On the first day of their three-day visit, students and their parents toured JPL. The second day was taken up with an intensive short course on using JPL's software used for remotely commanding FIDO. The third day was devoted to the simulated mission.

Science planning and execution was led by Dr. Bob Anderson, scientist for the rock abrasion tool on an upcoming rover mission, acting as flight manager, and Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, mission planner and FIDO control systems engineer. Rover operations engineer Dr. Mark Powell, mission uplink/downlink lead, kept very busy building command sequences for the rover in response to students' decisions about what they wanted to study and noted that they were easy to train in using the software.

Shaleen Harlalka, 17, second from left, plans a career in science and expects to attend either an Indian university or one of the top U.S. universities with strong science programs. He also swims at the national level, likes to read, and likes adventure. He was previously a Student Scientist in the Red Rover program, before becoming a Student Navigator. Others pictured are, from left, Bhushan Prakash Mahadik, India, and Daniel Jan Hermanowicz, Poland.

The JPL team kept the mission planning discussion on course, reminding the student navigators of time and software/hardware constraints. They provided guidance for potential science targets, but let the students make the decisions on the scientific focus.

Trebi-Ollennu said, "We've had a fantastic three days with the kids. These tests provided an exciting venue for the kids to apply verbal, written, mathematical and computer skills to solve real-world problems. This international experience also gives the kids a unique insight and perspective as to how to work in a collaborative team of experts from diverse disciplines and cultures, an invaluable asset as aspiring space explorers."

While the student navigators were all scientific seriousness in the mission room, excitement and high spirits prevailed on their visit to the Mars Yard. They took pictures and got as close as possible to the rover, asking questions and chattering about their experience. Too soon, it was time to say goodbye to the rover and go back to the lab to conclude the mission.

Anderson led the group in a discussion of what they had done and what they had learned during the three days. The students agreed that they had learned to work as a team, to collaborate, to support consensus and they learned scientific procedures.