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May 14, 2003

John Ira Petty
Johnson Space Center, Texas
(281) 483-5111

Report #J03-43

SPACEWALKERS' POOL HOSTING TITANIC YOUTH ROV COMPETITION

About 20 high school teams with underwater remotely operated
vehicles (ROVs) they've built themselves are expected to compete
Saturday at Johnson Space Center's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory for
the right to go to national finals. The all-day competition begins at
9 a.m. 

The NBL, near Houston's Ellington Field, is used primarily to train
astronauts for spacewalks.  It is 202 feet long, 102 feet wide and 40
feet deep, with a capacity of 6.2 million gallons of water. 

Teams, each with four or five members, will compete to retrieve
objects from one of three 8- by 6- by 6-foot PVC frames (called
Titanics) situated 15 feet below the surface. Each Titanic is divided
into staterooms.  Staterooms have housings holding targets called
C-Probes, ¾-inch plastic cylinders 6 inches long.  The object of the
competition is to maneuver the ROVs into the staterooms to retrieve
as many of the C-Probes as possible. 

Each team has spent months working on its ROV, to be operated from a
poolside control box.  The ROVs are controlled through 50-foot
tethers, which provide operators with pictures from the vehicles.
The ROVs were designed and built within stringent safety standards. 

The competition is organized by the Marine Advanced Technology
Education Center, one of 11 National Science Foundation-funded
Advanced Technology Education centers, and the Marine Technology
Society's Remotely Operated Vehicle Committee.  Sponsors include
about 50 mostly marine-related companies and other organizations,
including NASA. Walden Media is a sponsor of the national competition
and also provides financial help to the three regionals around the
country. 

"The top three teams in this competition go on to Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in Boston for the national competition," said
Ike Coffman, department chair of the Electronics Technology Program
at Alvin Community College. He organized the first competition here a
year ago as well as this year's event. 

This regional, which is not open to the public, might produce a
contender or two at the nationals.  "Some of these designs are fairly
sophisticated," Coffman said. 

- -end-

Note to Editors:  Media members are invited to attend the
competition.  Those interested should contact John Ira Petty at
Johnson Space Center's Public Affairs Office at (281) 483-2530 no
later than noon Friday. 

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