At the final design competition in April, students, their parents and teachers will have an opportunity to meet a former NASA astronaut. Last year's astronaut was Loren Acton. Acton flew on the Challenger in the 1985 Spacelab 2 Mission, and had a lot of fun meeting the Idaho TECH 2000 participants. Parents, teachers, older students and an engineering team of fifth and sixth graders each play an important roles. As sponsors and coordinators of the team, teachers and parents assure students understand the process and stay on track.
Older students advise and mentor.
The engineering team does the real work of the project. Each engineering team member participates in the design, building, testing, altering, and re-testing of the rovers. Teams learn scientific procedures, the thrill of invention, patience to persist despite setbacks, basic engineering skills, and teamwork. The NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium funds the majority of the competition. Limited scholarship funds are available.