About this role
Position Overview
We are seeking a highly motivated and forward-thinking student intern for the Summer 2027 term to join our advanced research initiatives at NASA Ames Research Center. This internship sits at the exciting intersection of autonomous robotics, regenerative agriculture, and closed-loop life support systems for long-duration space missions and lunar/martian habitat development.
The successful candidate will contribute to the research, simulation, and hardware-software integration of Autonomous Space Food Forests and automated plant tissue reproduction/propagation pipelines. You will work alongside multidisciplinary mentors and researchers exploring how resilient, perennial agroforestry systems and automated tissue culture can be scaled and managed via autonomous ground systems in extreme environments.
Key Responsibilities
Autonomous System Integration: Assist in developing and testing waypoint navigation, sensor suites (such as RTK GPS and vision systems), and control architectures (including ArduPilot/ROS 2 frameworks) for autonomous agricultural robotics and habitat maintenance platforms.
Plant Tissue Reproduction & Cultivation Research: Investigate automated or controlled-environment propagation techniques for high-utility perennial crops, microgreens, and medicinal/nutritional plants (such as Chaenomeles, Lycium, or specialized tissue-culture lines) tailored for closed-loop bioregenerative life support systems (BLSS).
Simulation & 3D Visual Modeling: Utilize 3D simulation tools (such as Blender, Autodesk Maya, or NVIDIA Omniverse/Unreal Engine) to model food forest growth stages, canopy development, and autonomous robotic operations within simulated lunar base or Martian city environments.
Data Logging & Systems Analysis: Maintain comprehensive experiment logs, analyze telemetry and sensor data from automated agricultural trials, and integrate findings into project technical documentation.
Collaboration & Presentation: Participate in team design reviews, collaborate with fellow interns and senior engineers, and prepare visual simulation deliverables and technical poster presentations for center-wide showcases (such as NASA Poster Day).
Required Qualifications & Skills
Academic Background: Enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program in Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Plant Biology, Agronomy, Bioengineering, or a related scientific/technical discipline.
Technical Interests: Demonstrated passion or project experience in one or more of the following areas:
Robotics, autonomous navigation, or edge computing (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson, ROS/ROS 2, Python/C++).
Controlled environment agriculture, plant tissue culture, or hydroponic/aeroponic systems.
3D modeling, rendering, or simulation pipelines (e.g., Blender, Maya, Unreal Engine, or USD workflows).
Soft Skills: Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, excellent written and verbal communication skills, and the capacity to work effectively both independently and within a collaborative multidisciplinary team.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with microcontroller programming (e.g., ArduPilot, Pixhawk, Arduino) or CAN-bus communication.
Familiarity with OpenUSD (Universal Scene Description) or NVIDIA Omniverse for asset management and simulation.
Prior exposure to closed ecological life support systems (CELSS) or agricultural automation research.
What You Will Learn
Hands-on experience applying aerospace systems engineering principles to sustainable, terrestrial, and extraterrestrial agriculture.
Direct mentorship from leading researchers in software engineering, 3D simulation, and autonomous systems.
Opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge NASA technical reports, visual simulation movies, and open-source research frameworks.
**Eligible Applicants:** Student and Educator
**Academic Level:** 12, Undergraduate Freshman, Undergraduate Sophomore, Graduate Master's, Graduate Doctoral
**Activity Type:** In-person
**Citizenship:** US Citizen Only
**Type:** Internships