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[ Music ]

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>> My dad would take me
to JPL when I was little.

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They had the open houses there,
and that was really nice,

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just because I got to
see that perspective.

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I remember there was a
time when I went to JPL,

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and there was actually a
female engineer working there,

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and I said, "Wow, like, if she
can do that, then why can't I?"

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So, that really helped
me see that, you know,

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I could work at NASA someday.

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If she's doing it, why can't I?

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Eight-seventy, right turn, and
work east, ten to ten five.

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Five. My name is Steffi Valkov,

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and I am a flight
operations engineer at NASA.

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Comments,
two five six.

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>> NASA eight seven zero IP
inbound 9500 [inaudible].

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>> My background is in
aerospace engineering.

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I got my bachelor's
at Cal Poly Pomona,

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and I always really
wanted to work at NASA.

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So, as a flight operations
engineer, what I do is,

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I am part of a team that
organizes flight tests,

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so my project is called
UAS Integration in the NAS.

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The goal of UAS in the
NAS, it's in the name,

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is to safely integrate
unmanned aerial systems

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into the national airspace.

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So, what that means is that
UAVs like Ikhana can fly

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with other commercial
airlines and smaller aircraft.

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So, what we're doing
during this type

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of testing is having Ikhana
fly against a piloted aircraft,

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and what we will call these
piloted aircraft is a intruder

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or a manned intruder, because
there is an actual pilot

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on board.

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Ikhana would fly
within close proximity

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of the intruder aircraft, a
certain lateral separation

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and vertical separation, and
once they would get close,

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there would be, sensors would
be able to pick up the intruder.

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These are sensors
on board Ikhana,

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and we would actually be able to
see those alerts on the displays

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so that the pilot, remote pilot
that's on the ground looking

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at the display can say, "Okay,
I have an intruder to my left,

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so I have to turn
right," for example.

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So, the reason we're doing
this is so that one day

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when remotely piloted
vehicles are flying more

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in the national airspace,
different types of intruders,

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as we call them, more safely.

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So, one of the main functions
that I have on my project is

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that I am in charge of
putting together an operations

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working group.

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Ted, I have your cards up,

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if you want to start
going through them.

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So, different concerns
that we look

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at during these meetings is how
we can most safely fly Ikhana

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against a piloted intruder.

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So, if you look at how close
we fly during our tests,

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we actually brought down
the vertical separation

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down to 200 feet, with
0.4 nautical miles'

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lateral separation.

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Now, this is really important,
because we would discuss

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with the pilots, you know, do
you feel comfortable with this?

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Do you feel safe?

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Would you be able to
acquire visual before,

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a certain distance before
the intercept point?

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So, this is really
critical, to make sure

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that everybody's comfortable
with what we're flying,

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because we are flying something
that's considered a little

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bit riskier.

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But, that's why we're doing it.

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That's why we have
the technology there.

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We have displays there,
we're looking all that,

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and we're testing it
in a safe environment.

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When I'm outside of work,

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I like to do what's called
a barbershop quartet,

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and I'm actually in
an all-female group,

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and three of the four
members actually work here

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at NASA Armstrong.

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>> [Singing] O, say can you
see, by the dawn's early light.

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>> A lot of times, we like
to sing at work events,

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so if there's, like, a big
event going on, and they need us

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to sing the National Anthem,
for example, we get together,

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we practice, we do it in the
barbershop style, and then we go

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and we sing together
and we perform.

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>> [Singing] Through
the perilous fight.

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>> The other thing I really
like to do is spend time

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with my little sister, Lynn,
and she's also a singer,

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so when I get a chance to sing
with her, it's really wonderful.

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It gives me a chance to
connect with her in that way

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that I think is really special.

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[ Applause ]

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>> Beautiful morning, isn't it?

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>> Stay us together.

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>> Working at NASA has
definitely been rewarding.

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This kind of research is paving
the road for what we're going

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to be flying one day, and how
things will be in the future,

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so it's been really great, and
it does give me a good feeling

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at the end of the day, you know?

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You work, and you think,
like, oh, I have to do this,

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I have to do this, I have,
you know, a meeting tomorrow

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that I have to get
through, but in the end,

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it's really all worth it, when
you sit back and you look,

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saying, like, "Wow, like,
I'm actually doing this.

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I'm actually a part of this."