Staples senior studies the stars in summer space program
WESTPORT — “Ad astera per aspera” — to the stars through difficulties.
That phrase is how Rebecca Schussheim, a rising senior at Staples High School, concludes her research paper.
It’s also an appropriate response to summarize Schussheim’s summer—she recently completed the 39-day Summer Science Program in New Mexico, conducting research in astrophysics.
“It was incredible to collaborate with 35 likeminded peers from around the country,” she said. “Everybody was simultaneously brilliant, yet also wonderful as research partners and friends. I was really fortunate to get to meet all of them, and I’ll definitely stay in touch with everyone I met there.”
Since 1959, the program has provided hands-on, authentic experimental research, according to a press release. SSP is cosponsored by California Institute of Technology, Harvey Mudd College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
And it wasn’t an average trip.
While there, Schussheim had the opportunity to operate a researchgrade telescope, taking images of a near-Earth asteroid called “1993 MO.” She and her two partners then used the images taken over several weeks to investigate its future orbit.
Schussheim said her group was able to locate the asteroid and calculate its orbital elements using the Method of Gauss.
Their research concluded the asteroid is likely to become unstable around 40 million years in the future.
In their simulation, some variations of the asteroid collide with the sun, some show it ejected from the solar system and some variations had it remain in unstable orbits, making it possible to collide with Earth or another planet.
The result of the asteroid’s collision with a planet would depend on its size, which is unclear in current databases, Schussheim said.
Schussheim and the other members of the program spent more than 300 hours collecting and analyzing data. They went out to view space in twohour shifts between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. to collect images, then used the Python program to analyze it.
She and her partners wrote a research paper with their findings, and even submitted their data for publication in the Minor Planet Center databse, an international catalog funded by NASA.
“I’ve always been fascinated by space and phsysics and math, especially the broader workings of the actual world,” Schussheim said about why she applied.
Her brother also participated in the biochemistry program in 2019 and said he loved it, which inspired her to apply.
Schussheim said the application was similar to a college application. She had to provide essays, teacher recommendations, test scores and transcripts.
Schussheim said the program challenged her academically.
“I took multi-variable calculus junior year in high school, and I still found it very difficult to apply my knowledge of advanced integral physics and vector calculus and to learn all of this astronomy content,” she said.
She said she found the SkyX software used in the telescope interesting. It was a simple interface that included a database with all of the objects they could possibly look at.
“You could look up the specific location of the object in the sky and then take that patch of sky and specify the exposure time as well as the type of image you were taking, and from there, you could get your data,” she said.
She also learned the importance of working with a team and her fellow students.
“I think working alongside these incredible peers really helped me to realize how valuable communication and collaboration are,” she said.
SSP also featured a variety of guest speakers, such as alumni from the program who work at NASA and other agencies. They even took a trip to visit the headquarters where the Perseverance Rover is controlled, seeing the most recent images of Mars and the code that is used to drive it.
Schussheim said that the experience broadened her interests in physical sciences. She hopes to pursue independent research opportunities and potentially study astrophysics or applied physics.
“I think it would be really cool to go into the intersection of astrophysics and business, like SpaceX or Origin,” she said.”