Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways Completes Artemis ROADS II National Challenge

The Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways (NESSP) project has concluded the 2023-24 Artemis ROADS II National Challenge, helping nearly 500 middle and high school student teams from 34 states enhance their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) skills and knowledge.

From January through early June, the teams were challenged to complete eight Mission Objectives, inspired by NASA’s Artemis Missions, whose goal is to send humans back to the moon. During the first six months of the year, participating students designed and launched high-flying water bottle rockets, tested moon cement, designed lunar habitats, conducted experiments to investigate the challenges of growing plants on the moon, envisioned what Earth looks like from the moon, and designed an autonomous lunar supply delivery rover.

Many of the teams showcased their work at one of NESSP’s seven in-person hub events in Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Carolina, and Texas. All of the participating teams submitted their final results virtually.

“I’ve been a part of this challenge for four years now, and this year featured the best student work so far,” said Dr. Darci Snowden, Director of the Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways program and an Associate Professor of Physics at Central Washington University. “I was really impressed by the team’s ability to successfully program their robot. They also showed great creativity in designing experiments to test the strength and durability of cement-like material made from lunar regolith simulant.”

Snowden added that she was intrigued by the results from all of the student teams’ plant experiments, noting that a number of them showed consistent results that seeds could sprout in lunar soil. Yet, without further supplements, the teams discovered that young plants would die after just a few days.

“Overall, these students truly embraced an engineering and scientific approach to addressing the challenges of living and working on the moon,” Snowden said. “I’m so proud of what they accomplished.”

Now that the challenge has been completed, NESSP will take 13 teams from the roughly 100 that completed all eight Mission Objectives to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The teams selected to go to Kennedy Space Center are as follows:

Astrovan/High School Teams

• AstroCoqui (Boqueron, Puerto Rico)
• Olympus (Othello, Washington)
• Caelestis Venatores (Billings, Montana)
• Ursa Minor (Lacey, Washington)
• Ad Astra (Shelbyville, Kentucky)
• Apples Peaches Watermelons (Brewerton, New York)

Crawler/Middle School Teams

• MarsNStars (Hardin, Montana)
• The Snoopys and Solar Stars (Whittier, North Carolina)
• Shining Stars (Preston, Idaho)
• Red Wranglers Rocket (Rosebud, Montana)
• Lunar Leapers (Northport, Michigan)
• Starry Sequim Serpents (Sequim, Washington)
• Goofy Hedgehogs (Mesa, Arizona)

In mid-August, the students and Mission Advisors from each of the teams will join NESSP staff in Florida, where they will receive exclusive, behind-the-scenes tours of NASA’s launch complex, spend several days in the visitor center, and go to the beach. Results from all the teams that qualified for the Kennedy Space Center trip can be seen on NESSP’s YouTube channel.

The Artemis ROADS II program also enhances skills and provides resources to K-12 teachers in the classroom through its Artemis ROADS II Professional Development Workshops and Artemis ROADS II 4-unit Companion Course. NESSP loaned supplies to more than 100 of the 143 schools and organizations across the country that used the companion course to help facilitate teaching these lessons in their classrooms.

NESSP partners with 12 organizations across the Northwest and the country to provide students and teachers with innovative and informative educational materials that engage student interest in STEM. The organization also supports community-based science and engineering events, in partnership with underserved and underrepresented communities.

Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways is supported by NASA cooperative agreement and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. 

For more information about NESSP and its involvement in the Artemis ROADS II National Challenge, visit www.nwessp.org.