Students
take on stellar transportation challenge
Legoz my Eggoz, Rovereens and Blasting Black Holes are
just a few of the teams competing in the Idaho TECH: Mars Rover Challenge
today (Friday, April 29) at the University of Idaho ASUI-Kibbie Dome
from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium’s TECH (Teaching Engineering
to Children) Challenge tests the engineering skills of fifth- and sixth-grade
students. Students use LEGOs to create a motorized Mars rover, then
the teams of four to six students test the rover’s ability to
maneuver between obstacles, climb steep hills and pick up small objects,
among other tasks.
Julie Webster, Cassini-Huygens Space Craft operations manager from the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will give a presentation
at 3 p.m., after the preliminary competition. UI College of Education
will conduct rocket activity, and an International Space Station docking
activity will be presented by the Palouse Discovery Science Center.
The top three winners from the Moscow TECH Challenge will compete later
in the day against finalists from Idaho Falls and Boise in the TECH
Challenge Finals. Winning rovers will be displayed at the Museum of
Idaho in Idaho Falls as part of museum’s Space Journey exhibit.
More than 1,000 students have competed in Idaho TECH earlier round.
As many as 450 of them will attend the Moscow event from Athol, Priest
River, Cocolalla, Sagle, Hope, Spirit Lake, Rathdrum, Hayden Lake, Post
Falls, Potlatch, Moscow, Genesee, Lewiston, Nezperce, Grangeville, Cottonwood;
Pullman and Palouse, Wash., and Ogden, Utah.
NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium, the sponsor, was established
in 1991 and is composed of 22 institutions including all colleges and
universities in the state, science centers and museums, science organizations,
state departments, industry representatives, a state park and a national
monument.