A team of science-loving Surrey students has rocketed into a NASA-backed competition to build a rover that could roam on distant planets.

The American space agencysa国际传媒檚 2024 will involve 10 students at Princess Margaret Secondary who submitted a last-minute proposal in September, hours before a deadline.

, and one of just a few high schools in the college/university-dominated competition to design and build human-powered rovers.

Next April the team from Newton will travel to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the HERC event, which urges research and development of sa国际传媒渘ew technologies for future mission planning and crewed space missions to other worlds.sa国际传媒�

to watch video of NASAsa国际传媒檚 Human Exploration Rover Challenge.

Now that theysa国际传媒檝e been chosen for this challenge, the Surrey students must design and build a two-person rover and also raise funds for the stateside trip.

sa国际传媒淭heysa国际传媒檙e super excited,sa国际传媒� said teacher Jag Uppal, team advisor. sa国际传媒淭hese are some amazing kids, and they found the competition on their own sa国际传媒� the website, the proposal, thatsa国际传媒檚 them putting it all together, everything.sa国际传媒�

The student team includes Jeevan Sandhu (team lead), Mehul Bhanot (safety officer), Omar Arain, Jasmeet Dhaliwal, Harmeet Sond, Manroop Padda, Parneet Dhesi, Haardik Garg, Victor Gupta and Alex Gupta.

sa国际传媒淭his is kind of the engineering Olympics for them,sa国际传媒� Uppal added. sa国际传媒淵ou have athletes who get to the national and international levels, and for these students this is an international competition, and theysa国际传媒檙e representing their school internaitonally, on that scale. Itsa国际传媒檚 huge.sa国际传媒�

Still in the design phase, their LeoCraft rover is named for the school mascot of the Princess Margaret Lions.

Online, the learning journey will be documented .

sa国际传媒淚magine a group of high schoolers more ecstatic about rockets and Mars than the latest Netflix series,sa国际传媒� the website notes. sa国际传媒淲e are a diverse group of passionate high school students who share a common love for space, engineering and science.sa国际传媒�

Sponsors, donors and scientific guidance is welcomed by these students, who are sa国际传媒渁rmed with dreams as large as the cosmos.sa国际传媒�

Uppal said a real challenge is trying to raise $50,000 for the trip to Alabama.

sa国际传媒淗alf of that will go to transportation costs for the actual competition (a three-day conference), and the other half will be for designing and building and testing this rover,sa国际传媒� the teacher explained.

sa国际传媒淩ight now wesa国际传媒檙e looking around for equipment that could 3D-print their design, and we could use some help,sa国际传媒� Uppal added.

The built rover must be then dismantled and shipped to the HERC event, according to some strict rules.

sa国际传媒淚 didnsa国际传媒檛 think that they were going to get accepted because it was all so rushed and last-minute,sa国际传媒� Uppal admitted. sa国际传媒淭hey put it together in, like, two days, their proposal. So for them to be accepted was a big deal, and now they realize theresa国际传媒檚 so much work ahead. But theysa国际传媒檙e all excited about the challenge.

sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檓 excited for them and Isa国际传媒檓 also scared, just the challenge ahead,sa国际传媒� he added with a laugh.

This isnsa国际传媒檛 the first time Princess Margaret students have been involved in a NASA-backed event. At Floridasa国际传媒檚 Kennedy Space Center in 2019, .