SEES 2026 PROJECT THEMES

Subject to Change – Updated April 28, 2026

EARTH AND SPACE RESEARCH

Astronaut Photography: Observing Earth from Space 
NASA monitors our dynamic Earth using a variety of assets, from Earth-orbiting satellites to astronaut photography taken by crew on the International Space Station. Awareness of the fragility and beauty of Earth is important for people all over the world. This project will have interns working with astronaut photography of Earth and NASA data to gain experience with research, analysis, and communication. The plan is to have interns work together on a project to observe change over time in astronaut photographs and use NASA datasets to support their observations. Be ready to do research, enhance your geography knowledge, learn about landforms and features on Earth, gain skills with communicating information effectively to others, and more!

Astronomy – Surveying the Universe
Our Earth is just a small part of the whole Universe. In addition to learning about the scale of the Universe the students and reviewing some important astronomy tools, the students will be working with real data. Options are astronomy research through Citizen Science projects such as Searching for Extreme Galaxies, or Seeking Pulsars based on their radio emission. With these projects students will be helping astronomers process the vast amount of available data and make conclusions about the frequency of different object types, star formation, and galaxies. Another research option is going back to the basics and learning how to process data taken at the UT McDonald Observatory to determine a stellar cluster’s age.

Planetary Geology
The Planetary Geology strand will focus on looking at geologic processes on Earth and comparing them to known and possible activity on other planets. We will explore surface processes that are indicative of weathering and erosion and compare Earth’s surface to the surface of other celestial bodies to look for similarities. We will learn about internal processes of Earth that drive plate tectonics and are responsible for Earth’s volcanoes, earthquakes and mountains and look for evidence of these processes on other planets and celestial objects. Significance will be given to case study evidence from Mars regarding marsquakes.

TECHNOLOGY

Weighing Where the Water Goes 
Interns will analyze data from GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) and GRACE-FO, twin satellites that are making detailed measurements of Earth’s gravity field changes and revolutionizing investigations about Earth’s water resources over land, ice, and oceans, as well as earthquakes and crustal deformations. These discoveries are having far-reaching benefits to society and the world’s population.

ENGINEERING

AeroSAR
The SEES Drone Team will cover a broad range of topics that starts with training for a Part 107 Drone license. Together, the team will approach a series of drone challenges that include assisting with payload recovery, tracking an active HAB mission, and strategies to map and cover an area for Search and Rescue. In addition, the team will practice geographical mapping, storm investigation, and atmospheric sensing with drones. Activities will also include preparing for the FAA drone license exam for those interested.

Engineer Beyond Your World
This internship will look at current NASA missions throughout the Solar System and ask, “Where should we explore next? Why? And How?” As a team you will search our galactic neighborhood for places of interest, research the latest technologies combined with geological resources and features and develop the next mission for NASA including prototyping proposed tech. Expectations for this project include teamwork, weekly meetings with work between beginning mid-May until working together in-person at SEES. Members of the team will follow the Engineering Design Process on the path to creating and presenting NASA’s next great journey into the Solar System.

Mission Architecture Planning Tool Development (formerly In-space Refueling: It’s All About the Bubbles)
In this project, you will develop a Python-based Mission Architecture Planning Tool for an authentic, industry-defined space mission application. The industry partner will provide real mission objectives and constraints for an active mission, and your results will be used in their internal planning. You will build a tool that uses the rocket equation to estimate propellant requirements and track how spacecraft mass changes across mission segments, allowing you to evaluate whether different mission designs are feasible. By varying inputs such as vehicle performance, payload mass, number of launches, and refueling strategies, you will compare multiple approaches to accomplishing the mission. The project will include pre-readings and four initial meeting on Mondays during June. You will produce a functional tool, document your assumptions and methods, and present your findings both to the SEES program and to the mission customer. Some basic familiarity with Python will be helpful.

Planetary Glider Project
For this project, SEES interns will design a remote-controlled glider with an airframe that can fold up and fit inside a rocket. The work may include coding with Arduino or Raspberry Pi, building and testing electronics, setting up RF communication, and applying the physics of glider flight such as lift, drag, stability, and the use of control surfaces. Students may also choose to use 3D CAD modeling and printing. Teams can add sensors or cameras and develop their design into a mission concept for exploring Mars or Venus.

