This contest is brought to you by NASA’s Radioisotope Power Systems Program, the team that provides spacecraft with the power to visit some of the harshest, darkest, coldest locations in the solar system.
Congratulations to All the Finalists and Semifinalists!
Thank you to all of the students who participated in this year's contest. Our judges were impressed with the quality of the essays. Thank you for writing such inspiring essays!
The Scientist for a Day team
Read the essays written by the winners: Aaron Heisel , Adhithi Arun , Annie Hu , Jennifer Sauter , Keira Roberts , Ramesh Pattar , Shreya Swaminathan , Stephanie Dragoi , and Zoey Skoutas .
Bethany Eppig, Kelsi Singer, and Dipak Srinivasan answered students' questions about the contest's topics and anything related to space exploration. Credit: NASA. Watch the recording on YouTube › .
Panelists:
Bethany Eppig NASA Radioisotope Power Systems Program
Kelsi Singer Southwest Research Institute, Boulder
Dipak Srinivasan Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Host: Ota Lutz NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
In January 1986, the mighty spacecraft reached the Uranus system. Voyager 2 took as many images as possible of anything within sight. Those were very brief visits, though, and we only know what one side of these faraway moons looks like.
Which of these three moons inspires you to explore further?
What excites you about what we’ve learned so far?
What do you hope we’ll find if we return to these places?
Support your choice in an essay of no more than 300 words.
The essays of winning students will be published on NASA's Radioisotope Power Systems website.
Good Luck!
The Scientist for a Day team
What is an RPS?
Radioisotope Power Systems provide the power to explore, discover, and understand our solar system. You can learn more about RPS on this website. This video explains some of the concepts.
Ariel
Ariel is believed to be the least cratered of all the moons orbiting Uranus. Carbon dioxide has been detected there.
more
Oberon
Oberon, Uranus' second largest moon, has a mountain that rises almost 4 miles (more than 6 kilometers) off the surface.
more
Titania
Titania, Uranus' largest moon, has a system of fault valleys that stretches nearly 1,000 miles (about 1,600 kilometers).
more
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