Power to Explore Student Challenge
The 2024 content is timed to the April total solar eclipse in the United States.
2024 Power to Explore Semifinalists Announced
Nasa selected 45 students to move to the next phase from among 1,787 entries from 48 states and puerto rico. finalists announced april 8..
NASA selected 45 student essays as semifinalists of its 2024 Power to Explore Challenge, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes. Contestants were challenged to explore how NASA has powered some of its most famous science missions and to dream up how their personal “superpower” would energize their success on their own radioisotope-powered science mission. The competition asked students to learn about Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS), “nuclear batteries” that NASA uses to explore the harshest, darkest, and dustiest parts of our solar system. RPS have enabled many spacecraft to conduct otherwise impossible missions in total darkness.
In 250 words or less, students wrote about a mission of their own that would use these space power systems and described their own power to achieve their mission goals. The challenges of space exploration without solar power are especially relevant ahead of the United States' upcoming April 8 total solar eclipse, which will offer a momentary glimpse into what life would be like without sunlight.
Future Engineers
Fifteen national semifinalists in each grade category (45 semifinalists total) were selected. These participants will receive a NASA RPS prize pack. Finalists to be announced on April 8 in celebration of the total solar eclipse. > Read More on the Future Engineers website
The Power to Explore Challenge offered students the opportunity to learn more about these reliable power systems, celebrate their own strengths, and interact with NASA’s diverse workforce. This year’s contest received 1,787 submitted entries from 48 states and Puerto Rico.
“It has been so exciting to see how many students across the nation have submitted essays to NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge,” said Carl Sandifer, program manager of the Radioisotope Power Systems Program at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “We have been thrilled to read their creative RPS-powered mission concepts and have been inspired learning about their many ‘superpowers’ that make them the bright future of NASA – the Artemis Generation.”
Entries were split into three categories: grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Every student who submitted an entry received a digital certificate, and over 4,094 participants who signed up received an invitation to the Power Up virtual event. With NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate Nicola Fox, NASA’s Radioisotope Power Systems Program Manager Carl Sandifer, and Kim Rink of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Southern California, students learned about what powers the NASA workforce to dream big and work together to explore.
Fifteen national semifinalists in each grade category (45 semifinalists total) have been selected. These participants also will receive a NASA RPS prize pack. Finalists for this challenge will be announced on April 8 in celebration of the total solar eclipse.
- Maryam Asif, Sarasota, FL
- Thashvi Balaji, Riverview, FL
- Yavuz Bastug, Peckville, PA
- Claire Bennett, La Grange, NC
- Ada Brolan, Somerville, MA
- Joseph Brown, Huntsville, AL
- Ashwin Cohen, Washington, D.C.
- Adara George, Lithia, FL
- Katerine Leon, Long Beach, CA
- Rainie Lin, Lexington, KY
- Connor Personette, Lakeland, FL
- Yash Rajan, Issaquah, WA
- Camila Rymzo, Belmont, MA
- Arslan Soner, Columbia, SC
- Zachary Tolchin, Guilford, CT
- Nithilam Arivuchelvan, Short Hills, NJ
- Nandini Bandyopadhyay, Short Hills, NJ
- Cooper Basi, Rocklin, CA
- Joshua Cheng, Rockville, MD
- Kaitlyn Chu, Mercer Island, WA
- Mayson Howell, Troy, MO
- Dhiraj Javvadi, Louisville, KY
- Aadya Karthik, Redmond, WA
- Subham Maiti, Bloomington, MN
- Meadow McCarthy, Corvallis, OR
- Elianna Muthersbaugh, Bluffton, SC
- Archer Prentice, Koloa, HI
- Andrew Tavares, Bridgewater, MA
- Sara Wang, Henderson, NV
- Anna Yang, Austin, TX
Grades 9-12
- Sabrina Affany, Fresno, CA
- Alejandro Aguirre, Mission Viejo, CA
- Sai Meghana Chakka, Charlotte, NC
- Khushi Jain, San Jose, CA
- Aiden Johnson, Virginia Beach, VA
- Robert Kreidler, Cincinnati, OH
- Zoie Lawson, Tigard, OR
- Thomas Liu, Ridgewood, NJ
- Madeline Male, Fairway, KS
- Dang Khoi Pham, Westminster, CA
- Sofia Anna Reed-Gomes, Coral Gables, FL
- Ava Schmidt, Leavenworth, WA
- Madden Smith, Loveland, OH
- Kailey Thomas, Las Vegas, NV
- Warren Volles, Lyme, CT
About the Challenge
The challenge is funded by the Radioisotope Power Systems Program Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and administered by Future Engineers under the NASA Open Innovation Services 2 contract. This contract is managed by the NASA Tournament Lab, a part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
2024 Contest Details
Student entries for the third NASA Power to Explore Student Challenge are in.
The writing challenge invites K-12th grade students in the United States to learn about radioisotope power systems, a type of nuclear battery integral to many of NASA’s far-reaching space missions, and then write an essay about a new powered mission for the agency.
For more than 60 years, radioisotope power systems have helped NASA explore the harshest, darkest, and dustiest parts of our solar system and has enabled many spacecrafts to conduct otherwise impossible missions in total darkness. Ahead of the next total solar eclipse in the United States in April 2024, which is a momentary glimpse without sunlight and brings attention to the challenge of space exploration without solar power, NASA wants students to submit essays about these systems.
Entries should detail where students would go, what they would explore, and how they would use the power of radioisotope power systems to achieve mission success in a dusty, dark, or far away space destination with limited or obstructed access to light. Submissions are due Feb. 9, 2024
Judges will review entries in three grade-level categories: K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Student entries are limited to 250 words and should address the mission destination, mission goals, and describe one of the student’s unique powers that will help the mission.
One grand prize winner from each grade category (three total) will receive a trip for two to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, to learn about the people and technologies that enable NASA missions. Every student who submits an entry will receive a digital certificate and an invitation to a virtual event with NASA experts where they’ll learn about what powers the NASA workforce to dream big and explore.
This technology has been a gamechanger in our exploration capabilities and we can’t wait to see what students – our future explorers – dream up; the sky isn’t the limit, it’s just the beginning. - Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
The Power to Explore Student Challenge is funded by the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s Radioisotope Power Systems Program Office and managed and administered by Future Engineers under the direction of the NASA Tournament Lab, a part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
Judges Needed
NASA and Future Engineers are seeking volunteers to help judge the thousands of contest entries anticipated to be submitted from around the country. U.S. residents over 18 years old who are interested in offering approximately three hours of their time to review submissions should register to be a judge at the Future Engineers website .
Read the Winning Essays from the 2022-23 Contest
The Previous Challenge
If you are a K-12 student in the United States, your challenge is to dream up a new RPS-powered mission. Tell us where your RPS-powered mission will go and describe your mission goal(s).NASA missions are also powered by people. Tell us what you think your unique power is and how your special power will help you achieve mission success. Your power could be a skill, personality trait, or other personal strength that is uniquely you.
Grades K-4 Winner: " FIRE and Ice: Fortitude-Resilience Explorers and Ice! " by Luca P. of Carlsbad, Calif.
Grades 5-8 Winner: " The Mystery of the Oceanic Death Star " by Rainelle Y. of Los Angeles, Calif.
Grades 9-12 Winner: " Mission to the Egg " by Audrielle Paige E. of Wildwood, Fla.
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NASA selected 45 student essays as semifinalists of its 2024 Power to Explore Challenge, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes. Contestants were challenged to explore how NASA has powered some of its most famous science missions and to dream up how their personal “superpower” would energize ...