RANDOLPH, Mass. — A group of high school students is preparing a project for orbit after winning the NASA Student TechRise challenge.
What they’ve created, the Air Investigation in Microgravity, was selected by the Future Engineers/NASA TechRise Student Challenge and is now preparing for orbit.
“How awesome is that, right, here from our school, we have something that each one of the students touched going into space, I mean, we can’t tell you how much it just gives us all goose bumps!” Chakara Cardillo, a science educator for Randolph High School, said.
Cardillo is leading the team as each subgroup comes together to work as one.
The wiring, coding, mounting, and soldering team are assembling an air filtration and detection device designed to preserve and purify oxygen for astronauts in space.
“In space, you know, it’s a closed vacuum, you can’t get anything so, the oxygen you have in the beginning of the trip, is what you’re going to have at the end. We really just wanted to optimize, optimize, optimize,” Jason Mai, a Randolph High School Freshman, explained.
Winning this opportunity to work hand in hand with NASA comes around the same time as the Artemis II moon mission launch, which is serving as an out-of-this-world reminder of why this research is so important.
“I think its absolutely incredible that we have the opportunity to work something that people have been maybe trying to work on for years now,” Mya Nguyen, a Randolph High School Freshman, said.
Their team lead and teacher, as well as the school’s principal, are all over the moon with the students’ success so far.
“How awesome is that, right? Here from our school, we have something that each one of the students touched going into space, I mean we can’t tell you how much, it just gives us all goose bumps! We tell our kids all the time, we see you, we know that you’re capable of doing extraordinary things so to actually win by NASA TechRise is saying like, yes, it validates what we’ve been saying here as educators,” Cardillo explained.
“This is what we want for all of our students, we want them to find what makes them feel successful,” Principal John Licorish added.
The final step is the launch into space, but per NASA rules, that exact date is classified information. The students will be presenting directly to NASA in May.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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