Robotics Intern at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

My Internship

photo of author cole wilson standing in fron of rover model

Over the summer of 2025, I was down in Pasadena, CA at JPL working as a robotics intern. Specifically, I worked for Section 347Z: Advanced Robotic Systems under Rudra Mukherjee on ISAM (In-Space Assembly and Manufacturing) simulation projects. A majority of my time was spent learning NVIDIA Isaac Sim software and introducing it to Sections 347 (Robotics) and 343 (GNC). As part of this work, I developed an in-depth Isaac Sim curriculum (see bottom of page for materials) and simulated many current robotics projects at JPL.

Additionally, I was able to work hands-on with many robots and manipulators! I worked in Section 343’s Formation Control Testbed (FCT): a flat-floor floating GNC testbed. We mounted an arm made of RoboSimian actuators on the floating base, and created several mechanical test structures to simulate inertial movements of the servicer/HWO interactions. I (along with a fellow mechanical engineering intern) helped with the physical construction of these structures and removal/assembly of the arm. Additionally, I was able to simulate the FCT testbed in Isaac Sim, to quickly move from simulation to real-life tests.

As part of my internship, I collaborated with fellow HWO servicing interns at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland who were working on similar tasks. As a culminating part of my internship, David (fellow intern) and I were flown to Goddard to present our work. I was able to show my computer simulations in VR to Lee Feinberg: the Chief Architect of the HWO project! I was also able to attend the Habitable Worlds Observatory 2025 Symposium in Washington DC at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center, where I learned a lot about science and engineering cases for the project over the course of several days. I was able to meet many representatives from both public and private aerospace industry, which was extremely rewarding.

HWO Servicing Overview

The main project I was working on was the upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) mission. This exciting new project (a kind of “Super Hubble” space telescope) is scheduled for roughly 2045 and will enable observation of Earth-like worlds like never before. It aims to answer the question: are we alone? with a broad survey of exoplanets to answer that question with some degree of statistical significance. However, HWO isn’t limited to exoplanet sciences! HWO will also have far-reaching implications for Earth Sciences and could potentially even provide “fly-by-equivalent” imagery of the solar system planets!

My job on the HWO team was to research and simulate in-space robotic servicing (repair) of the telescope. Unlike Hubble (which could be serviced by Shuttle astronauts in Earth orbit), HWO will be in deep space at Earth-Sun L2 (like the James Webb Space Telescope). This makes crewed servicing impractical. By utilizing robotics, NASA and partners could potentially unlock a new era of space telescope repairability. Additionally, this could extend the service lifetime of the scopes by several decades. By creating models of the early architecture concepts (EACs) in code, it provided an interface for rapid iteration on design ideas while continuing to explore serviceability. Additionally, these computer models could also be used for outreach and ispiration for the benefits of servicing.

Final Internship Presentation

A short, fifteen minute presentation going over the basics of my internship at JPL and an overview of the work I did. Please note that none of the many videos play in the browser embed: please download a copy and view in PowerPoint for the full viewing experience!

NVIDIA Isaac Sim Manual

An in-depth tutorial and guide to getting started with NVIDIA Isaac Sim. This manual encompasses all the simulation work I did over the summer and some common sticking points and notes I had. (Again, please download to view the large amount of videos.)

Final Simulation Video (~7x)

This is my final product from the Isaac Sim simulation of HWO EAC2 Robotic Servicing. Please view the downloaded slideshows to see all camera views and alternative lighting conditions!

All JPL/NASA media on this page has been reviewed for Unlimited Public Release and determined not to contain CUI.

This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, and was sponsored by JVSRP/Guardians of Honor and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004).

contact cole.b.wilson@wsu.edu for questions