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Idaho Transportation
Department

Public Affairs Office
P.O. Box 7129
Boise, ID 83707
208.334.8005
Fax: 208.334.8563
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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.