Evidence of Learning #2

Name of person interviewed: Mr. Aaron Paz

Profession: Aerospace Engineer
Location and business name: Phone Interview, NASA
Date of interview: 1/26/17
Time: 8:00 a.m.

This interview with Mr. Aaron Paz may have well been my first if judged by my levels of
nervousness. It was not the first time I was calling this professional, and in fact this interview for
specifically for the purpose of asking him to be my mentor. But before that important part of the
interview occurred, I asked questions that had occurred to me after our first interview to lead into
the ever important question. In the end, I had gained even more knowledge about my topic of
choice in Aerospace Engineering, and I had gained a new mentor, making this my most
successful interview of all. The main topics we discussed were the future of ISRU in space
exploration, ideas for what original work I would complete, and how Mr. Paz would be able to
help.

As this was not my first interview with him, I already knew Mr.Paz’s background in
engineering. He had worked for NASA the entirety of his working life, but had only come into
the subject of In- Situ Resource Utilization recently. For the past 3 years, he has helped design,
build, and test sub systems for the moon and a research systems for Mars that will help convert
otherworldly elements into resources we can use like fuel, liquid oxygen, and water. He has even
been able to test some of his teams’ creations at places like Hawaii at the rim of an active
volcano, because it was the closest geographically in relation to the Moon. So in this interview,
having a plethora of background knowledge to choose from, I was able to ask more challenging
questions like so else can ISRU benefit the human race specifically, and how do you think ISRU
will evolve to help human extend their reach even further into the galaxy? For the first question,
Mr. Paz admitted to me that ISRU was such a new topic in aerospace since it depended on the
availability of otherworldly elements and surfaces, but the research that is being done now about
such devices could one day be converted for commercial use and help our world with its major
energy/resource efficiency problem. For the second question, Mr. Paz, after taking some time to
think, answered, that he did not really know much about the future, because he could not predict
how elements and resources from other planets could be of use, until they were tested. Overall,
the interview was chalk-full of knowledge and learning even though it was meant to be just for
the purpose of truly securing a mentor.

In addition to all the talk about ISRU, Mr.Paz and I spoke briefly my future original
work. Before this interview my only ideas were to help design/model a part or system to be used
in a future space shuttle for mars or future ISRU device, to build and program my own rover, or
to use my technical and creative skills to help spread a message for engineering and space.
Essentially, I had no clear idea of what I wanted to do, and I needed a guiding hand. Mr. Paz
helped me realize even more possibilities, like new and founding research to help with the future
of some devices, or even help build test simulations for ongoing procedures and devices now.
Through these talks, I eventually came to realize that I wanted my original work to have many
parts, like models, research papers, an artistic component, and much more to all combine into a
project that I could present to people to answer the question of why humans should explore space
and how will they be able to achieve it.

The highlight of this interview was not only coming to a realization about my original
work, but at the same time, learning more about the work I want to do in the future: IRU. With
this successful interview behind me, I am more than confident in the months ahead, and am
ready to start my original work project.