7:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 18th.
As I gaze up at the tangled myriad of diagrams and equations that obscures what might once have been recognizable as a pristine whiteboard, I can’t help but think that we’ve come a long way since Day 1. After weeks of spherical trigonometry, astrophotography, and Newtonian physics, we’ve finally arrived at the most exciting stage of SSP: the Method of Gauss for orbit determination.
No longer will I be caught perusing websites with conspicuous, eye-catching titles like “How the moon works.”

No. We’ve moved beyond such trivial matters as the moon to study the space rocks that actually matter: our asteroids, which every SSP team of three has been dutifully tracking for the past three weeks.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. After all, I’d be remiss to present these moments as the only things us participants are getting up to. SSP teenagers have fun too (most of the time)!
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7:00 a.m., Wednesday, July 17th.
My watch buzzes. Slowly and lethargically, I pull myself out of bed, as next to me, my roommate Nikhilesh does the same. Neither of us are usually up this early. But today, I forgo my normal morning routine—running/calisthenics until 8:40 a.m, then dashing into the classroom at 8:59 a.m., much to our site director’s chagrin—for our third field trip of the program: a scenic walk in Dripping Springs Natural Area. After weeks in the dry deserts of the immediate Las Cruces area, it’s nice to be surrounded by some greenery for a change.
The winding, gravel path and pleasant but mellow incline reminds me of our prior climb up to Tortugas Mountain Observatory. Hard to believe that it’s been over two weeks since that particular adventure.
But while thinking of time flying by is a little saddening, I’m comforted when I reflect on the bonds I’ve forged with my fellow participants. At this point, we know each other so well that it feels like I can talk to anyone about anything. During our hike, I strike up a conversation with Jinu about video games, Nikelish about vegetarian breakfast burritos, Maddie about life at boarding school, and even Ms. Emma Lauden, our guest lecturer, about her life as an astrophysics researcher.
The view at the top is as stunning as it can be a mere ten minutes from NMSU (which is to say still beautiful even without the captivating atmosphere of famous sites like White Sands or Yellowstone). As the midday sun starts to beat down on us though, it’s time to head down.
The nice thing about an early morning is that there’s plenty of daylight remaining when we return to campus for the second leg of our field trip: a pool party at NMSU’s flagship, state-of-the art facility (I know this sounds satiric, but it was actually a pretty good outdoor pool, complete with a 5 m diving board and full 50 m length lanes). We pulled out the whole entourage of activities, including but not limited to pool games, fearless cannonballs and other diving displays, and relay races in which myself and all the other non-swimmers tried not to sabotage our teams too much. Spoiler: I was not very successful—my team lost every race. But nonetheless, it was all in good fun, and my favorite moment of the day was the participants handily owning the TA’s in some friendly competition, owing to Jason’s majestic butterfly (he’s been swimming for eight years).
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10:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 18th.
I walk out of the computer lab, tired but content with a night’s worth of studying on top of the day of activities and ready for bed.
For me, it’s days like today that really represent what SSP is all about. In one moment, we might be listening to Dr. Rengstorf’s insouciant yet somehow captivating lectures. After three hours of his pacing in front of the classroom and dozens of witty remarks, we’re endowed with the knowledge necessary to venture on our own, a group of brave adventurers attempting to conquer the trials of SSP problem sets. Yet in other moments—the hike, the pool—we’re just regular teenagers, enjoying our summers and having fun in whatever ways we can.
The next two weeks are exciting. We’re finally at the climax of determining the orbits of our asteroids, and being in the endgame of this academic endeavor is thrilling. But even more importantly, I’m looking forward to the last two weeks of fun with this group of people, to more adventures and lifetime memories to come.


Hi! I’m Ian, a rising senior from Madison, Wisconsin. I love computer science and physics, and I’m also a longtime hockey player and novice rower. In my free time, you’ll often find me cooking or playing the piano!