CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, Rob Mueller, lead technical expert and head judge welcomes college students to NASA’s Fourth Annual Robotic Mining Competition during the opening ceremony. The competition will take place through May 24. The mining competition is coordinated by Kennedy Space Center’s Education Office for the agency’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Undergraduate and graduate students from 50 universities and colleges in the U.S. and eight countries around the world will use their remote-controlled robots to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material called regolith that has characteristics similar to asteroids, moons of Mars and Mars itself. Photo credit: NASA_Lorne Mathre

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver speaks to some of the agency's social media followers during two days of presentations on the launch of SpaceX 2. The social media participants gathered at the Florida spaceport on Feb. 28 and March 1, to hear from key leaders who updated the space agency's current efforts. Photo credit: NASA_Lorne Mathre

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver speaks to some of the agency's social media followers during two days of presentations on the launch of SpaceX 2. The social media participants gathered at the Florida spaceport on Feb. 28 and March 1, to hear from key leaders who updated the space agency's current efforts. Photo credit: NASA_Lorne Mathre

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana looks at the Polaris rover on display at NASA’s Fourth Annual Robotic Mining Competition. Developed by Astrobotic Technologies Inc. under a Small Business Innovative Research contract, Polaris will be demonstrated during the competition that takes place through May 24. The mining competition is coordinated by Kennedy Space Center’s Education Office for the agency’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Undergraduate and graduate students from 50 universities and colleges in the U.S. and eight countries around the world will use their remote-controlled robots to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material called regolith that has characteristics similar to asteroids, moons of Mars and Mars itself. Photo credit: NASA_Lorne Mathre

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver speaks to some of the agency's social media followers during two days of presentations on the launch of SpaceX 2. The social media participants gathered at the Florida spaceport on Feb. 28 and March 1, to hear from key leaders who updated the space agency's current efforts. Photo credit: NASA_Lorne Mathre

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, students from the United States and around the country gather together for the opening ceremony of NASA’s Fourth Annual Robotic Mining Competition. The competition will take place through May 24. The mining competition is coordinated by Kennedy Space Center’s Education Office for the agency’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Undergraduate and graduate students from 50 universities and colleges in the U.S. and eight countries around the world will use their remote-controlled robots to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material called regolith that has characteristics similar to asteroids, moons of Mars and Mars itself. Photo credit: NASA_Lorne Mathre

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana welcomes college students to NASA’s Fourth Annual Robotic Mining Competition during the opening ceremony. The competition will take place through May 24. The mining competition is coordinated by Kennedy Space Center’s Education Office for the agency’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Undergraduate and graduate students from 50 universities and colleges in the U.S. and eight countries around the world will use their remote-controlled robots to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material called regolith that has characteristics similar to asteroids, moons of Mars and Mars itself. Photo credit: NASA_Lorne Mathre

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, Kimberly Williams Land, emcee and outreach lead judge, talks to students from the Islamic University of Technology in Bangladesh after the opening ceremony of NASA’s Fourth Annual Robotic Mining Competition. The competition will take place through May 24. The mining competition is coordinated by Kennedy Space Center’s Education Office for the agency’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Undergraduate and graduate students from 50 universities and colleges in the U.S. and eight countries around the world will use their remote-controlled robots to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material called regolith that has characteristics similar to asteroids, moons of Mars and Mars itself. Photo credit: NASA_Lorne Mathre