The two teams of students are among just 20 nationally who were chosen after designing their own concepts of a paddle wheel prototype. (Credit: David Thomas)
The task is part of NASA’s 2025 Drop Tower Challenge.
Two teams of students in Pennridge High School’s gifted program are among just 20 nationally who have been chosen to help NASA with zero-gravity research.
For the last few months, team “CASA,” made up of Chloe Benner, Ananya Bhatt, Surabhi Gupta and Abigail Arnold-Treanor, and the “Pennridge Men’s NASA Team,” made up of Finn Bachman, Gavin Chordoroff and Gavin Mill, have been voluntarily coming to SueEllen Thomas’ gifted classroom during their RAMS Flex time to design their own concepts of a paddle wheel prototype based on NASA’s very strict guidelines and microgravity testing.
The task is part of NASA’s 2025 Drop Tower Challenge, which challenges teams of grade 8-12 students to design and build paddle wheels that will turn in water because of the wetting properties of their surfaces when they experience apparent weightlessness, i.e. microgravity.
NASA will be providing specific feedback, guidance and/or requests for modification over the next month.
Thomas talked about the dedication of her students and how impressed she was with their original ideas.
“When I shared the nationwide 2025 NASA Drop Tower Challenge with students on the gifted roster, there were seven students who answered the call. This year’s objective is to design and build paddle wheels that will turn in water because of the wetting properties of their surfaces when they experience apparent weightlessness, i.e., microgravity,” said Thomas. “There cannot be any chemical or mechanical forces involved. Participation is remote, so students have been able to work in the gifted resource center, here at the high school, or together outside of the resource center as their time and schedules permit.
The students’ paddle wheel prototype is based on NASA’s strict guidelines and microgravity testing. NASA will be providing feedback over the next month. (Credit: David Thomas)“This first part was all about planning and design, and we had two teams that entered sketches, measurements, and information relevant to their ideas,” Thomas said. “Their concepts are brilliant and they had to collaborate, compromise, and find just the right balance of realistic solutions and innovative design.”
Next, the teams will create their prototypes and send their test objects to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio for testing. After evaluation of the experimental results and teams’ reports, a small number of top-performing teams will be invited to present their results in a student poster session at the 2025 American Society for Gravitational and Space Research meeting.
These teams will be announced in mid-May of 2025 and are already hard at work getting ready for the next phase of the challenge.
