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NASA selected 45 student essays as semifinalists of its 2024 Power to Explore Challenge, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
NASA selected 45 student essays as semifinalists of its 2024 Power to Explore Challenge, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes. Contestants were challenged to explore how NASA has powered some of its most famous science missions and to dream up how their personal \u201csuperpower\u201d would energize their success on their own radioisotope-powered science mission. The competition asked students to learn about Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS), \u201cnuclear batteries\u201d that NASA uses to explore the harshest, darkest, and dustiest parts of our solar system. RPS have enabled many spacecraft to conduct otherwise impossible missions in total darkness.<\/p>\n
In 250 words or less, students wrote about a mission of their own that would use these space power systems and described their own power to achieve their mission goals. The challenges of space exploration without solar power are especially relevant ahead of the United States\u2019 upcoming April 8 total solar eclipse, which will offer a momentary glimpse into what life would be like without sunlight.<\/p>\n
The Power to Explore Challenge offered students the opportunity to learn more about these reliable power systems, celebrate their own strengths, and interact with NASA\u2019s diverse workforce. This year\u2019s contest received 1,787 submitted entries from 48 states and Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been so exciting to see how many students across the nation have submitted essays to NASA\u2019s Power to Explore Challenge,\u201d said Carl Sandifer, program manager of the Radioisotope Power Systems Program at NASA\u2019s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. \u201cWe have been thrilled to read their creative RPS-powered mission concepts and have been inspired learning about their many \u2018superpowers\u2019 that make them the bright future of NASA \u2013 the Artemis Generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entries were split into three categories: grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Every student who submitted an entry received a digital certificate, and over 4,094 participants who signed up received an invitation to the Power Up virtual event. With NASA\u2019s Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate Nicola Fox, NASA\u2019s Radioisotope Power Systems Program Manager Carl Sandifer, and Kim Rink of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in<\/p>\n
Carl Sandifer<\/p>\n
Program Manager, Radioisotope Power Systems Program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Southern California, students learned about what powers the NASA workforce to dream big and work together to explore.<\/p>\n
Fifteen national semifinalists in each grade category (45 semifinalists total) have been selected. These participants also will receive a NASA RPS prize pack. Finalists for this challenge will be announced on April 8 in celebration of the total solar eclipse.<\/p>\n
The challenge is funded by the Radioisotope Power Systems Program Office in NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate and administered by Future Engineers under the NASA Open Innovation Services 2 contract. This contract is managed by the NASA Tournament Lab, a part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate.<\/p>\n