NASA holding essay contest for students to generate power ideas for space missions
BOSTON – NASA is currently running a special essay contest for children in hopes of generating new ideas for powering space missions.
All students grades K-12 are being challenged to research the Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) and dream up a new mission.
So what exactly is the RPS? Leah Sopko, a NASA aerospace engineer, explained in an interview with WBZ-TV.
"It is a nuclear battery of sorts that has been in use for about 60 years," Sopko said. "Now it enables us to take spacecraft into the far reaches of the solar system and beyond to go to some of the harshest conditions out there some of the darkest locations, and do exploration beyond where solar power is no longer being used that we can actually use this nuclear battery to explore space."
Students can submit their 200-word essays through January 17.
Each will be judged in grade-level categories.
The winners will get a trip to the Glenn Research Center in Ohio where they will meet the people and see the technology behind NASA missions.
Click here for more information on the contest.
