Optical engineer
Organization: Code 551, Optics Branch, Instrument Systems and Technology Division, Engineering Directorate
What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission?
I build space telescopes. I am currently working on building one of the components for the Wide Field Instrument for the Roman Space Telescope. The component is called “Grism.” A grism is a combination of a grating and a prism.
What is unique about your childhood?
I went to high school in Tecamachalco in Puebla, Mexico, which is inland and south of Mexico City. My father raised pigs, chickens, rabbits, and cows. I am the oldest of four girls and two still live on the farm.
Why did you become a physicist?
I was always curious and had a lot of questions and thought that physics helped me answer some of these questions. I was good at math and loved it. When I told my dad I wanted to study physics, he said that I would be able to answer any question in the universe. He thought it was very cool.
What is your educational background? How an internship help you come to Goddard?
I went to the Universidad de las Americas Puebla college in Puebla and got an undergraduate degree in physics. I was very active in extracurricular activities and helped organize a physics conference. We invited Dr. Johnathan Gardner, a Goddard astronomer, who came to speak at the conference. Afterwards I spoke with him and he asked me if I was interested in doing an internship at NASA. I said I had not considered it and would be interested in applying. I applied that same spring of 2008 and got a summer internship in the Optics Branch, where I am still working today.
My branch head at Goddard was a University of Arizona alumnus. He suggested that I apply to the University of Arizona for their excellent optics program. I did, and the university gave me a full fellowship for a master’s and a Ph.D. in optical sciences.
In 2014, I began working full time at Goddard while completing my Ph.D. I graduated in May 2019.
What makes Goddard special?
Goddard has a university campus feel. It’s a place where you can work and also just hang out and socialize. Goddard has many clubs, a gym, cafeterias, and a health clinic.
People are really nice here. They are often excited and happy about working at Goddard. Most people are willing to put in the extra effort if needed. It makes work stimulating and exciting. Management really cares and the employees feel that too.
What are some of the major projects you have worked on?
Early on, I did a little bit of work on Hubble and later on, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Since 2014, I have exclusively been working on Roman. We are building the grism, a slitless spectrograph, which will measure galaxy redshifts to study dark energy.
Presently we are building different grism prototypes. We work with outside vendors to build these prototypes. When we make a prototype, we test it for months. After, we use the results to build an improved prototype. We just finished making the third prototype. We are going to build a flight instrument of which the grism is a component.
What is it like to work in the clean room?
It’s exciting – it likely means I am working on flight hardware. However, because clean rooms must be kept at about 68 degrees Fahrenheit, it can feel chilly in there!
Who are your mentors? What are the most important lessons they have taught you?
Ray Ohl, the head of the Optics Branch, is a mentor to me. He is always encouraging me to get outside my comfort zone. He presents other opportunities to me so that I can grow and listens to my feedback.
Cathy Marx, one of the Roman optical leads, is also a mentor to me. She created a support network for me and is a sounding board for troubleshooting any kind of work-related issues.
What is your role a member of the Hispanic Advisory Committee (HACE)?
I joined HACE in 2010 while I was an intern. It’s a great opportunity to network with other Hispanics and gives us a platform to celebrate specific events like Hispanic Heritage Month. I really enjoy participating in HACE’s events.
What outreach do you do? Why is doing outreach so important to you?
I do educational outreach to teach people about optics. I mainly collaborate with elementary and middle schools.
I think we need more future engineers and scientists. I want to help recruit them. I specifically focus on recruiting minorities and Hispanics. I can make a special connection with women and Hispanics.
Who is your science hero?
It would probably be Marie Curie. She’s the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she is the only woman to win two Nobel Prizes and she had to overcome a lot of challenges to achieve that.
What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words.
Disciplined. Organized. Diligent. Passionate. Curious. Family-oriented.
Is there something surprising about your hobbies outside of work that people do not generally know?
I am a certified Jazzercise instructor – I normally teach two to three times a week. I can even teach virtually if need be. It is an hour-long exercise class combining strength training and cardio through choreographed dancing. We also use weights and mats.
I also enjoy going for walks with my husband, James Corsetti, who is also an engineer in the Optics Branch.
By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
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By NASA
A Satellite for Optimal Control and Imaging (SOC-i) CubeSat awaits integration at Firefly’s Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California on Thursday, June 6, 2024. SOC-i, along with several other CubeSats, will launch to space on an Alpha rocket during NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) 43 mission as part of the agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative and Firefly’s Venture-Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 contract.NASA NASA is collaborating with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force to offer a set of hands-on learning engagements that will help higher education institutions, faculty, and students learn more about what it takes to build small satellites and enhance the potential to be selected for flight opportunities.
