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By NASA
NASA astronaut and SpaceX Crew-10 Pilot Nichole Ayers.Credit: SpaceX Students from Dade City, Florida, will have the chance to connect with NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers as she answers prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related questions from aboard the International Space Station.
Watch the 20-minute space-to-Earth call at 1 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 11, on NASA+ and learn how to watch NASA content on various platforms, including social media.
The event, hosted by Academy at the Farm and open to students and their families, will occur in Dade City. Academy at the Farm is a charter school that plans to use the event to connect the students with space exploration and the work being done aboard the space station.
Media interested in covering the event must RSVP by 5 p.m., Wednesday, April 9, to Ashley Cantwell at acantwell@academyatthefarm.com or 813-957-8878.
For more than 24 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN’s (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network.
Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the space station benefit people on Earth and lays the groundwork for other agency missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars; inspiring Artemis Generation explorers and ensuring the United States continues to lead in space exploration and discovery.
See videos and lesson plans highlighting space station research at:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
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Gerelle Dodson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
gerelle.q.dodson@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Apr 08, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
International Space Station (ISS) Humans in Space In-flight Education Downlinks ISS Research Johnson Space Center View the full article
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By NASA
Long before joining NASA’s Test and Evaluation Support Team contract in October 2024, Angel Saenz was already an engineer at heart.
A STEM education program at his high school helped unlock that passion, setting him on a path that would eventually lead to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Angel Saenz poses in front of a composite overwrap pressure vessel outside of his office at White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. NASA/Anthony L. Quiterio The program – FIRST Robotics Competition – is run by global nonprofit, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). It was the brainchild of prolific inventor Dean Kamen, best known for creating the Segway.
In what the organization calls “the ultimate sport for the mind,” teams of students spend six weeks working under adult mentors—and strict rules—to design, program, and build industrial-sized robots before facing off in a themed tournament. Teams earn points for accomplishing various engineering feats, launching, grappling, and climbing their way through the obstacles of a game that’s less football and more American Ninja Warrior.
Competing during the 2013 and 2014 seasons with the White Sands-sponsored Deming Thundercats, Saenz said FIRST was a link between abstract mathematical ideas and real-world applications.
“Before joining FIRST, equations were just something I was told to solve for a grade, but now I was applying them and seeing how they were actually useful,” he said.
By turning education into an extracurricular activity as compelling as video games and as competitive as any varsity sport, FIRST completely reshaped Saenz’s approach to learning.
“There are lots of other things kids can choose to do outside of school, but engineering was always that thing for me,” he said. “I associate it with being a fun activity, I see it more as a hobby.”
That kind of energy—as any engineer knows—cannot be destroyed. Today Saenz channels it into his work, tackling challenges with White Sand’s Composite Pressure group where he tests and analyzes pressure vessel systems, enabling their safe use in space programs.
“Having that foundation really helps ground me,” he said. “When I see a problem, I can look back and say, ‘That’s like what happened in FIRST Robotics and here’s how we solved it.’”
Deming High School teacher and robotics mentor David Wertz recognized Saenz’s aptitude for engineering, even when Saenz could not yet see it in himself.
“He wasn’t aware that we were using the engineering process as we built our robot,” Wertz said, “but he was always looking for ways to iterate and improve our designs.”
Saenz credits those early hands-on experiences for giving him a head start.
“It taught me a lot of concepts that weren’t supposed to be learned until college,” he said.
Armed with that knowledge, Saenz graduated from New Mexico State University in 2019 with a dual degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Now 28 years old, Saenz is already an accomplished professional. He adds White Sands to an impressive resume that includes past experiences with Albuquerque-based global manufacturing company Jabil and Kirtland Airforce Base.
Though only five months into the job, Saenz’s future at White Sands was set into motion more than a decade ago when he took a field trip to the site with Wertz in 2013.
“The kind invitations to present at White Sands or to take a tour of the facility has inspired many of the students to pursue degrees in engineering and STEM,” Wertz said. “The partnership continues to allow students to see the opportunities that are available for them if they are willing to put in the work.”
In a full-circle moment, Saenz and Mr. Wertz recently found themselves together at White Sands once again for the 2024 Environmental, Innovation, Safety, and Health Day event. This time not as student and teacher, but as industry colleagues in a reunion that could not have been better engineered.
David Wertz and Angel Saenz attend White Sand’s Environmental, Innovation, Safety, and Health Day event on October 31, 2024. The 2025 FIRST Robotics World Competition will take place in Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center from April 16 to April 19. NASA will host an exciting robotics exhibit at the event, showcasing the future of technology and spaceflight. As many as 60,000 energetic fans, students, and industry leaders are expected to attend. Read more about NASA’s involvement with FIRST Robotics here.
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By Space Force
The Department of the Air Force released updated guidance on Implementation of Executive Order 14168, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.
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By NASA
Explore This Section RPS Home About About RPS About the Program About Plutonium-238 Safety and Reliability For Mission Planners Contact RPS Systems Overview Power Systems Thermal Systems Dynamic Radioisotope Power Missions Overview Timeline News Resources STEM Power to Explore Contest FAQ 4 min read
NASA Reveals Semifinalists of Power to Explore Challenge
A word cloud showing “superpowers” of the 45 semifinalists. NASA/David Lam NASA selected 45 student essays as semifinalists of its 2024-2025 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 “superpower” would energize their success on their own radioisotope-powered science mission to explore one of the nearly 300 moons of our solar system.
