One of the stops on NASA's way to the moon will be the Arizona desert, and hundreds of students are invited to experience lunar life for themselves. NASA's annual Desert RATS -- or Research and Technology Studies -- field test will be held in Arizona this fall, and a variety of activities are geared for students to inspire them to become space explorers and NASA's future workforce.



Dozens of students from Flagstaff and surrounding areas are invited to visit the test site at Black Point Lava Flow as part of "Student Visitation Day" on Sept. 16, 2009. They will be introduced to what NASA engineers and researchers demonstrated at the field test. College teams who ranked highest in NASA's 2009 Moon Work Engineering Contest will present their projects to members of the NASA field test team. The winning teams are from the University of Maryland, College Park; the University of Akron, Ohio; and Texas A&M University, College Station.



As part of the day's activities, hundreds of elementary and middle school students participating in "Education Alley" at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Space 2009 Conference in Pasadena, Calif., will have a chance to observe field test activities and chat live via satellite with the NASA engineers and researchers. Scheduled for 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT), Heather Paul and Kimberly Land of NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program will host the educational live broadcast event. Students everywhere can view the event and learn more about the Desert RATS activities by visiting http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/analogs.



The Desert RATS tests have taken place for more than a decade, as engineers from NASA centers have worked together with representatives from both industry and academia to determine what will be needed when NASA returns to the moon and journeys on to Mars.



The 2009 Desert RATS tests will focus on a simulated 14-day mission. Two crew members -- an astronaut and a geologist -- will live for 14 days inside NASA's prototype Lunar Electric Rover, scouting the area for features of geological interest and conducting simulated moonwalks as necessary to collect samples. The location has been scouted earlier by NASA's K10 robot, which sought out areas of interest a month prior. NASA’s Tri-ATHLETE -- or All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer, a heavy-lift rover -- will carry a habitat mock-up that the rover will dock to the rover.



The Desert RATS educational live broadcast event will include NASA experts who will explain to the students how NASA plans to use similar rovers on the moon; video clips of field test demonstrations; and questions from students.



For more information about NASA's lunar field tests, NASA's "Moon Work" contest and to follow Desert RATS activities, visit http://moontasks.larc.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/analogs