Trailblazer of the Week

Garni Gharibian

17 September 2021

As a kid, Garni Gharibian had always been interested in becoming an astronaut and intrigued by the idea of space and the mystery behind what’s out there in the Universe. But then he realized that becoming an astronaut wasn’t the only way to explore space.

“I didn’t necessarily have to be in space in order to make this a reality,” says Gharibian. “Satellites, rovers, probes, and many other devices exist to help us explore the Universe, and I thought that was awesome. This fueled my pursuit of computer science and, more specifically, my pursuit of AI research in fields that help with computer navigation and vision.”

And so, before he had graduated high school, Gharibian decided he would attend Pasadena City College (PCC) to study computer science instead of going on to a four-year university in the hopes of saving money and being able to go to a more renowned school for his degree later on. At first this decision caused a great deal of pushback from friends and family.

“I received so much backlash from this that I eventually began believing that it would never be possible to be able to pursue what I wanted to do, or be able to even be a part of a NASA mission in the first place,” says Gharibian. “Throughout my first year at PCC, I never even considered the idea of being a part of a mission like Lunar Trailblazer to be a possibility. This was the case until I was pushed by my friends to try and join NASA’s Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) program, and learn more about what NASA offers for students.”

As a PCC student, Gharibian had regularly participated in the computer science club and would spend his additional extracurricular hours drafting various coding scripts with friends, embarking even on creating autonomous drones. But it was joining the NCAS program that reignited his past dreams of being a part of a NASA mission and led him to his Lunar Trailblazer internship.

“As a scholar in the program, teams were given the task of creating a mission plan for collecting in-situ resource (lunar regolith) from the surface of the Moon,” recalls Gharibian. “We would compete with other groups to create the best mission plan, judged by NASA representatives after six weeks of planning. This experience was incredibly useful for introducing me to the environment of a NASA mission.”

The opportunity to then work on a real NASA mission presented itself to Gharibian; Caltech’s Division of Geological and Planetary Science and PCC had launched their collaborative student internship initiative in the fall of 2019, and in the spring of 2021 the Lunar Trailblazer mission was looking for student interns to assist the Mission Operation Systems/Ground Data Systems (MOS/GDS) subsystem. As Trailblazer’s ground-based control system, MOS/GDS will ultimately command its flight system and control data transmission to and from the spacecraft. But the programs to do so need to be created as coding scripts, then tested and vetted. Gharibian applied and was welcomed aboard the team.

“My day-to-day role consists of scripting procedures for collecting, analyzing, and reporting the output of Lunar Trailblazer’s sensory information over the course of the mission,” explains Gharibian. “I spend most of my days writing and testing scripts that send and receive information from our fill-drain model, which simulates the spacecraft’s movement across the Moon and then generates information concerning the spacecraft’s location and orientation that would be saved into Lunar Trailblazer’s dedicated database.”

For Gharibian, one of the most exciting—and challenging—moments of this job comes from starting an entirely new procedure for the database, especially when it tests his programming knowledge and abilities.

“I feel the most challenged when I have to learn to do something that I’ve never done before,” he says. “Many of the scripts that I write can vary wildly in functionality, and, more often than not, I have to understand and incorporate concepts that I’ve never used before into my work in order to be able to create something that’s usable for our mission. And although I spend the majority of my time scripting, there are also large periods of time between writing sections of code that are spent reviewing documentation, and trying to learn new ways of doing the task at hand.”

Gharibian notes how this exploration of the infinite potential of solutions and working with such a dedicated team has been the most rewarding part of his internship.

“I also feel my most fulfilled when I’ve finished a project, being able to take a step back and admire the work I’ve done,” he explains. “But the most inspiring part of my job comes from being able to work with a team of smart, dedicated, and hardworking people who constantly support and push me to work harder and explore new ways of solving problems on a daily basis.”

Gharibian’s approach to problem solving has its roots right here in Southern California. He’s originally from Burbank and values the tall tales and wacky experiences he’s had living the majority of his life in the greater Los Angeles area.

“One of my most cherished memories from living here has been walking around the perimeter of the city,” says Gharibian. “The activity came up as a ‘cure for boredom’ amongst my friends during a slow day, and so, with nothing better to do, we immediately got on our way. On a summer day in SoCal, this is just about the worst thing you could possibly do. It was painfully hot, and incredibly grueling. There were many points throughout the trip where we wanted to give up, but we all shared support for one another and pushed ourselves to move on. After around 16 miles of walking over an eight-hour time period, we finally completed our circuit and accomplished what we set out to do. As awful as the experience was, it now serves as a heartening reminder of what I can accomplish throughout my life with the support of my friends.”

His most cherished pastimes though are hiking and playing music—sometimes at the same time.

“Between long periods of concentrated work, I always find new serenity from going hiking, and Southern California contains a great amount of mountain ranges to explore,” Gharibian says. “Sometimes, if I’m feeling up for it, I’ll take my guitar with me, hike with it all the way to the top of a mountain, find a spot with a good view, then sit down and play for hours on end while taking in the scenery. This, in my opinion, is the single most relaxing experience in the world.”

Gharibian is now in the process of transferring to UCLA as a computer science and engineering major. But for his first time working on a space mission, Lunar Trailblazer remains more than just another trail he has trekked.

“Being a part of this team makes me feel constantly fulfilled, knowing that all my work will one day be a part of a system that’s used to scour in-situ resources, generate science, and find new, never-before-seen things about the water content on the Moon,” he says. “I truly believe that the team of people that work to create Lunar Trailblazer are some of the most dedicated and hardworking people that I’ve ever met. Nothing in this world makes me feel more inspired to do more and raise the bar higher and higher than being a part of a team with such passion and determination as this one, and I'm eternally grateful for having been a part of it.”

Garni Gharibian is a Pasadena City College MOS/GDS intern and Trailblazer of the Week!

By Emily Felder
Emily Felder is a Pasadena City College student and Caltech intern working on science communication for the Lunar Trailblazer mission.