When:

Contest Deadline: Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023

Where:

Enter online (RPS website)

Target Audience:

U.S. students in grades K-12

Overview:

It takes a special kind of power to explore the extremes of our solar system, and NASA wants to hear how it would energize your space exploration dreams! If you could plan a mission in our solar system or beyond, where would you go, and what would you explore?

NASA's Radioisotope Power Systems Program has partnered with Future Engineers to host a writing challenge for students in kindergarten through 12th grade about the power systems that help robotic spacecraft explore the extreme reaches of our solar system.

› Learn more & enter

Entries are due by Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023

Education Resources

Educator Guides

• 
  Where Do Spacecraft Get Their Power?

  This whiteboard video describes how "radioisotope power" allows many spacecraft, such as NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars, to stay powered while traveling through space and exploring other planets.

  Subject Technology

  Grades 7-12

  Time Less than 30 mins

Student Articles

• 
  NASA Space Place: What Powers a Spacecraft?

  A spacecraft generally gets its energy from at least one of three power sources: the Sun, batteries or unstable atoms.

  Subject Technology

  Grades 3-7

  Time Less than 30 mins