Zooming to Mars

On Monday, third graders welcomed Andy Carnell, Chief of Staff at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, via Zoom. Andy shared some of the exciting projects that the NASA Research Center is working on, and third graders, who studied space in science this past winter, had lots of great questions prepared for their guest.

NASA’s Langley Research Center is a collection of 200 labs and facilities focused on innovations in aviation, studying the earth’s atmosphere, and developing technology for space exploration. Andy gave students a peek at some of Langley’s revolutionary new aircraft under development. To create greener aviation, NASA is working on the X57 Maxwell, an entirely electric aircraft. They are also working with Lockheed Martin on the X-59, a next-generation supersonic jet intended for commercial travel that aims to reduce the supersonic boom. Could there someday be an Uber for air travel? NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility Mission is working on pilot-less air transportation that passengers could order using their smartphones like a car service. Students were most intrigued by NASA’s research to figure out how to live and work on the Moon and Mars. Scientists and engineers are studying everything from how they might get energy on the moon to how they might be able to build things using moon dust called regulate. Andy discussed the theory that Mars once looked much like earth, noting that scientists are so interested in Mars because its changes over time might help us understand our planet better.

Students had questions ready for Andy and wanted to learn what it’s like to work at NASA and what he enjoyed studying in school when he was their age. He encouraged students to keep coming up with big ideas, noting that a student might be heading off for their first day of school on Mars in their lifetime!