MEXICO CITY- NASA is looking for students interested in designing, developing, building and testing ‘rovers’ for the exploration of the Moon and Mars, within the framework of the Human Exploration Rover Challenge 2024 launched by the organization.
For this, interested students must send their proposals to the POT until next September 21. To learn more, the challenge experts will host two webinars on August 24. The virtual sessions will describe the proposal processes and require prior registration.
“Rovers” are wheeled spacecraft that can land on the surface of the Moon or Mars to search for information for NASA.
“Our Human Exploration Rover will focus on an immersive story based on NASA’s proposed use cases for manned and unmanned rovers during upcoming Artemis missions, including exploration of permanently shadowed regions, positioning to recharge batteries, power, and data exchange with other assets surface, and storing the collected samples,” explained Vemitra Alexander, head of challenge activities for NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement.
He also explained that students “should determine why an autonomous rover exploring the shaded regions has become out of contact and, if possible, attempt to repair the robotic rover.”
By participating in this challenge, the POT expects students to develop a “deeper” understanding of the content and improve their communication, collaboration, research, problem-solving, and flexibility skills that will benefit them throughout their academic and professional lives.
Specifically, NASA will announce in October which teams are invited to the ‘US Space & Rocket Center’ in Huntsville, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, which will take place in April 2024 to showcase their presentations.
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, the Human Exploration Rover Challenge asks high school and college students around the world to design, build and test lightweight human-powered ‘rovers’ in an obstacle course simulating lunar and martian terrain, all while completing the mission. Once selected, students must complete months of design and safety reviews that reflect the engineering design process used by NASA engineers and scientists.
This challenge gives students the opportunity to participate in NASA’s ‘Artemis’ program, which includes putting the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon. NASA and the event sponsors continue to encourage students to push the boundaries of innovation.
The challenge is administered by the NASA STEM Engagement Southeast Regional Office in Marshall and is one of eight ‘Artemis Student Challenges’. NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement uses challenges and competitions to further the agency’s goal of encouraging students to pursue degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
FOUNTAIN: With information from EUROPA PRESS
