The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Teens hope their washing machine can go into space
BRAHAM, MINN. — A tiny high school in east central Minnesota with barely 200 students is turning out some of the world’s most advanced technology.
An ethanol-fueled car that gets more than 500 miles per gallon? They’ve built that. A prosthetic foot that’s been used by the world’s top paralympic skiers? Built that, too.
Now the tech students in Braham Area High School are working on a new project that’s out of this world — literally. They’re designing a washing machine they hope will be accepted by NASA for use on the International Space Station and, eventually, on manned missions to Mars.
“We don’t build widgets here,” said Luke Becker, who teaches agricultural technology and physics. “If it doesn’t have a purpose, we don’t do it.”
In international technology competitions, Braham teenagers have beaten teams from prestigious universities such as Cal Poly, Texas A&M and Louisiana Tech.
“It’s a unique experience that most high school students don’t get,” said Ben Carlson, a senior who specializes in electrical components. “We start with bare metal and a design on a piece of paper, and it all comes together.”
In Becker’s six years as their instructor, students have filled a trophy case with awards from technology competitions. Hanging from walls and scattered around the shop are nearly a dozen tiny, aluminum-bodied cars they’ve built for supermileage competitions, where they’ve placed as high as second in the world.
NASA sought proposals through its HUNCH program, short for “High schools United with NASA to Create Hardware.” More than 100 schools nationwide participate, and Braham is competing on the washing machine project with about a dozen other schools.
The challenge is to find an effective way to wash clothes on longterm space missions, in an environment where air and water don’t mix and soap can’t be used. On shorter space missions, astronauts simply wear their clothes and then throw them away. For missions lasting months or even years, a different solution is needed.
The team already built a system using a series of pumps and vacuum chambers, but NASA feared it might not be durable. Becker thinks his team has a new solution that will work, but he swore observers to secrecy, not wanting to give competitors an inside look.
Braham Area High gets support from a variety of local sponsors to cover the costs of its technology programs, which can add up to $40,000 a year or more.