The competition asked students to learn about radioisotope power systems (RPS), a type of “nuclear battery” that NASA uses to explore the harshest, darkest, and dustiest parts of our solar system. RPS have enabled many spacecraft to explore a variety of these moons, some with active volcanoes, methane lakes, and intricate weather patterns similar to Earth. Many of these moons remain a mystery to us.
This year’s submissions to NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge were immensely enthralling, and we’re thrilled that the number of entries reached a record high.
Carl Sandifer II
Program Manager, NASA Radioisotope Power Systems Program
In 275 words or less, students wrote about a mission of their own that would use these space power systems to explore any moon in our solar system and described their own power to achieve their mission goals.
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’s diverse workforce. This year’s contest set a record, receiving 2,051 submitted entries from all 50 states, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Overseas.
“This year’s submissions to NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge were immensely enthralling, and we’re thrilled that the number of entries reached a record high,” said Carl Sandifer II, program manager of the Radioisotope Power Systems Program at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “It was particularly interesting to see which moons the students selected for their individual essays, and the mysteries they hope to unravel. Their RPS-powered mission concepts always prove to be innovative, and it’s a joy to learn about their ‘superpowers’ that exemplify their path forward as the next generation of explorers.”
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 4,859 participants who signed up received an invitation to the Power Up with NASA virtual event. Students learned about what powers the NASA workforce utilizes to dream big and work together to explore. Speakers included Carl Sandifer II, Dr. Wanda Peters, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for programs in the Science Mission Directorate and Dr. Zibi Turtle, principal investigator for NASA’s Dragonfly mission from the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
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 23.
Grades K-4
Vihaan Akhoury, Roseland, NJ Ada Brolan, Somerville, MA Ashwin Cohen, Washington D.C Unnathi Chandra Devavarapu, San Marcos, CA Levi Fisher, Portland, OR Tamanna Ghosh, Orlando, FL Ava Goodison, Arnold, MD Anika Lal, Pflugerville, TX Diya Loganathan, Secaucus, NJ Mini M, Ann Arbor, MI Mark Porter, Temple Hills, MD Rohith Thiruppathy, Canton, MI Zachary Tolchin, Guilford CT Kavin Vairavan, West Windsor Township, NJ Terry Xu, Arcadia, CA Grades 5-8
Chowdhury Wareesha Ali, Solon OH Caydin Brandes, Los Angeles, CA Caleb Braswell, Crestview, FL Lilah Coyan, Spokane, WA Ashwin Dhondi Kubeer, Phoenix, AZ Jonathan Gigi, Cypress, TX Gagan Girish, Portland, OR Maggie Hou, Snohomish, WA Sanjay Koripelli, Louisville, KY Isaiah Muniz, South Orange, NJ Sarabhesh Saravanakumar, Bothell, WA Eliya Schubert, Katonah, NY Gabriel Traska, Fort Woth, TX Jaxon Verbeck, Riggins, ID Krish Vinodhkumar, Monrovia, MD Grades 9-12
Samaria Berry, Kinder, LA David Cai, Saipan, MP Reggie Castro, Saipan, MP Ryan Danyow, Rutland City, VT Faiz Karim, Jericho, NY Sakethram Kuncha, Chantilly, VA Katerina Morin, Miami, FL Emilio Olivares, Edmond, OK Kairat Otorov, Trumbull, CT Dev Rai, Herndon, VA Shaurya Saxena, Irving, TX Saanvi Shah, Bothell, WA Niyant Sithamraju, San Ramon, CA Anna Swenson, Henderson, NV Alejandro Valdez, Orlando, FL About the Challenge
The Power to Explore Student Challenge is funded by the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s Radioisotope Power Systems Program Office and managed and administered by Future Engineers under the direction of the NASA Tournament Lab, a part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
Kristin Jansen
NASA’s Glenn Research Center
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By NASA
NASA astronaut and Pilot for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission Nichole Ayers is pictured training inside a mockup of a Dragon cockpit at the company’s facilities in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX Students from Richmond Hill, New York,will have the chance to connect with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers as they answer prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related questions from aboard the International Space Station.
Watch the 20-minute space-to-Earth call at 12 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 26, on NASA+ and learn how to watch NASA content on various platforms, including social media.
The event, open to students and their families, will be hosted by Richmond Hill High School, a New York City public high school in Queens South, District 27. The school’s goal is to inspire their students to pursue STEM careers.
Media interested in covering the event must contact Lilly Donaldson at Lily@arttechnically.org by 5 p.m., Monday, March 24.
For more than 24 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN’s (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network.
Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the space station benefit people on Earth and lays the groundwork for other agency missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars; inspiring Artemis Generation explorers and ensuring the United States continues to lead in space exploration and discovery.
See videos and lesson plans highlighting space station research at:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
-end-
Abbey Donaldson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
Abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
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Details
Last Updated Mar 21, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Learning Resources In-flight Education Downlinks Outside the Classroom View the full article
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