The Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, and Reorient Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES, are three volley ball-sized, spherical satellites that fly inside the space station's cabin to test advanced maneuvers for spacecraft, such as formation flying and autonomous rendezvous and docking. Each contains its own power, propulsion, computing, and navigation equipment. The selections are part of the Zero-Robotics investigation, which is run by MIT and designed to inspire future scientists and engineers. Students write their own algorithms to solve a problem important to future missions. This year's pilot program, "HelioSPHERES," allows selected high schools to compete against each other and helps students build critical engineering skills, such as problem solving, design thought process, operations training, teamwork and presentation skills.
The competition was open to all accredited high schools in the United States and attracted 48 applications. The 24 high schools are from 19 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. The list of schools is available at http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/zero_robotics_2010.html.