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Elected advocates for STEM and innovation in schools and communities.
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Introduction
Hello! My name is CSO Marcus and I am an elected 5th year Chief Science Officer from Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Arizona. On July 13th, I had the privilege to be interviewed by Arizona’s Family on Channel 3 News to showcase my team’s project for the 2020 NASA WEAR Challenge. The challenge, given by NASA from Langley Research Center in Virginia, has asked students nationwide to design either a vest or a headgear design to protect their astronauts against radiation. Our team, known as AETHER, has spent the past months working to develop, test, and prototype a helmet.
Project and Interview
This garment will be used to help protect astronauts against harmful radiation from solar particle events or HZE ions released from the sun known to cause cancer. As a result, our design has decided to use hydrogen-rich materials such as PET Plastic, high-density polyethylene, and polycarbonate to absorb the harmful particles released through deep space.
It has previously been tested for comfortability and internal temperatures to ensure that it will be suitable for a person to wear for as long as the solar particle event is present. These ideas and the current prototype have been conveyed statewide from Channel 3 to publicize our developments in the challenge.
Current Actions/Next Steps
My team is preparing to submit the second part of the challenge, which focuses on additional features and a video, that will determine the 10 teams that will have the opportunity to present their ideas to NASA Engineers in Virginia. At the moment, we have successfully made it to the top 20 teams out of 70 from the last part of the challenge, and hope to successfully achieve the national recognition in achieving a spot in the final phase.
Link to the article: https://www.azfamily.com/news/features/mesa-students-design-gear-for-astronauts-to-wear-on-moon/article_7a3c3638-c56f-11ea-8295-87991f1e5123.html
Chief Science Officers
The Chief Science Officers is a collaborative initiative with the Arizona Commerce Authority and the Arizona Technology Council Foundation.
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