2024 Power to Explore Contest Winners

NASA announced the winners of the third annual Power to Explore Challenge, a national writing competition designed to teach K-12 students about the power of radioisotopes for space exploration.

The competition asked students to learn about NASA’s Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS), “nuclear batteries” the agency uses to explore some of the most extreme destinations in the solar system and beyond. In 250 words or less, students wrote about a mission of their own enabled by these space power systems and described their own power to achieve their mission goals.

“The Power to Explore Challenge is the perfect way to inspire students – our Artemis Generation – to reach for the stars and beyond and help NASA find new ways to use radioisotopes to power our exploration of the cosmos,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Entries were split into three groups based on grade level, and a winner was chosen from each. The three winners, along with a guardian, are invited to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland for a VIP tour of its world-class research facilities.

The winners are:

  • Rainie Lin, Lexington, Kentucky, kindergarten through fourth grade
  • Aadya Karthik, Redmond, Washington, fifth through eighth grade
  • Thomas Liu, Ridgewood, New Jersey, ninth through 12th grade

2024 Finalists

NASA selected nine finalists out of the 45 semifinalist student essays in the Power to Explore Challenge, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes. Contestants were challenged to explore how NASA has powered some of its most famous science missions and to dream up how their personal “super power” would energize their success on their own radioisotope-powered science mission.

Entries were split into three categories: grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Every student who submitted an entry received a digital certificate and an invitation to the Power Up virtual event that announced the semifinalists. Students learned about what powers the NASA workforce to dream big and work together to explore.

Winners will be announced on April 17.

Grades K-4

Grades 5-8

Grades 9-12

2024 Semifinalists

NASA selected 45 student essays as semifinalists of its 2024 Power to Explore Challenge. The 2024 contest received 1,787 submitted entries from 48 states and Puerto Rico.

Grades K-4

  • Maryam Asif, Sarasota, FL
  • Thashvi Balaji, Riverview, FL
  • Yavuz Bastug, Peckville, PA
  • Claire Bennett, La Grange, NC
  • Ada Brolan, Somerville, MA
  • Joseph Brown, Huntsville, AL
  • Ashwin Cohen, Washington, D.C.
  • Adara George, Lithia, FL
  • Katerine Leon, Long Beach, CA
  • Rainie Lin, Lexington, KY
  • Connor Personette, Lakeland, FL
  • Yash Rajan, Issaquah, WA
  • Camila Rymzo, Belmont, MA
  • Arslan Soner, Columbia, SC
  • Zachary Tolchin, Guilford, CT

Grades 5-8

  • Nithilam Arivuchelvan, Short Hills, NJ
  • Nandini Bandyopadhyay, Short Hills, NJ
  • Cooper Basi, Rocklin, CA
  • Joshua Cheng, Rockville, MD
  • Kaitlyn Chu, Mercer Island, WA
  • Mayson Howell, Troy, MO
  • Dhiraj Javvadi, Louisville, KY
  • Aadya Karthik, Redmond, WA
  • Subham Maiti, Bloomington, MN
  • Meadow McCarthy, Corvallis, OR
  • Elianna Muthersbaugh, Bluffton, SC
  • Archer Prentice, Koloa, HI
  • Andrew Tavares, Bridgewater, MA
  • Sara Wang, Henderson, NV
  • Anna Yang, Austin, TX

Grades 9-1

  • Sabrina Affany, Fresno, CA
  • Alejandro Aguirre, Mission Viejo, CA
  • Sai Meghana Chakka, Charlotte, NC
  • Khushi Jain, San Jose, CA
  • Aiden Johnson, Virginia Beach, VA
  • Robert Kreidler, Cincinnati, OH
  • Zoie Lawson, Tigard, OR
  • Thomas Liu, Ridgewood, NJ
  • Madeline Male, Fairway, KS
  • Dang Khoi Pham, Westminster, CA
  • Sofia Anna Reed-Gomes, Coral Gables, FL
  • Ava Schmidt, Leavenworth, WA
  • Madden Smith, Loveland, OH
  • Kailey Thomas, Las Vegas, NV
  • Warren Volles, Lyme, CT

About the Challenge

On the left, the Power to Explore logo shows an eclipse transforming into an atomic symboil. The right features a word cloud in which creativity, optimism, and determination are the largest words.
The logo for NASA's 2024 Power to Explore student writing challenge.
NASA

The challenge is funded by the Radioisotope Power Systems Program Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and administered by Future Engineers under the NASA Open Innovation Services 2 contract. This contract is managed by the NASA Tournament Lab, a part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

2024 Contest Details

The writing challenge invites K-12th grade students in the United States to learn about radioisotope power systems, a type of nuclear battery integral to many of NASA’s far-reaching space missions, and then write an essay about a new powered mission for the agency.

For more than 60 years, radioisotope power systems have helped NASA explore the harshest, darkest, and dustiest parts of our solar system and has enabled many spacecrafts to conduct otherwise impossible missions in total darkness. Ahead of the next total solar eclipse in the United States in April 2024, which is a momentary glimpse without sunlight and brings attention to the challenge of space exploration without solar power, NASA wants students to submit essays about these systems.

Entries should detail where students would go, what they would explore, and how they would use the power of radioisotope power systems to achieve mission success in a dusty, dark, or far away space destination with limited or obstructed access to light. Submissions are due Feb. 9, 2024.

“The Power to Explore Student Challenge is part of NASA’s ongoing efforts to engage students in space exploration and inspire interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This technology has been a game changer in our exploration capabilities and we can’t wait to see what students – our future explorers – dream up; the sky isn’t the limit, it’s just the beginning.”

Judges will review entries in three grade-level categories: K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Student entries are limited to 250 words and should address the mission destination, mission goals, and describe one of the student’s unique powers that will help the mission.

One grand prize winner from each grade category (three total) will receive a trip for two to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, to learn about the people and technologies that enable NASA missions. Every student who submits an entry will receive a digital certificate and an invitation to a virtual event with NASA experts where they’ll learn about what powers the NASA workforce to dream big and explore.

The Power to Explore Student Challenge is funded by the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s Radioisotope Power Systems Program Office and managed and administered by Future Engineers under the direction of the NASA Tournament Lab, a part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.