NASA and ASME: Partnering to develop Future Engineers through Challenges

摘要

Future exploration missions in space between the Earth and the Moon or beyond will require complex operational activities to ensure that crew, cargo, and exploration systems reach their destination safely and successfully. NASA is committed to engaging citizen scientists with opportunities to develop novel solutions that can assist in bridging technology gaps related to human spaceflight. Four years ago, NASA entered into a Space Act Agreement with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Foundation to inspire students with real-world engineering problems through a series of engineering challenges that leverage the 3D Printing in Zero-G Technology Demonstration aboard the International Space Station (ISS). With technical assistance from NASA, ASME designs and conducts K-12 engineering design challenges using the Future Engineers challenge platform allowing participants to use their imaginations and 3D modeling software to design items related to future space exploration missions. The Future Engineers web presence hosts challenges, provides links to free modeling software, and features an open hardware design repository showcasing student software models. At the end of each challenge, a committee that includes NASA personnel and experts on 3D printing in space, reviews all submissions and selects several designs for final review. Finalists are then interviewed by ajudging panel with winners selected in Junior (ages 5-12) and Teen (ages 13-19) age divisions. Through this innovative collaboration, winners have received behind-the-scenes tours of NASA, SpaceX, Bigelow Aerospace, Digital Domain, and MakerBot, and had their designs printed on the 3D printer aboard the ISS. Since 2014, the challenges have successfully engaged over 2,700 students from 46 states to use their imaginations to design and create 3D engineering models related to items astronauts may need in the future. Thirty-nine percent of participants are female, a traditionally underrepresented gro