NASA recently touched down in Clinton, virtually communicating with a class of underwater robotics students.

A few scientists from the Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston video chatted with the Atlantis STEAM club this past week, Feb. 21. The club focuses on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM), and formerly operated as a competitive underwater robotics team.

Flight analogs project manager Lisa Spence, Jennifer Turner of the space flight division, and Emily McBryan in the robotics division spent an hour speaking with and hearing from Whidbey Island students. This year’s Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) underwater competition involves a simulated remotely operated vehicle mission to Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Learning from the three NASA scientists, according to a news release from Atlantis STEAM, was designed to illuminate the tasks involved in exploring a distant moon and to highlight female role models in STEM careers.

According to the release, both Turner and McBryan competed in the MATE competition prior to working at the space center.

McBryan presented a remotely operated vehicle she helped build for NASA to explore subglacial lakes in Antarctica. She and other scientists spent two months researching the lakes, found two miles under the ice.

Turner told the students about her work with CRONUS, the data transfer management system between mission control and space vehicles/machines, such as the International Space Station. She and the group are responsible for tasks as fun as streaming the NFL championship to the space station.

Spence is in the midst of researching the effects of living in highly confined spaces, such as the space station, on humans. She is also the NASA staff coordinator for the MATE International ROV Competition at the neutral buoyancy lab in June.

Attending the Skype session were: Atlantis member Haley McConnaughey; Galileo ROV members Sophia Paczynski, Shianna Baker, Kalea Staats, and Riley Patching; and Arctic Orcas members Theron Colby, Canon and Carter Penny, Lucas Pitts and Gabe Townsend, Preston Howard and Sean Walker; as well as Galileo mentors Ashley McConnaughey and Michael Patching, and Artic Orcas parent liaison Joshua Pitts.