NESSP to host challenge day at CWU for NASA Artemis ROADS II teams

Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways (NESSP) will host more than 30 teams from across the region on May 3-4 for its Lunar Flyby In-Person Challenge event.

The event on the Central Washington University campus will offer a dynamic exploration of STEM principles to more than 150 student participants and 50 adult mentors from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Teams will tackle eight mission objectives, inspired by NASA's Artemis Missions, which aim to return humans to the moon. To prepare for this event, students have engaged in tasks, such as building and testing water bottle rockets, designing lunar habitats, conducting plant growth experiments, and programming rovers for lunar package delivery. 

With one month remaining to conclude their investigations, teams will submit their Mission Development Logs for the chance to win a trip to Kennedy Space Center.

Teams will converge from various Northwest locations, including: 

• Washington: Sequim, Curlew, Lake Stevens, Naches, Mukilteo, Wapato, Othello, Tri-Cities
• Oregon: Dallas, Lake Oswego, Tillamook
• Idaho: Coeur d’Alene

The Northwest Earth and Space Science Pathways project is supported by a NASA cooperative agreement award and is part of NASA's Science Activation Portfolio. NESSP collaborates with 12 organizations across the Northwest and the country, providing students and teachers with innovative STEM educational resources.

The program also fosters community-based science and engineering events in partnership with underserved and underrepresented communities. To learn more about NESSP and its involvement in the Artemis ROADS II National Challenge, visit nwessp.org or email info@nwessp.org.