ROADS on Asteroids (2020 – 2021)
ROADS on Asteroids National Student Challenge
The 2020–2021 challenge has closed! Thank you to all who participated.
The ROADS on Asteroids challenge invited students in grades 3–12 to take on a mission to explore the asteroid Vesta. Teams planned and simulated a journey to the “snowman” crater feature and carried out a sequence of engineering and science activities, including an impactor drop test, drone landing and takeoff, and robotic navigation across hazardous terrain in search of the building blocks of life.
STEM Concepts
All activities aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and helped students build skills in:
- Mission planning
- Environmental sensing
- Planetary geology
- Biological sampling & microscopy
- Drone flight and landing
- Robotics and programming
Challenge Activities
Teams completed a sequence of mission tasks modeled on a real asteroid mission:
- Creating mission documentation
- Use gas detectors to search for CO₂ and methane
- Take biological samples and examine them under a microscope
- Create a custom map of an asteroid site using provided calculations
- Operate a drone to simulate asteroid approach and landing
- Program and navigate a robot across rough asteroid terrain
Explore the ROADS on Asteroids Resources: