Artemis ROADS II Challenge 2023-24

During the week of August 12–16, 2024, three Othello High School students (Ashley Hecker, Roberto Flores & Alexander Vasquez) and their mission advisors were granted an all-expenses paid trip to visit Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This trip was the ultimate reward and product of their dedication and hard work throughout the last school year.  These students were offered the unique opportunity to participate in a NASA-sponsored Artemis ROADS II mission program related to returning to, and eventually landing on, the Moon.   NASA is partnered with CWU (NESSP - Northwest Earth & Space Science Pathways) and WSU GearUp. 

The Artemis ROADS II program (Rover Observation And Discoveries in Space) offered hands-on activities inspired by NASA’s Artemis Mission to send humans back to the Moon. For the 2023–2024 challenge, students in grades 3–12 modeled a NASA mission by surveying the landscape with robots, preparing to launch rockets, and simulating life and work on the Moon (NESSP, 2024).  The students were tasked with creating a mission log and keeping it updated daily, and development of a mission patch, as seen on every space mission.  The students were also tasked with building and coding a Lego robot, which needed to be able to identify different colored objects, pick them up, and then deliver those objects to specific locations on a lunar map, while avoiding various objects/obstacles.  The students were also responsible for designing a scale model of a multisection lunar habitat, complete with regolith (Lunar soil) insulation.  Another part of the overall mission was to scientifically grow and monitor a couple of different plants using regolith as the soil, much like seen in the movie The Martian.

These three dedicated students not only finished and completed the entire challenge, they did it with a group of 3 people, whereas the other teams who were selected as winners had groups of 5 -6 team members.  A few facts about what this NASA challenge was like and who all were involved: There were teams from all over the country, teams from Michigan, Kentucky, Arizona, Montana & Puerto Rico, just to name a few.  There were 498 total teams who entered the challenge, with over 2,500 students involved nationwide.  101 of these teams successfully completed the entire challenge and submitted their documentation on time, thus qualifying them for the trip to Kennedy Space Center.  Of the 101 teams that qualified, 38 of these teams were high school teams, and only 6 of these teams were selected.  Othello’s team made the cut, and was one of the 6 chosen to travel and experience Kennedy Space Center.

While at Kennedy Space Center, the students were able to explore the space center for two days, enjoying all the exhibits, including the Atlantis Space Shuttle and the Saturn V exhibits to name a few.  The students were even fortunate enough to witness an actual SpaceX rocket launch in the early morning hours of August 15th, 2024.  When the students were not in the hotel, they were afforded the opportunity to spend the day on the beach enjoying the Atlantic Ocean with friends they had just made.  

I would like to personally thank NASA, CWU - NESSP, & WSU’s Gear-up program for offering this STEM opportunity to our students, which I hope it will inspire and motivate our students to pursue a career in the STEM industry after school.

G. Vasquez 

Artemis Roads II (2023-2024), NESSP. NESSP. (n.d.). https://nwessp.org/challenge/artemis-roads-ii/