Mars is a planet over 39 million miles away, and being able to interact with it at all was seen as impossible for millions of years before now. The recent Mars Rover launch and landing has an impact on everyone, not just scientists working to find ways to live on Mars or people that enjoy space.

Even within the walls of LZ, there are many people who find the Rover landing exciting. People in robotics, science teachers, and others are all finding new ways to incorporate these examples of new technology into their teaching curriculums, and using it to inspire students.

“We had a discussion about [the Rover]. What we do in robotics class is we write autonomous code for robots that uses sensors to measure wheel rotation, which is very similar to what they use on the Rover,” John Keyzer, advanced robotics teacher said.

Students too find this as an incredible opportunity to look at and bring new people into the fields of science and technology.

“It’s like a nice mechanical feat […] as it’s opening up the boundaries for everyone. It doesn’t just relate to us in the robotics club or our STEM pathways it relates to everyone because we might soon be going to Mars, and we might start colonizing it,” said Raju Akshay, junior robotics club vice president of business.

Although STEM may be considered by many to be “nerdy”, according to Akshay, new accomplishments in the fields can be viewed as a cool thing will bring many people that might not have been interested in robotics into the field.

 “I’m hoping it inspires a lot of people to like science, and to be fascinated by it. I mean when I was younger, that’s what happened to me. My dad, pulled me outside and we watched meteor showers and stuff and that’s what got me into a lot of it,” said Susan McBride, physical science teacher.