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NASA SEES Interns Tackle Real-World Challenges in Lunar Exploration

Photo: NASA

Because a complete IM-3 trajectory is not public, the team wrote a reconstruction algorithm using published IM-1 and IM-2 flight data. To model fluid behavior, the team ran computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to estimate slosh dynamics within the tanks and conducted Monte Carlo simulations to predict the range of possible propellant states.

Project Mentor: Dr. Kevin M. Crosby, Carthage College and Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Project Assistant: Mauro Esquivel, mathematics teacher, McAllen, TX

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SCINASA

NASA’s X-59 Aircraft and Test Pilot

NASA test pilot Mike Lippert poses for a photo ahead of his first time flying the agency’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft on Oct. 21, 2026. The X-59 has flown numerous times since its inaugural flight in November 2025; its first supersonic flight was on June 5, 2026. Lippert took off from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, and landed one hour later. The flight came after scheduled maintenance and a review of the X-59’s systems following the aircraft’s busiest week of testing to date.

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