The Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment (MECA) team proposed that a student experiment be incorporated into the MECA experiment package on the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander mission, scheduled to launch on April 10, 2001.

Entrants must be pre-college students, 18 years old or younger as of March 1, 1999, to be eligible to enter.

Arthur C. Clarke, of the Planetary Society's Advisory Council, said, "When I read Stanley Weinbaum's A Martian Odyssey in 1934, little did I dream that 30 years later I would be involved in an even more ambitious, though still fictional, odyssey, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now, 30 years after that, I am happy to send my greetings to all participating in the genuine article, the 2001 Mars Odyssey, which I regard as a tribute to the two Stanleys who died before they could fulfill all their promise."

Some of the MECA experiments will test how the Martian environment affects patches of different materials, including spacesuit fabrics. The selected student experiment will be placed with these patches, becoming part of an experiment designed to help us better understand how humans will one day be able to survive on Mars.

To enter the Student NanoExperiment Challenge, students must design and build a prototype experiment, and submit it along with a written summary of the experiment that is 350 words or less. Each student must also maintain a journal that documents the development of his/her experiment, which also must be submitted upon request to the Student NanoExperiment Challenge judges.

The Student NanoExperiment Challenge judging committee, comprised of staff members from the Planetary Society, scientists and engineers from the MECA team, and educators, will select ten finalists from all qualifying entries.

The MECA team will then select one or more experiments from among the ten finalists to be constructed for flight-readiness testing. If it passes all mission requirements (detailed in the Challenge guidelines), the experiment selected by the MECA team will be integrated into the MECA experiments on the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander.

The Student NanoExperiment Challenge will teach students how great things can come in small packages. Students must construct nanoexperiments, extremely compact designs that can fit within a cylinder that is one and a quarter (1.25) centimeter in diameter by one (1) centimeter in height. Total mass allowance is three (3) grams or less. The experiment must also be self-contained, since no power from the lander will be available to power the student experiment.

The results of the student experiment must be something that can be observed by the camera located on the robotic arm of the lander.

Since the student prototypes will not be flight-qualified, the Planetary Society will fund the building of the actual flight unit, including the cost of materials, construction and testing.

The contest deadline is July 31, 1999. Entry forms and complete Challenge guidelines are available from the Planetary Society at 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106.

For more information or Challenge guidelines, contact Susan Lendroth or Jeffrey Oslick at (626)793-5100 or by e-mail Susan Lendroth - Jeffrey Oslick.