The X-59: Lowering the Sonic Boom
NASA’s QueSST (Quiet SuperSonic Technology) focuses on reducing sonic booms from supersonic aircraft to make faster-than-sound flight over land feasible. The X-59, an experimental aircraft, demonstrates how a quiet sonic “thump” replaces the loud boom. TXSESS interns contribute to QueSST by studying sonic boom science, the X-59’s design and sound propagation, and testing microphone hardware for capturing its acoustic signature. Interns help identify technical needs for future flyover missions and collect preliminary field data, working under the guidance of NASA aerospace experts.

MISSION DESIGN

Aerospace Engineering – Texas Atmospheric and Space Research (TASR)
In this project, students will develop a small engineering payload to be deployed on a high-altitude balloon. Students will work with mentors to develop the payload, along with the supporting electronics and systems required to conduct a simple test with a given sensor. Students will develop the test hypothesis and experiment design, assist with assembly of the payload, and its deployment. Upon recovering the payload, students will analyze the data and generate results in support of (or in contradiction of) the test hypothesis. This includes generating a final write-up and/or presentation communicating the hypothesis, the test procedures, data analysis, and conclusions.

Design and Operation of a Lunar Mission
Students will work in mission teams to design and adapt an Artemis-class exploration mission. Each team member will take on a specialized role, such as payload planning, logistics, propulsion and fuel management, science target selection, and crew operations.

Throughout the week, students will respond to changing mission conditions, unexpected constraints, and new stakeholder priorities. These curveballs will require teams to reassess their plans, make trade-offs, justify decisions, and balance competing needs across science, engineering, safety, and mission success.

The project emphasizes systems thinking, teamwork, technical decision-making, and real-world mission planning. Students will learn that successful space missions depend not only on strong initial design, but also on the ability to adapt, communicate, and make informed compromises when conditions change.

Human Health Analog: Psychological and Physiological Deficit Countermeasures in Human Spaceflight
The project you are joining will cover aspects of what it takes to operate in extreme environments, such as space. However, space is not the only extreme environment that exists and definitely is not the easiest to access. As such, analog environments can be used to do preliminary testing to assess the data and other dynamics involved with spaceflight. Throughout your time in the program you will hear from speakers and participate in opportunities that give you better insight into what it takes to work in these different environments. This should help direct your thoughts and ideas, which you wouldn’t necessarily be able to do without tangible experiences. Hopefully by the end of the program you would have learned information which can help you develop research ideas and projects that can be carried forward and make meaningful differences to the future of human spaceflight.

Human Research Fellowship (HRF) 
The Human Research Fellowship will take an in-depth look at NASA’s Human Research Program. Learning about the skills and traits it takes to work with NASA, looking at current research aboard the ISS, hearing first hand experiences from NASA human test subjects, participating in mock informed consent briefings and hands-on activities similar to authentic NASA experiments are what participants can expect during this internship. The capstone project will be the team researching and developing a hypothetical complement of human research experiments for Artemis III.

Mars Rover Resource Utilization 
Interns will design a rover mission to explore in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) on Mars. Key goals include Studying Mars Habitability, Seeking Signs of Past Microbial Life, Collecting and Caching Samples, and Preparing for Future Human Missions. Interns will select a landing site for a hypothetical rover mission, decide on an instrument payload for their rover, determine regions of interest for the rover to investigate, and plot a traverse for their rover using remote sensing data of their chosen landing site.

Moon and Moon-2-Mars Habitat & Science 
In this project, interns will research, design, and present a mission concept for a Lunar Research Base at the Moon’s south pole. As a team, you will research the requirements for a lunar base, including safety, mass, and power constraints. You will make choices on mission Concept of Operations (ConOps), engineering design, and scientific objectives. Your mission design will explore the principle that “engineering enables science, and science enables engineering“. Finally, your work will culminate in a final report and presentation for the NASA SEES community conference and presentation.

