LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Two valley students are being recognized and honored after placing in the top three of NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge.
The competition was a national essay competition for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. NASA asked the students to dream up a mission enabled by Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS). An RPS is a type of “nuclear battery”, which allows NASA to power space missions to destinations across the solar system where solar power is not available.
According to NASA, they received 1,787 submissions from 48 states and Puerto Rico. The competition was divided into three categories, depending on the student’s age.
Henderson student Sara Wang was a finalist and placed third in the Grades 5-8 category for her submission, “Plumes Of Potential: Investigating Enceladus’ Geysers For Life’s Traces”.
The eighth grader describes how NASA could send two payloads to study Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, to study plume composition and learn more about the moon’s chemical makeup, potential for life, the moon’s subsurface ocean, and its interaction with Saturn’s magnetic field.
Wang said one of her teachers recommended the challenge to her and she enjoyed putting her entry together.
“I learned so much about the remarkable abilities of Radioisotope Power Systems in providing reliable power for space travel in challenging environments,” she said. “What excites me most about RPS is their versatility. They can be used in many spacecraft and mission types, like robotic explorers, landers, rovers, and even human missions. Participating in this challenge has definitely reinforced my passion for a space-related career I’ve always been excited with the idea of space and I hope to make a difference in the field of space and engineering.”
When looking at the Grades 9-12 category, Las Vegas student Kailey Thomas was also a finalist and placed second for her submission, “Frankenstein’s Vacation Home: The Most Rugged Moon We Know Of.”
Her submission describes visiting Uranus and one of its 27 moons, which a spacecraft hasn’t done since 1986.
Thomas describes sending a space probe to photograph the moon’s features, its geological history, and seeing if the existence of clathrates in its core could trap heat, causing the moon to change and reform.
As a finalist, Wang and Thomas received a NASA RPS prize pack and were invited to virtually meet a NASA engineer or scientist to talk about their missions and have their space exploration questions answered.
You can learn more about the contest and NASA’s RPS program here.
