Despite Covid-19 delays, students from Egg Harbor Township Martian PALs Team see success
In December 2019, Ten students, representing the EHT Police Activities League STEM program, from 5 middle schools throughout Atlantic County accepted a challenge from NASA-funded project, Northwest Earth and Space Science Pipeline (NESSP). Due to COVID-19, that challenge was put on hold.
On March 26, 2020, the NESSP issued a new challenge: R.O.A.D.S. on Mars — Freestyle! The Martian PALs, an Egg Harbor Township Police Activities League group, formed a new team of six students in order to compete in the (Rover Observation And Drone Survey) R.O.A.D.S. on Mars Freestyle Challenge by the Northwest Earth Space Sciences Pipeline (NESSP).
According to the Martian PALs Flight Director/Mentor, Michelle Riordan “The R.O.A.D.S. Freestyle challenge was in a word, challenging! While the students practiced excellent social distancing, each crew member worked on their tasks on their own at their homes. There was no need to break quarantine to complete the mission — but the students still had overcome the communication and collaboration challenges of being a distributed team. It wasn’t the best of conditions but we persevered. And it was a job well done!”
The challenge gave our team of students the chance to tackle a mission to Mars, following in the path and simulating the science of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover. The team faced challenges including engineering and communications, analysis of biological signatures and geologic features, building a map of mars, navigating with a rover, flying a drone and successfully landing on a designated zone. Six students met virtually via Zoom to collaborate and support one another. The students divided up the Mission Objectives and tackled them with great enthusiasm. The crew had 8 Mission Objectives (MO) to accomplish as part of the Freestyle challenge. The team’s crew members completed each MO virtually, documenting the mission with photos, video and a Mission Development Log (MDL). When they finished the mission, the Martian PALs submitted a final video and their MDL to the NESSP team for scoring.
The two prizes awarded to the EHT Martian PALs were:
Best of Mission Objective 04 – Lander
Special Commendation for Superlative Team Communications
Flight Crew Members: Blake Botbyl (7th grade Williams Davies Middle School, Mays Landing), Daniel Ireland (7th grade, Fernwood Avenue Middle School, EHT), Kristyan Pahang (7th grade, Williams Davies Middle School, Mays Landing) and Cameron Riordan (7th grade, Alder Avenue Middle School, EHT) Not pictured: Jake Bell and Spencer Cortes
Flight Director/Mentor: Michelle Riordan (EHT PAL STEM Research Coordinator and NASA Solar System Ambassador)
About EHT PAL: An Award-winning youth organization with services for infants to 17 years old including preschool, before and after care, summer camp, STEM workshops, motorcycle and ATV trails, laser tag and world caliber robotics teams. Go to EHTPAL.org for more info.
About NESSP Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pipeline is funded by the NASA Science Mission Directorate and housed with Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium at the University of Washington. NESSP goals are to strengthen the STEM education region-wide and infuse a strong, standards-based mathematics component into NASA educational materials for middle and high school levels. NESSP also serves as a bridge into other NASA experiences for teachers and students, and eventually into careers in STEM fields.
NASA Award NNX16AB86A Go to www.nwessp.org/ for more info.
