HAMPTON — NASA Langley Research Center hosted 10 collegiate teams for the NASA Ice Challenge. The goal: Figure out the best way to drill for water on Mars.
Richard Davis, assistant director for Science and Exploration, said Mars is the newest focus with the most unknowns, “it’s like the internet was 30 years ago.”
He said by hosting 10 different groups of students NASA will have the chance to see new perspectives and solutions to the problem. There is so much that is unknown about Mars that any new perspectives are welcome, he said.
The science behind the project
NASA discovered 10 years ago that Mars had huge vats of water — frozen under layers of ice. Scientists wanted to see what it would take to harvest that water.
This project is different than others like going to the moon and back. For one, Mars is roughly 100 million miles away from Earth, so it’s beneficial if NASA can lessen the amount of supplies taken to the red planet (when astronauts go), and having a water supply there is key, Davis said.
The Ice Challenge has allowed robotics, human flight and technological development departments to work together to solve the problem.
Keeping things automated
An important part of the project is for the ice drilling mechanisms to be fully autonomous, giving the ice drilling expedition the option to be completely robotic in it’s first stages, Davis said.
One team, West Virginia University “MIDAS,” is doing just that with their project. They were last year’s winners, and this year they’ve come back with an even simpler and more automated project. It’s a fully automated piece of equipment which is different from other groups’ projects.
The other groups are working with remotely controlled projects that would later be modified to full autonomy. This puts WVU a step ahead.
Karon Sah, a member of WVU’s team, said the main difference between their project this year versus last year’s is that they are using one probe instead of two, which is what most of the other groups are using this year.
By only using one probe, he said there is less of a chance that debris will get in the hole. They are drilling a tear-drop shaped hole to collect the water and have multiple filters that help keep the water clean as it comes up.
Sah said by having too complex of a machine, it leaves more room for failure, adding their group has been working on the project the whole school year.
The WVU team is nervous, Sah said, but feel confident in their project.
North Eastern University was the team that drew the most amount of water the first day of the competition. They are here for the first time after being rejected last year.
Team member Emmy Kelly said their project was too complicated last year — the team simplified their model this year.
She said things are going better than expected and that any problems that come their way are workable.
“We’re having a good time,” she said.
To learn more about the Ice Challenge, click here.
