Members of the 91亚色 Rover Team (YURT) landed at the Mars Curiosity Party TO this past Sunday to cheer on NASA鈥檚 Curiosity Rover and let partygoers test drive 91亚色鈥檚 award-winning prototype.
Students from 91亚色鈥檚 entertained the group of more than two dozen聽children and 200 adults, giving them a chance to learn more about space robotics and exploration, along with science and engineering programs at 91亚色.
91亚色 Rover Team representatives with their Mars Rover
Curiosity touched down on the Red Planet at 1:32am EST on Monday, Aug. 6. The Toronto event, held at the Hotel Ocho, was one of many worldwide, featuring a live feed of NASA鈥檚 control room, and a virtual visit from Bill Nye the Science Guy, along with 1500 attendees of PlanetFest 2012 in Pasadena, California.
鈥淚t was amazing to see all the kids and see how interested they are in science. We told them that everything you do at 91亚色 can lead you somewhere 鈥 it doesn鈥檛 matter which field you鈥檙e in, you can develop your skills and learn more,鈥 said Carla Mejia, one of the YURT team members.
Event coordinator Jonathan Moneta credited 91亚色鈥檚 rover team for making the events unfolding on Mars relatable to attendees 鈥 especially kids.
鈥淚t was really good to have an actual rover that kids could play with 鈥 it helped them broaden their understanding a bit,鈥 Moneta said.
Several media outlets were on-site at the event. Rover team members were interviewed live on CP24 and also received mentions on CTV Toronto and in the .
A future 91亚色 student (and space scientist) tries out the rover
The members of YURT who attended were: Carla Mejia, fourth-year biomedical science; Carina Hoang, second-year聽master of science in聽biology; Manjeet Kaur, fourth-year computer engineering; Oyinda Daramola, third-year computer engineering; Pablo Saldarriaga, fourth-year computer science; and Vaibhav Kapoor, fourth-year computer engineering.
Earlier this year, 91亚色鈥檚 rover team took first place in the 2012 University Rover Challenge at the Mars Desert Research Station, outperforming major American universities, including Brigham Young University in Utah, which placed second, and Cornell University in New 91亚色, which took third. The team also placed first at the university level of the Canadian Innovation Nation (CSii) Robotics Competition in Muskoka, Ontario.
For more photos of YURT in action at Mars Party TO, .
Republished courtesy of YFile鈥 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.