Shooting for Mars
CLARK FORK – Clark Fork High School junior, Emily Myers dared to go to infinity and beyond this summer with the Idaho Science and Aerospace Scholars Program.
One of a select number of juniors from around the state, Myers was chosen for the summer program at the aerospace institute located at Boise State University.
To be eligible students had to be enrolled in the Idaho Digital Learning Alliance class specific to the program, score in the top 80% of that class, and receive a letter of recommendation from an Idaho senator or representative. Myers met the challenge head-on and was accepted into the program said Rebecca Palmer, CFHS English instructor.
Once there, the 40 students were broken into four teams and tasked with planning a mission to Mars.
In an interview with Palmer, Meyers said that for nearly a week in July, she represented Bonner County as the team leader for the Blue Team. Her team was responsible for determining the purpose of the mission and what to do once the team arrived there.
In order to prepare, students were flown to Los Angeles for a trip to the California Science Center and the Cal Tech Jet Propulsion Lab. At the lab, students were able to see the duplicate Martian Rovers as well as the Artemis 1, which is set to launch for the moon any day.
Students got the chance to ask experts about their missions and received feedback on their designs. They also attended a panel discussion of JPL interns to ask questions about moving forward in their careers. Myers and her team were able to talk with Idaho astronaut Barbara Morgan, who praised them for their designs.
Meyers told Palmer, once back in Boise, the teams got to work designing their mission, with the Blue Team tasked with designing a surface exploration vehicle, a spacesuit, and the equipment to bring on the trip. During the process, Myers’ team decided their course of action would lead them to set up satellites prior to the mission, and once there, circumnavigate Mars four times.
The team concluded it would be safest to include two people in the orbiter with the rest in the SEV while exploring the planet. That way, the people in the orbiter could bring in cargo and the team could work in shifts to prevent exhaustion.
At the end of the week, teams presented their plans, with professional research posters and explained their process at the convention center of BSU to an audience of parents and mentors.
Myers said she saw tremendous benefits to the experience from college credits to a letter of recommendation for colleges. Most of all, though, she said it helped her narrow down what she’d like to study in college — either chemical or biological engineering.
