Micro-G NExT is organized by NASA and encourages undergraduate students to design, build and test a tool or device that addresses an authentic, current space exploration challenge. I participated in Micro-G NExT in 2017 as a part of the Columbia Space Initiative club. Our challenge that year was to create a subsurface sampling device for asteroids. I was involved with design and with outreach (i.e. organizing local workshops, etc.). This was a really fun challenge, and I got to learn a lot about working with computer-aided design (CAD), namely SolidWorks.

A complete report detailing the device we built can be found here.