Teams selected for the University Nanosatellite Program Mission Concept 2025 Summer Series will receive systems engineering training that prepares them for the industrial workforce while developing small satellite expertise at U.S. universities. The program, which runs from May through August 2025, also enhances students’ potential to be selected for flights to space as part of NASA’s CSLI (CubeSat Launch Initiative) and the U.S. Air Force University Nanosatellite Program.
“Part of NASA’s mission is to inspire the next generation,” said Liam Cheney, CSLI mission manager at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “The CubeSat Launch Initiative is providing opportunities for students and educators to experiment with technology and send their missions to space.”
The program allows faculty and students to form teams for the summer program without using university resources, and includes travel funding for kickoff, final event, and any in-person reviews, among other benefits.
All U.S colleges and universities are eligible, and teams at minority-serving institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities are strongly encouraged to apply for the Mission Concepts 2025 Summer Series in accordance with the criteria in the request for proposal. The solicitation opened on Jan. 6, with a deadline to apply by Monday, Feb. 3.
The agency’s collaboration with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force helps broaden access to space and strengthen the capabilities and knowledge of higher education institutions, faculty, and students.
NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative provides opportunities for CubeSats built by U.S. educational institutions, and non-profit organizations, including informal educational institutions such as museums and science centers to fly on upcoming launches. Through innovative technology partnerships NASA provides these CubeSat developers a low-cost pathway to conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations in space, thus enabling students, teachers, and faculty to obtain hands-on flight hardware design, development, and build experience.
For more information, visit: Solicitation – UNP
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By NASA
4 min read
NASA Open Science Reveals Sounds of Space
A composite image of the Crab Nebula features X-rays from Chandra (blue and white), optical data from Hubble (purple), and infrared data from Spitzer (pink). This image is one of several that can be experienced as a sonification through Chandra’s Universe of Sound project. X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA-JPL-Caltech NASA has a long history of translating astronomy data into beautiful images that are beloved by the public. Through its Chandra X-ray Observatory and Universe of Learning programs, NASA brings that principle into the world of audio in a project known as “A Universe of Sound.” The team has converted openly available data from Chandra, supplemented by open data from other observatories, into dozens of “sonifications,” with more on the way.
Following the open science principle of accessibility, “A Universe of Sound” helps members of the public who are blind or low vision experience NASA data in a new sensory way. Sighted users also enjoy listening to the sonifications.
“Open science is this way to not just have data archives that are accessible and incredibly rich, but also to enhance the data outputs themselves,” said Dr. Kimberly Arcand, the visualization scientist and emerging technology lead at Chandra and member of NASA’s Universe of Learning who heads up the sonification team. “I want everybody to have the same type of access to this data that I do as a scientist. Sonification is just one of those steps.”
Data sonification of the Milky Way galactic center, made using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and Spitzer Space Telescope. While the Chandra telescope provides data in X-ray wavelengths for most of the sonifications, the team also took open data from other observatories to create a fuller picture of the universe. Types of data used to create some of the sonifications include visual and ultraviolet light from the Hubble Space Telescope, infrared and visual light from the James Webb Space Telescope, and infrared light from the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope.
The sonification team, which includes astrophysicist Matt Russo, musician Andrew Santaguida (both of the SYSTEM Sounds project), consultant Christine Malec, and Dr. Arcand, assigned each wavelength of observation to a different musical instrument or synthesized sound to create a symphony of data. Making the separate layers publicly available was important to the team to help listeners understand the data better.
“It’s not just about accessibility. It’s also about reproducibility,” Arcand said. “We’re being very specific with providing all of the layers of sound, and then describing what those layers are doing to make it more transparent and obvious which steps were taken and what process of translation has occurred.”
For example, in a sonification of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, modified piano sounds represent X-ray data from Chandra, strings and brass represent infrared data from Webb and Spitzer, and small cymbals represent stars located via visual light data from Hubble.
Data sonification of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant, made using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, James Webb Space Telescope, and Hubble Space Telescope. The team brought together people of various backgrounds to make the project a success – scientists to obtain and interpret the data, audio engineers to mix the sonifications, and members of the blind and low vision community to direct the product into something that brought a greater understanding of the data.
“Another benefit to open science is it tends to open those pathways of collaboration,” Arcand said. “We invite lots of different community members into the process to make sure we’re creating something that adds value, that adds to the greater good, and that makes the investment in the data worthwhile.”
A documentary about the sonifications called “Listen to the Universe” is hosted on NASA+. Visitors can listen to all the team’s sonifications, including the separate layers from each wavelength of observation, on the Universe of Sound website.