Quantum Pathways
NASA’s next-generation gravity radiometry missions require unprecedented precision in measuring subtle variations in Earth’s gravitational field from orbit. Achieving this sensitivity is critical for applications ranging from climate monitoring to subsurface resource mapping, yet current sensor technologies face fundamental noise and resolution limits in the space environment. Quantum information processing offers a path forward by enabling quantum sensing techniques with dramatically enhanced sensitivity beyond classical limits, which is the approach being taken at UT’s Quantum Pathways Institute, sponsored by NASA. This project investigates the connection between the structural and optical properties of quantum-engineered materials known as digital alloys. These III–V heterostructures enable precise bandgap and interface control, positioning them at the forefront of single-photon detection technologies. In particular, digital alloys operating in the ~2 µm wavelength band—where the atmosphere is highly transparent—provide a promising platform for space-based sensing systems requiring high efficiency and low noise. Participants will use a combination of X-ray diffraction, optical spectroscopy, phase contrast microcopy, and theory to understand how the unique mechanical stresses on these layered crystals impact the electrical/optical properties.

STELLA
In this project, students will build their own scientific instrument called STELLA-1.2 and use it to study how plants and soil use water. The program runs in two phases — a virtual learning phase beginning around May 15, 2026, where students work through foundational activities covering instrument basics, spectroscopy, and plant health measurements, followed by an on-site internship at the UT Center for Space Research in Austin, Texas from July 5–18, 2026, where students will collect real outdoor data and explore how water moves from the ground into the air through a process called evapotranspiration (ET). Students will compare what they measured to satellite data from a tool called OpenET, which tracks water use across landscapes from space. Built-in buffer time throughout the program allows students to revisit concepts and refine their data before presenting their work at the SEES Virtual Science Symposium on July 20–21, 2026, where they will share their findings with NASA experts, scientists, families, and invited guests — and potentially display a poster showcasing their journey from building an instrument to doing real science.

VIRTUAL INTERNSHIP 

Architecting AI for Human Space Travel
This study is looking at current and suspected problems in AI development and some options, including for deep space travel. The study rests on a premise that the structure of biological lifeforms, most older than the human animal- how these structures store data, problem solve, create complex structures could be very important in how the modern dominant culture creates AI. The study is looking at how can AI, complex structural systems, be created for a particular need in following the playbook of a biological life form. And how does this proven approach impact a biological life form using it. For example, in Tokyo – https://youtu.be/RVe94qa1ar4?si=f6f7V-UsxNS-wHRE

Air Quality Initiative Group – GLOBE Mission EARTH 
Are you interested in learning about the science of air quality? In the Air Quality Initiative (AQI) group, you will have the opportunity to conduct scientific research on air quality and related topics. This group will be hosted by the GLOBE Mission EARTH Team and NASA Langley Research Center. You will gain hands-on experience in collecting, analyzing, and visualizing aerosols and other data related to air quality. To map and analyze data, you can use tools like ArcGIS Online. One example of a small sensor website is PurpleAir (https://map.purpleair.com/), from where you can collect real-time aerosol data. Additionally, you will receive GLOBE e-training that enables you to collect and submit data to GLOBE (https://www.globe.gov/) following scientific protocols. This data will then be shared on GLOBE’s Visualization System, a cloud-based Geographic Information System (GIS) for citizen science data. You can choose research project topics based on your interests, within the science of air quality.

Astronomy – Age and Distance to an Open Cluster
Students will determine the age and distance to an open cluster of stars. Open clusters are groups of stars that are thought to have formed (approximately) at the same time and are the same distance from Earth. The group of stars is roughly the same chemical composition as well. Students will use astronomy software to analyze the data collected and calculate the member stars’ magnitudes. Stars will be classified by spectral type and age can be determined. From this information, the approximate distance of the cluster can also be determined.

Comparing Geologic Process Across Different Planetary Bodies
This project will introduce students to basic geology principles and how to identify features on Earth and other terrestrial planetary bodies from satellite imaging. Starting with Earth, we will learn to identify key geological features (e.g., volcanoes, sand dunes, craters) and understand how they formed. This will introduce the students to basics such as the rock cycle, geology principles, and key terms. Once we have explored different features and locations on Earth, we will move to the Moon and Mars, identifying different features at key locations on their surfaces. After working through the Moon and Mars, the final summary will be to compare and contrast the three planetary bodies and ask the students to think about and answer key questions such as how the presence of an atmosphere shapes the surface, the effects of water/life, and compositional differences across the planets in our Solar System.

