Sixth grade students were given the chance to enter the “Name NASA’s Next Mars Rover” contest. The Mars 2020 rover is a 2,300-pound robotic scientist that will search for signs of past microbial life, characterize the planet’s climate and geology, collect samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. The Name the Rover contest is part of NASA’s efforts to engage students in the STEM enterprise behind Mars exploration and inspire interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. He’Atid is excited to announce that Yael Benzaquen and Max Epstein have made it to round two of the contest and middle school teacher Dr. Hope Blecher has been selected by the Future Engineers to be a judge in round one of the contest. She will judge the submissions of grades nine-12, so there is no conflict of interest with her students. Stay tuned for an update from this exciting contest!