By Lauren Leese
Web Content Strategist for the Office of the Chief Science Data Officer
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Last Updated Dec 17, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
4 min read
NASA AI, Open Science Advance Natural Disaster Research and Recovery
Hurricane Ida is pictured as a category 2 storm from the International Space Station as it orbited 264 miles above the Gulf of Mexico. In the foreground is the Canadarm2 robotic arm with Dextre, the fine-tuned robotic hand, attached. NASA By Lauren Perkins
When you think of NASA, disasters such as hurricanes may not be the first thing to come to mind, but several NASA programs are building tools and advancing science to help communities make more informed decisions for disaster planning.
Empowered by NASA’s commitment to open science, the NASA Disasters Program supports disaster risk reduction, response, and recovery. A core element of the Disasters Program is providing trusted, timely, and actionable data to aid organizations actively responding to disasters.
Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana Aug. 21, 2021, as a category 4 hurricane, one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in the continental United States on record. The effects of the storm were widespread, causing devastating damage and affecting the lives of millions of people.
During Hurricane Ida, while first responders and other organizations addressed the storm’s impacts from the ground, the NASA Disasters program was able to provide a multitude of remotely sensed products. Some of the products and models included information on changes in soil moisture, changes in vegetation, precipitation accumulations, flood detection, and nighttime lights to help identify areas of power outages.
Image Before/After The NASA team shared the data with its partners on the NASA Disasters Mapping Portal and began participating in cross-agency coordination calls to determine how to further aid response efforts. To further connect and collaborate using open science efforts, NASA Disasters overlaid publicly uploaded photos on their Damage Proxy Maps to provide situational awareness of on-the-ground conditions before, during, and after the storm.
Immediate post-storm response is critical to saving lives; just as making informed, long- term response decisions are critical to providing equitable recovery solutions for all. One example of how this data can be used is blue tarp detection in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
Using artificial intelligence (AI) with NASA satellite images, the Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT), based at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, conducted a study to detect the number of blue tarps on rooftops in the aftermath of hurricanes, such as Ida, as a way of characterizing the severity of damage in local communities.
An aerial photograph shows damaged roofs from Hurricane Maria in 2017 in Barrio Obrero, Puerto Rico. In the wake of the hurricane, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and United States Army Corps of Engineers distributed 126,000 blue tarps and nearly 60,000 temporary blue roofs to people awaiting repairs on damaged homes. NASA While disasters cannot be avoided altogether, timely and accessible information helps communities worldwide reduce risk, improve response, hasten recovery, and build disaster resilience.
Through an initiative led by NASA’s Office of the Chief Science Data Officer, NASA and IBM are developing five open-source artificial intelligence foundation models trained on NASA’s expansive satellite repositories. This effort will help make NASA’s vast, ever-growing amounts of data more accessible and usable. Leveraging NASA’s AI expertise allows users to make faster, more informed decisions. User applications of the Prithvi Earth Foundation Models could range from identifying flood risks and predicting crop yields to forecasting long range atmospheric weather patterns.
“NASA is dedicated to ensuring that our scientific data are accessible and beneficial to all. Our AI foundation models are scientifically validated and adaptable to new data, designed to maximize efficiency and lower technical barriers. This ensures that even in the face of challenging disasters, response teams can be swift and effective,” said Kevin Murphy, NASA’s chief science data officer. “Through these efforts, we’re not only advancing scientific frontiers, but also delivering tangible societal benefits, providing data that can safeguard lives and improve resilience against future threats.”
Hear directly from some of the data scientists building these AI models, the NASA disaster response team, as well as hurricane hunters that fly directly into these devastating storms on NASA’s Curious Universe podcast.
Learn more about NASA’s AI for Science models at https://science.nasa.gov/artificial-intelligence-science/.
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Last Updated Nov 26, 2024 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:07:25 Meet Copernicus Sentinel-1 – this ground-breaking mission delivers continuous, all-weather, day-and-night imaging for land, ice and maritime monitoring.
Equipped with state-of-the-art C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), Sentinel-1 captures high-resolution data around the clock, in any weather, making it indispensable for detecting the subtle changes on Earth’s surface that remain hidden from the human eye.
Sentinel-1 data serves a multitude of critical applications: from ensuring the safety and efficiency of maritime traffic, tracking sea ice and icebergs, to monitoring structural integrity and natural hazards, such as earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity.
Its enhanced radar technology provides precises precise information on ground movement, which is critical for urban planning, infrastructure resilience, subsidence risk assessment and geohazard monitoring.
Through consistent, long-term data collection, Sentinel-1 serves as a global asset, essential for environmental and safety monitoring worldwide. The mission is a beacon of innovation, advancing our understanding of our planet’s dynamic landscape.
This video features interviews with Mark Drinkwater, Head of Mission Sciences Division at ESA, Ramon Torres Cuesta, Sentinel-1 Project Manager at ESA and Julia Kubanek, Sentinel-1 Mission Scientist at ESA.
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