BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Staff Writer
Howell Memorial Middle School pupils (l-r) Brent Bovenzi, Chris Payette and Erika Leone present their plans for a mission to Mars during the Imagine Mars project, sponsored by NASA and the National Endowment for the Arts. HOWELL – If humans are to one day inhabit Mars, the students of Howell Memorial Middle School have figured out how to make it happen.
The Imagine Mars project, sponsored by NASA and the National Endowment for the Arts, saw science classes form “engineering firms” to research and craft plans on how to create the first 100-person colony on the red planet.
The groups competed for a faux government contract which would bankroll their proposals.
Four groups were chosen as finalists and presented their plans before a panel of experts and their peers on Nov. 15.
Ken Kremer, a NASA consultant, attended the presentations and served as one of the panel experts. Afterward, he led the students through an animated presentation regarding the Mars rovers.
Science teacher Kate Hope and math teacher Francis Wells oversaw the project.
“Astronomy is part of the curriculum,” Hope said. “The kids are getting into it. They’re learning how unique Earth is and how special Earth is.”
Hope said she found the idea for the Mars project on an Internet Web site.
As part of the group’s proposals, students were charged with researching sites for their colonies, infrastructure and how to maintain a functional society.
The four groups all proposed different ways of accomplishing their goals – with varied results.
Students in the KKPJ Design Company group had an interesting theory regarding the split between men and women on Mars.
After saying the colony would include a ratio of seven men to three women, student Kyle Dettman was asked why the split was necessary.
“The conditions will be better suited for males,” he said, which nearly resulted in an orbital riot. “But it will even out eventually.”
Dettman’s group estimated the project would cost $35 trillion to accomplish.
Rounding out the group were Paul Ahrens, Joe Flora and Kevin Forero.
To help pay the astronomical costs, Channing Huang of the Oktopus Ink group had an earthly idea – advertising.
In cooperation with Poland Spring, Huang said the company would donate an initial supply of water, which would reduce the group’s budget. In return, the group would place the company’s logo on its spaceships.
Oktopus Ink said the colony’s government would be led by engineers, medical personnel and scientists – no lawyers or bankers here.
Eventually, the Oktopus Ink group finished as the runner-up. Its members were Channing Huang, Tom Puglisi, George Rimakis and Chris Sickler.
The winners, the CAEB Co. group, may have won on their preparedness – the team members came dressed in lab coats. They presented a thorough rundown of the colony’s specifics, including the types of individuals who should be allowed to join the Mars population.
The team’s members were Brent Bovenzi, Erika Leone, Anami Patel and Chris Payette.
Also participating was the Keeping Earth Moving Forward group comprised of Emily Cuprys, Megan Johnson and Katie McCoy.
Later, Kremer asked the students, “Do you view this as a utopia?”
The students were unsure.
Nonetheless, Kremer explained how delicate NASA’s Mars rover missions have been and how they coincide with the Imagine Mars project.
“We don’t launch to the planets every day, so we want it to be successful when we do. If you want to go to Mars you’re going to have to grab on because it will go right past you,” the NASA representative said, noting the precise timing that needs to occur to land anything on the planet.
Kremer said although NASA is still years away from putting humans on Mars, the students at Memorial Middle School were off to a good start in getting there.