NASA Wants Students’ Help Designing Missions to Other Moons

One of NASA’s primary missions is to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers to join the STEM field. It does so by producing inspirational and educational content on various platforms. But sometimes, it takes a more direct approach by rewarding students for their contributions to solving a particular problem NASA is facing. Recently, the organization announced such a challenge – the Power to Explore Challenge, which is open to submission from K-12 students until the end of January.

This challenge is part of an ongoing series of challenges that NASA has released to encourage kids to utilize a radioisotope power system (commonly known as a radioisotope thermal generator—or RTG) to enable future missions. Last year, the challenge involved coming up with a mission to a “dark, dusty, or far away place” where the benefits of RTGs, which don’t rely on solar power, would be the most obvious.

A winner was then selected in three separate age categories, detailing missions to Enceladus (Rainie Lin from Kentucky), Tethys (Aadya Karthik from Washington), and Ariel (Thomas Liu from New Jersey). The three winners received a behind-the-scenes tour of the research facilities at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, where much of NASA’s RTG research occurs.

Video Announcing the Challenge.
Credit – ScienceatNASA YouTube Channel

This year, there is again a call to develop missions powered by an RTG, but with a more explicit call to visit a moon somewhere in the solar system. There are plenty to choose from—the International Astronomical Union recognizes 288 orbiting planets, while there are over 470 orbiting smaller objects, like Dimorphos around Didymos, the asteroid targeted by NASA’s DART redirect mission.

The challenge is once again run by Future Engineers, an organization that emphasizes engineering education for kids. They provide the judges, who will focus on details like how feasible it is to use an RTG at the location the entrant selected, and what their “special human power” that they describe in their essay would bring to the mission.

Submissions must be a maximum of 275 words and will go through three rounds of judging. Semifinalists, finalists, and grand prize winners will be selected in March, April, and May, respectively. Once again, the grand prize winners will receive a tour of the Glenn Research Center. Semifinalists will receive a gift pack, and finalists will receive both a gift pack and a teleconference with a NASA mission expert.

Fraser discusses some challenges facing missions to other moons – especially their budgets.

Applications are open until the end of January, so if you or someone you know is interested in applying, there’s still plenty of time to conceive of a mission and polish up a 275-word essay. Who knows, you might even win a trip to Cleveland – and I can attest to it being pretty nice here in the summer – but more importantly, you might inspire the next NASA mission to one of the solar system’s numerous moons.

Learn More:
NASA – Power to Explore Student Challenge
Future Engineers – Power to Explore
UT – An Improved Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator Could Dramatically Reduce The Weight Of Interplanetary Missions
UT – NASA is Getting the Plutonium it Needs for Future Missions

Lead Image:
Power To Explore Logo
Credit – NASA / Future Engineers

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