Nine Cornell University students and an Ithaca high school student have been selected to compete in a NASA competition aimed at involving universities in the human exploration of space. Their research will be aided by a Cornell professor who is a leading scientist in two forthcoming Mars missions.

The Cornell team, one of 12 university teams selected to participate in the competition on the basis of a submitted proposal, will spend the next semester doing in-depth research on the engineering challenges of sustaining humans in the harsh environment of Mars. They will design life-support, power and communications systems essential for the exploration of the Martian surface and then submit a detailed report. Two of the students will give an oral presentation at the Mars Forum, to be held in late April next year at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, which is providing travel grants for the presenting students from each team.

The competition, known as the Human Exploration and Development of Space-University Partners (HEDS-UP), was created by NASA last year. Others chosen to take part in the competition include teams from the California Institute of Technology, Arizona State University and the University of California at Berkeley.

"We're all very excited to be given an opportunity to participate in the HEDS-UP program," says team leader Kerri Kusza, a junior in electrical engineering from Wallingford, Conn. "It's great to know that we'll be doing work that will actually be presented." According to team member Kiri Wagstaff, a second-year computer science doctoral candidate from Moab, Utah, the students represent a growing number of Cornell students "who have a real passion for the exploration of Mars and all of the technical challenges a manned mission presents."

The team's adviser is Steven Squyres, Cornell professor of astronomy and the lead scientist for a suite of scientific instruments, known as the APEX investigation, on the Mars 2001 lander mission, and for the Athena rover investigation on the Mars 2003 Surveyor mission. "The Cornell team's participation is an opportunity for these students to make a real contribution to the future exploration of Mars. NASA benefits, and the students benefit, too," Squyres says.

The HEDS-UP program receives academic support from the NASA/New York Space Grant Program, administered by Yervant Terzian, Cornell professor of astronomy and chair of the astronomy department.

Other team members are: Jack Berkery, senior in mechanical engineering from Latham, N.Y.; Lauren DeFlores, a freshman in chemistry/astronomy, from Lawrenceville, N.J.; Alison Diehl, a sophomore in mechanical and aerospace engineering, from Arlington, Va.; Alex Iglecia, a junior in materials science and engineering, from Moorpark, Calif.; Eric Keasel, in the master's program in engineering management, from Baltimore; Eldar Noe, a first-year astronomy graduate student, a native of Chile; and Rachel Sanchez, a freshman in astrophysics, from Albuquerque, N.M.

In addition, Akio Cox, from Ithaca's Alternative Community School, will be an honorary member of the team.