Earth System Explorers
In the SEES Earth System Explorers, you will get to know one specific place on Earth—your pixel—and explore how it has changed over time using real NASA‑supported data. You’ll work in a small team with fellow interns and scientists, using tools like GLOBE Observer, Collect.Earth.Online, and Landsat time‑series maps to combine ground observations, satellite imagery, and coding‑based analysis. This project is highly collaborative and includes both in‑person work and live online sessions using Zoom for discussions, teamwork, and shared coding. You should plan to spend about 12–15 hours per week fully engaged in the program, following the entire research journey—from collecting and understanding data to creating and presenting a final Pixel Biography that tells the story of your place on Earth.

Exoplanet Transits – Detecting Planets Around Other Stars 
An exoplanet, or extra-solar planet, is just what it sounds like—a planet orbiting a star other than our Sun. Why search for them? The ultimate goal is to find a world similar to earth with the possibility that it might contain life. Additionally, studying worlds around other stars gives us clues to how our own solar system might have formed.

There are two primary methods by which exoplanets are initially discovered—the transit method, where an exoplanet crosses that face of its parent star as seen from the earth, causing the star’s brightness to drop slightly, and the radial velocity method, where the orbiting exoplanet tugs on its parent star, causing it to “wobble” a little as the exoplanet orbits it. There are additional methods of exoplanet detection, but these two are the most common, with the transit method being the way that most exoplanets are currently detected. Large planets orbiting close to their parent stars are the easiest to detect and will be the focus of this study. Two NASA spacecraft, TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)—still active and Kepler—no longer functioning, are responsible for many of the candidate exoplanet detections, but follow-up work is not their primary mission—that is the job of ground-based instruments.

For the project, students will observe several stars that have an orbiting exoplanet or an exoplanet candidate, using hundreds of images, taken over the course of one or more nights. The images may be taken at one of several wavelengths of light. The students will then use photometry software and attempt to detect the presence of the exoplanet. If it appears that there was a successful detection, then more powerful software will be brought into use and an attempt made to determine the actual size and mid-transit times of the exoplanet. Accurate mid-transit times are vitally important for scheduling follow-up observations using large ground-based telescopes. Positive detections produced by this project will be submitted to the NASA Exoplanet Archive, the primary repository of exoplanet data, so they can be used by other researchers.

MISS Mars – Machine Learning for Scanning Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures on Mars
This project will explore Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures and how AI tools can help us find them. Interns will learn the basics of sedimentary geology, what makes a feature biologically interesting, and get hands-on experience exploring the Martian surface for some of the most promising fossil evidence that could be found there. Some programming experience is helpful but not required. Our goal is straightforward: test an idea, see what we discover, and share what we learn along the way.

Urban Heat Island Study – GLOBE Mission EARTH 
In recent years, Earth has experience increasingly record-high temperatures. Increases in land surface temperature (LST) can have negative impacts on wildlife, our land and water resources, and on human health and economic activity. In particular, urban areas are prone to increased LST, due to their extensive use of impermeable surfaces such as asphalt and concrete, and their lack of vegetation. The tendency for these areas to be hotter than their surrounding rural areas is known as the “Urban Heat Island Effect”.

You can study this phenomenon and add to NASA scientists’ knowledge of the topic, from your own backyard! By joining the Urban Heat Island Effect (UHIE) Study Group, you will receive instrumentation to collect data from your immediate environment on Surface Temperature, Air Temperature and Clouds. You will then share this data with the group (and the world) by uploading it to The GLOBE Program’s Visualization System, a cloud-based Geographic Information System (GIS) of citizen science data. The GLOBE Program has a long history of engaging students and citizen scientists in the study of LST in their areas, and you will become part of this worldwide community! You will utilize your data to conduct your own research project and present it to the group and the SEES program.

Waves
A hand wave, just a simple to and fro movement. A short gentle wave may send a greeting, while a sweeping fast wave can give a warning of danger. In either case, this common form of communication, just a small wiggle through time and space conveys information and connection. NASA has long recognized the importance of the connection between crew and family members to support crew and family wellbeing. Among the hazard categories identified for human space flight, missions to Mars and sustained lunar presence will subject crews to greater challenges of isolation and confinement and increased distance from Earth. With increased distance and communication delays and ever present mass/volume constraints, lunar and Martian mission communication methods and crew support will require greater flexibility than ever before. Your project will be to develop methods and activities to maintain crew and family connectedness throughout their exploration mission.

The SEES High School Summer Intern Program is funded through NASA Cooperative Agreement Notice NNH15ZDA004C and is a part of NASA’s Science Activation program. For more information, go to: https://science.nasa.gov/learners