The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is committed to returning astronauts to the moon by 2024. This program, called Artemis, also includes launching the first female astronaut and first astronaut of color to the moon. To learn more about the Artemis program, you can visit the Artemis Program Home Page. Such a massive undertaking of bringing people to the moon has not been fully executed since December of 1972, so there is a massive necessity for new and better technology. This is where NASA MUREP Innovative New Designs for Space (MINDS) comes in.

            NASA MINDS is a minority-serving program that asks young engineers and scientists to help create the new technologies to be used in the Artemis program. An annual competition is held to score and test the ideas of the students. Two teams composed of New Mexico Tech (NMT) and Southwest Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) students competed in this year's competition and they both did amazing! Awards announcer Winston E. Scott mentioned that the state of New Mexico represented well, winning quite a few awards. To see more about the awards NMT won, you can visit the Awards Page.

The Monitoring Minors team competed in the Underclassmen category and won 2nd Place overall, as well as 2nd for their poster and 3rd for their technical paper. This team was advised by Dr. Arvin Ebrahimkhanlou and the members were: Mario Escarcega (team lead), Kimberly Kelso, Meghan Cephus, Nakii Tsosie, Raechelle Sandoval, and Skyler Hughes. In the words of the team lead, Mario, his team simulated lunar conditions and used (PICO) sensors to collect resulting acoustic emissions. AI was then used to cluster and characterize the damage, after which corrosion and abrasion damage were fingerprinted.

            The Moon Hopper team competed in the Senior Category and won 2nd place overall, with a first place win for their systems engineering paper. This team was advised by Dr. Mostafa Hassanalian (of NMT) and Dr. Nader Vadiee (of SIPI) and the members of the team consisted of NMT and SIPI students. The NMT students who participated were Brenden Herkenhoff, Sara Lanctot, Trent Bjorkman, and Nathaniel Serda. SIPI team members included Veronica Martinez, TiShai Yazzie, Teejay Johnson, and Caresse Davis.

            The competition website reads, “NASA MINDS believes that the work undertaken by students has the potential to uncover unique ideas, accelerate innovation, and aid in technological breakthroughs.” Even one seemingly simple idea can help create millions of new ideas that could possibly change the world. Take Mario Escarcega for example, he never thought NASA could benefit from his ideas, yet his team won second place nationally at a NASA competition. So the message of this story is, if you have an idea or dream, follow it.