Fall 2007 HiRISE Challenge (Plans are to repeat in Spring 2008)
The HiRISE camera, now orbiting Mars onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, is helping NASA to search for signs of past and present water on Mars. Understanding the history of water on Mars helps scientists understand if there is now or ever has been life on Mars. Students are challenged to choose some regions of Mars for HiRISE to image that probably contained water at the surface in the past. The HiRISE team will pick several suggestions and image them with the camera in the coming months. Your team will represent the first people on Earth to see the resulting image and will have the chance to search for signs of water in the image.
http://quest.nasa.gov/challenges/hirise/index.html

LCROSS Challenges
The identification of water is very important to the future of human activities on the Moon. LCROSS will blast the permanently dark floor of one of the Moon’s polar craters with two heavy impactors early in 2009 to test the theory that ancient ice lies buried there. Scheduled for March, April & May, 2007, the first LCROSS challenge will reflect NASA's plans as students design a lunar impactor that will excavate "lunar soil" in search of water.
http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/

LIMA Challenge
During the International Polar Year, the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) will be used as base to develop a new education public outreach website called "Faces of Antarctica" to be used as a teaching tool to link the faces of scientists studying Sanarctica with the changing face of the continent. More information will be posted as available.

Follow the Ongoing Spaceward Bound Project:

July 2009 Australian Desert
March 2009 Mojave Desert
July 2008 Arctic
April 2008 Mojave Desert
Mojave 2007
MDRS 2006
Atacama 2006

We are sorry, but the Mars Airplane and Outta Here Challenges have been cancelled due to education budget cuts.

Design a Mars Airplane
What are some of the challenges you might encounter as you develop an airplane to explore Mars? NASA is working on airplane designs that will fly in Mars' thin atmosphere and collect detailed data of large areas of Mars' surface more efficiently than the rovers that have studied Mars to this point. During the months of January - March, NASA Quest challenges students, working with NASA scientists and engineers to design an airplane that can be packaged for safe travel to Mars and then fly upon arrival.

Spring Challenge:

Operation OUTTA HERE!
How can the current air transportation system safely handle a substantial increase in the number and frequency of aircraft in the system? NASA Quest challenges students in grades 8-10 during the months of March - May to follow a "flight path" along which they will learn mathematical concepts, examine related social issues, and explore career pathways-all in the context of airspace systems. Students will enjoy live interaction with industry professionals who will become career role models and who can participate in the discussion of the merits of the operational concepts showcased in the lessons.

For information on technical requirements and instructions on how to participate in Web events see our "How to" Page.