Exploring the future of space-age technology

WORKING with project engineers from NASA's Lewis Research Center, vocational students at East Technical High School in Cleveland's inner city recently pooled their talents and tools to create a space-age vehicle that may one day actually land in outer space.

Using the basic skills learned in physics, mechanics and electronics classes, this group of 12 juniors and seniors designed and constructed their version of a real spacecraft. Although the simulated "Mars Space Rover" looks more like a steel-plated, remote control car than a sleek space shuttle, the small machine is equipped with a moveable arm and a highly advanced laser display. Electricity, funneled through a computerized circuit board, propels the arm into action.

"They've actually made a Mars Rover that is expected to go up sometime after the year 2000," explains Gary Crawford, the NASA instructor for the student-based project. "At first, the students didn't really know what was involved in building this unit. But by the time they finished, they had a better grasp of technology and what's going on. Now, I believe, they could go out and build almost anything."

These young tech pros could have built a moving device without the aid of computers by strategically assembling scraps of metal, bits of wire and electrical circuits. But by incorporating advanced technologies--a remote control unit was connected to a computer to permit the rover to function through BASIC, a computer programming language--the students had greater control over the vehicle's movement than if it were simply operated by an ordinary remote control.

By gently tapping a computer key pad, the young scientists can command the machine's arm to move up or down, or the frame to swerve from left to right. "The students are amazed at how the computer controls everything," Crawford says. "They're really motivated and now want to know more about how electronics and laser technology can be used in space."

These students are following the wave of the future. Aerospace experts say technology as we know it will only advance in the years to come. "We may actually colonize on Mars. That's what we're looking toward," NASA mathematician Brenda Ellis adds. "That's why we're trying hard to stress the importance of mathematics, science and computer science in our schools. Technology changes every day, and we have to keep up."