OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Today, Iowa has six. Nebraska has eight. NASA Solar System Ambassadors connect us - here on earth - with what's happening in outer space.
- Anthony Galdamez of Omaha is a veteran, teacher and works at Kiewit Luminarium, all of which intersect in ways with his role as a NASA Solar System Ambassador.
- Ambassadors are responsible for public engagement - using events like talks and conferences to help us understand space-related research, for example, and its impacts.
- "Ultimately, we all want to say, 'Hey, we did something really good in this world' when our time is up. But the biggest thing is knowing that you can't just give up when something is very difficult," Galdamez explained.
Continue reading for the story as seen on-air.
"As you're thinking about the light that's coming through... That's why you get the blue that stays behind, because it goes straight through the prism and phschew! Shoots it off into the atmosphere," Anthony Galdamez instructed as he sat next to Light Island inside Kiewit Luminarium.
Similarly, overhead, the blue sky.
Whether teaching third graders or in grad school, Galdamez is a natural. He also spent spent eight years in the Air Force in Radio Operations, and knows the sky affects what we can't see.
"(Radio Operations) was science-related, which is really interesting because now, some of our exhibits here, I kind of put both of them together because we talk about frequency and just how radio waves go through the atmosphere," he shared.
As part of his day job, Galdamez works at Kiewit Luminarium. He's also a NASA Solar System Ambassador.
"I think a lot of people think, as soon as you think about exploration, you just think about being an astronaut. And it's a little bit more than that because all the technology that gets prototyped here on earth to send to space, sometimes it doesn't make it to space," he explained - pointing to crop irrigation as one example.
Galdamez himself is researching algae and CO2 scrubbers on the International Space Station.
He says he could go to space someday, but it would be brief.
"You go to space, you do your research, and then you come back down. I like that. I like to be home by the end of the night," he laughed.
The NASA Solar System Ambassadors program is rooted in public engagement with events in communities, at conferences and more.
Galdamez and the other roughly 1,200 Ambassadors have reached more than 13.7 million people combined in the last 25 years, according to NASA.
"Ultimately, we all want to say, 'Hey, we did something really good in this world' when our time is up. But the biggest thing is knowing that you can't just give up when something is very difficult," Galdamez encouraged.
In addition to learning about upcoming events, this link also has information about how to apply to become an Ambassador. That window opens each September and Galdamez says there is no limit per state.