NASA, U.S. Senate Welcome Robot Challenge Winners to Washington

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Sep 14, 2015, 03:21 ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The West Virginia Mountaineers, winners of the 2015 Sample Return Robot Challenge, will be recognized for their achievement at an event from 3 to 4 p.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 21, in Room 385 of the Senate Russell Office Building in Washington. Media are invited to attend and meet the team members.

The Mountaineers were awarded $100,000 in prize money for successfully completing Level 2 of NASA's Sample Return Robot Challenge, part of the agency's Centennial Challenges prize program, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts June 10-12.

In addition to the members of the winning team, also in attendance will be:

Sen. Joe Manchin, West Virginia
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia
Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate
David A. Wyrick, associate dean of West Virginia University's Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Media who wish to attend the event must contact Joshua Buck at [email protected] or 202-358-1130 no later than 1 p.m. on Sept. 21.

The Centennial Challenges program is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in NASA's future missions.

For more information on NASA's Centennial Challenges, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/challenges

For more information on NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

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SOURCE NASA