OPEN WINDOW STUDENTS WIN NASA COMPETITION
The project is named LUMINAS, or Lunar Module for Innovation and Novel Experiments in AI, Seeds/Simulants/Space Junk.
It includes using AI to detect lunar craters, collecting space debris from left-over space vessels, measuring sulfur dioxide amounts in the atmosphere, and viewing the effects of launch and descent on dormant tardigrades, lunar soil stimulants, and Pacific Dogwood seeds.
In fact, the team is the first to fly tardigrades into the Earth’s atmosphere and received permission from the FAA. The team received $1,500, a flight box, and technical support from Future Engineer to build their project. In the summer, their experiment will fly on a suborbital flight test, where it will experience 2 minutes of flight time at an altitude of 80 feet over Astrobotic’s Lunar Surface Proving Ground, a test field designed to simulate the moon’s surface.
The team’s instructor, Dr. Trudi Hoogenboom, is an astrophysicist with immense experience in teaching and research. Team members: ⦁ Asher Cook (6th)
⦁ Zoey Fulay (6th)
⦁ Sophie Matthew (7th)
⦁ Grady Moore (7th)
⦁ Nova Hagen (7th)
⦁ Nick Nevils (7th)
⦁ Ellie Klesert (7th)
⦁ Kaitlyn Chu (7th)
⦁ Mythili Mukkati (7th)
⦁ Avni Murarka (8th)
