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Projects: Red Rover Goes to MarsStudent ProgramsThe students of today are the explorers of tomorrow! With the Red Rover Goes to Mars project, The Planetary Society and the LEGO Company partnered to provide hands-on opportunities for students around the world to participate directly in real missions to Mars. In 2001, the 9 Student Scientists became the first members of the public to direct a camera aboard a spacecraft orbiting another world, NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor. In 2002, the 8 Student Navigators trained for the Mars Exploration Rover mission through a two-day training program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with the FIDO prototype rover. And in 2004, the 16 Student Astronauts joined the science team at JPL to participate directly in the daily operations of Spirit and Opportunity. Through their online journals, the Student Astronauts served as Mars exploration ambassadors to the world at large. The Student Astronauts
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Courtney, Rafael, Tomas, and Susini
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Abby, Shih-Han, Vignan, and Wei Lin
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David, Saatvik, Janice, and Maciej
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Cheng-Tao, Camillia, Nomathemba, & Kristyn
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The Red Rover Goes to Mars Student Astronauts participated in the Mars Exploration Rover mission as part of the Science Operations Working Group. The young people -- eight boys, eight girls, aged 13 to 17 -- won their places on the team through a Planetary Society-run essay contest. It was the first time that an international group of children selected through an open competition participated in an active planetary spacecraft mission. They analyzed Mars Exploration Rover mission images and data as they were returned to Earth from the spacecraft in January and February of 2004.
The Science Operations Working Group is responsible for many mission activities, among them the daily planning of rover activities; quick analysis of new data returned from the spacecraft; and communication with the public. As a part of this team, the Red Rover Goes to Mars Student Astronauts had the opportunity to analyze new data returned from the rover, observe mission operations, and communicate with the public around the world about their experiences inside an active Mars mission through online journals.
Over five hundred applications were received from around the world; sixteen students were selected from twelve different countries. To prepare for their participation in the Mars Exploration Rover missions, the Student Astronauts were trained by The Planetary Society in Mars science, digital image processing, and mission operations.
Follow the links below to read the Student Astronauts’ journals.
Courtney Dressing, age 15, USA
Rafael Morozowski, age 16, Brazil
Susini de Silva, age 17, Sri Lanka
Tomás Kogan, age 14, Spain
Abigail Fraeman, age 16, USA
Shih-Han Chen, age 17, Taiwan
Wei Lin Tan, age 14, Singapore
Vignan Pattamatta, age 14, India
Janice deBerg, age 15, USA
Maciej Hermanowicz, age 16, Poland
Dàvid Turczi, age 15, Hungary
Saatvik Agarwal, age 14, India
Kristyn Rodzinyak, age 16, Canada
Cheng-Tao Chung, age 13, Taiwan
Camillia Zedan, age 16, United Kingdom
Nomathemba Kontyo, age 15, South
Africa
The Student Navigators
On February 12, 2002, a team of eight bright minds assembled in a laboratory at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for a challenging task. Their mission: to simulate two days of exploring Mars with an advanced prototype robotic exploration vehicle. The Student Navigator program provided the inspiration for The Planetary Society’s Mars Stations project, which allows children to operate a rover via the Internet, mimicking the challenge that the Student Navigators faced.
The Navigators were part of a core operations team that also included engineers in the JPL Robotics Lab and several Planetary Society staff. The team, led by JPL's Robert Anderson, a scientist for the Mars Exploration Rover (Mars Exploration Rover) mission, operated the Field Integrated Design and Operations (FIDO) rover. The exercise was very similar to the training that actual mission scientists have undergone in preparation for the Mars Exploration Rover mission. the JPL staff were very impressed with the Navigators: "They did as well as, if not better than, the real scientists," Anderson remarked.
Following the two-day activity, the Student Navigators responded to questions from more than 100 Los Angeles-area students who turned out for a press conference held at the California Science Center. The conference showed that the effects of the Student Navigator Event will be long lasting. One local student asked the Navigators what they thought they had contributed to science by participating in the activity. Bhushan and Shaleen both expressed their intentions to become space scientists or engineers. Jacqui said that the opportunity gave her a vision of her future as a scientist, which she had not before imagined for herself. Kim expressed hope that international collaboration on space exploration projects--simulated or real--were "bigger than war" and, as such, could be a vehicle for international peace.
The Student Navigators were:
Paul Bonato, age 17, Australia
Avinash Chandrashekar, age 12, India
Kimberly DeRose, age 15, United States
Shaleen Harlalka, age 17, India
Jacqueline Hayes, age 17, Australia
Daniel Hermanowicz, age 11, Poland
Kevin Hou, age 13, United States
Bhushan Mahadik, age 15, India
The Student Scientists
Originally, the nine Student Scientists were to have guided a robotic rover on the Mars Surveyor 2001 mission. Due to the cancellation of that mission, their task changed to the selection of the landing site for a future Mars sample return mission. In March of 2000 the nine Student Scientists traveled to the United States to work at Malin Space Science Systems with the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor Mission. They were the first members of the public to direct a camera aboard a spacecraft orbiting another world.
In one of the three images of Mars they took using the Mars Orbiter Camera, they discovered a strange boulder field for which planetary scientists still have no explanation. The great success of the Student Scientists paved the way for the next groups of kids, the Student Navigators and the Student Astronauts.
The Student Scientists were:
Zsofia Bodo, age 16, Hungary
Kimberly DeRose, age 14, USA
Bernadett Gaal, age 14, Hungary
Shaleen Harlalka, age 15, India
Iuri Jasper, age 12, Brazil
Hsin-Liu Kao, age 11, Taiwan
Tanmay Khirwadkar, age 13, India
Wojciech Lukasik, age 10, Poland
Vikas Sarangadhara, age 10, India
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