© 2019 Elisa Shebaro Photo taken by me of a tree in Vicenza, Italy.

A few weeks ago, I learned that Elon Musk wrote a college research paper about Space-Based Solar Power…I couldn’t believe it.  Today, I checked out “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future” biography by Ashlee Vance and read the following: “Musk’s longtime interest in solar power and in finding other new […]

Earlier this month, Caltech Ph.D. Grad Student, Jacob Reher, gave us, Base 11 AMP (Aerospace Mentorship Program) students, a fantastic tour of the Caltech Advanced Mechanical Bipedal Experimental Robotics LAB also known as the AMBER LAB.  Jacob showed us the semi-autonomous experimental robot Cassie (see photo below), prosthetic/exoskeleton designs and nonlinear and hybrid systems. Photo of […]

Today, was another beautiful day at the Base 11 Caltech AMP (Aerospace Mentorship Program).  The impressive Caltech Ph.D. Candidate, Joel Lawson, educated all of us about algorithms/coding using Anaconda in the wonderful Kármán Conference Room (dedicated to Theodore von Kármán).We also took another lab tour with Caltech Graduate, Morgan Hooper, as well as listened to […]

Nikola Tesla, invented so many complex innovations that we still don’t completely understand all of them today.  Some of his inventions, could not work because the materials used or available to him at that time, were too heavy.  Unfortunately, Nikola Tesla didn’t live in the age of advanced lightweight, self-healing materials, such as the “extremely promising” […]

CASSIOPeiA is by far my favorite Solar Power Satellite, it is both beautifully designed and highly efficient.  International Electric’s inspiring CASSIOPeiA stands for Constant Aperture, Solid-State, Integrated, Orbital, Phased Array.  Earlier this month, CASSIOPeiA Engineer, Ian Cash, presented his SPS at the 69th International Astronautical Congress in Bremen, Germany and wowed the audience.  The CASSIOPeiA […]

Out of hundreds of applications, only eleven students including myself, were selected to participate in the Base 11 Caltech Aerospace Mentorship Program (AMP).  Monday, was our first intro day and we got to tour Caltech!  Coolest people and institution ever! Here in the photo is Caltech Grad, Chris Dougherty, giving us a tour of the […]

It’s been nothing short of crazy since my last blog.  Recently discovered that my college transcripts were calculated incorrectly.  I have a 3.75 GPA, not 3.17, which is great! Sadly, I only learned about the HeroX American-Made Solar Prize almost 24-hours ago.  I immediately sprung into action and tried to submit my first Solar Power […]