NASA TV Features Live Launch of 2012 Zero Robotics Competition

NASA Television has aired the virtual launch ceremony of the 2012 Zero Robotics High School Tournament live on September 8 at 1 p.m. EDT.

High school student teams will compete at Zero Robotics, where they will be challenged with tasks like formulating their own algorithms to make the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES). These spherical satellites are capable of testing telerobotics and maneuvers for spacecraft that achieves autonomous flight which involves docking and rendezvous. Three of these satellites that were self-sufficient with propulsion, power, computing and navigation equipment were set forth on board the International Space Station.

The launch ceremony will have welcoming talks from tournament's sponsors like NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. Details on 2012 specific robotic challenge on software development will be declared by Alvar Saenz-Otero, associate director of the Space Systems Laboratory at the MIT.

The 2012 Zero Robotics tournament is being sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA. The contest will also be aided by The Space Systems Laboratory at MIT, TopCoder and Aurora Flight Sciences. The teams will compete on challenges underlying satellite docking, assembly and flight formation. This educational program improves student expertise in operations training, presentation skills, problem solving, teamwork, and design thought process.

Teams arriving at the finals can install their software programs on the SPHERES microsatellites on board the space station. The student data commands will be executed by NASA astronauts in series of competitive heats for testing the precision of the team’s software programming. A final champion will then be selected. The final competition will take place at MIT during January 2013, on board the station, 250-mi over the Earth.

The Zero Robotics program is free and registration will be open till September 28.

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