SAC学生在NASA度过了一段胜利的时光

圣安东尼奥学院 student Krystal 保罗 recently spent part of her summer at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia to learn more about the space agency and participate in an interplanetary challenge.

The visit was informative for 保罗, who is studying computer 工程. She was part of a student team that won several awards in a contest that involved creating a Mars rover out of Legos.

在春季学期, one of her professors told her about the NASA 社区 大学 Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) onsite experience. The NCAS 程序 was formed to engage underrepresented and underserved students in science, 技术, 工程, and mathematics (STEM) in authentic learning experiences to promote and sustain a diverse workforce.

保罗, 谁说她一直是“太空迷”," applied and was one of 280 community college students from across the U.S. chosen to participate in the summer opportunity.

在到达兰利之前, 保罗 was assigned to a 10-person team that would compete against three other teams to design, 程序, 并推销火星探测器. Each team formed a company looking to land a NASA contract. 保罗的团队将自己命名为“金色地平线”.

兰利，我们有麻烦了 
一到兰利, the Golden Horizons crew spent several hours building a small rover that traveled across a floor and collected mineral samples or simulated "rocks from Mars." However, the team had to deal with a massive problem. 漫游者不想工作. A sensor on the rover failed to recognize any mineral samples.

Just as things were looking bleak for the team, one of the lead designers had a burst of inspiration and fixed the sensor in time for the first contest. Teams competed head-to-head to see which rover could collect the most samples. “黄金地平线”队最终获胜. “我们把所有人都炸飞了,保罗说, adding they picked up more samples than some of the other teams combined.

The next contest was to reconfigure the rover so it could be used to recover downed rovers on Mars (in this case, 风火轮汽车绕着地板转). 这个队得了第二名.

社交媒体的秘密武器 
The final contest moved from Mars to the boardroom, where the Golden Horizons team made a presentation to grab the NASA contract. 保罗, who was the marketing and communications manager for the team, had a secret weapon. Before leaving for Langley, 保罗 was given permission to post updates to the SAC Instagram account. 在她的演讲中, 保罗 gave analytics that included a "test market in 圣安东尼奥 which garnered 3,000年印象."

At the end of the competition, Golden Horizons got the gold and was awarded the NASA contract. 保罗 also won the Capsule Communicators Award for Best Use of Social 媒体.

随着竞争的加剧, 保罗 and the rest of the students toured the facilities and saw the equipment NASA was working one for future mission. She attended lectures on the opportunities available at NASA and talked with key NASA staff about the agency.

The experience made a big impact on 保罗 and she would like to return to NASA soon. “我想去那里. Even if I am not designing a rocket, I want to help out and keep my eyes on the sky.