HOUSTON — Fifty years after the lunar landing, high school students are working to create the technology needed to get man on Mars!
At the FIRST Robotics World Championship, engineers of the future, are competing among one another.
“When I’m here and I meet all these different people who are so passionate about science and engineering, it really makes me have hope for the future,” said Esther Jin.
She’s a sophomore at Clear Springs High School in League City. She and more than a dozen others are part of the ‘Robonauts,’ which is Clear Creek I.S.D.’s robotics team.
The team’s mentor is a real NASA engineer who is leading the development of rovers that are used on the moon and Mars.
“I want to be part of the people that get put in charge of going to Mars, of developing, of growing,” said Gustavo Casimiro. “I want to make a change and I want to be able to drive the world forward.”
“And that gets me really excited about my future,” said Jin. “I believe that our generation will be the generation to colonize Mars.”
Teens from all over the world are in Houston for the FIRST Robotics Championship. Many of them have their sights set on space travel.
“It’s amazing,” said Lucien Junkin who is a NASA engineer. “Thirty-thousand people with all different ideas.”
Robotics allows Clear creek students to visit NASA test facilities. It affords the opportunities for coveted scholarships and internships. And it allows the chance to create a future we can’t even begin to imagine.
