Zero Robotics High School 2017 Champions!
ISS036-E-003308(23 May 2013) -- Onboard the International Space Station, Expedition 36 Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy, NASA astronaut, watches from just out of frame as he devotes some time with the long-running SPHERES experiment, also known as Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites. The experiment is run in conjunction with students who program bowling ball-sized satellites using algorithms. The free-floating satellites are programmed to perform maneuvers potentially influencing the design of future missions.
Media Credit: NASA
On Thursday Jan 11, 2018 over 600 students gathered to watch cosmonaut Alexander “Sasha” Misurkin and astronaut Joe Acaba referee the final competition of the Zero Robotics High School Tournament 2017 onboard the International Space Station. The 2017 contest, called LIFE SPHERES, challenged student teams to write code to control the SPHERES satellites in the search for life on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, by drilling in the icy surface, avoiding geysers and returning samples to a base station for analysis.
With help from the ISSInternational Space Station National Lab, Zero Robotics hopes to provide a unique and challenging learning environment that inspires young minds to apply and sharpen their science, technology, engineering, and math skills.