Two teams from Perkasie’s Pennridge High School’s gifted program will assist NASA with zero-gravity research, writes The Reporter.

The teams will participate in the 2025 Drop Tower Challenge with just 18 other groups nationwide.

The challenge tasks participants with designing and building paddle wheels that turn in water due to the wetting properties of their surfaces under microgravity conditions. NASA’s strict guidelines prohibit chemical or mechanical forces, making this a uniquely complex engineering feat.

The teams, “CASA” (Chloe Benner, Ananya Bhatt, Surabhi Gupta, and Abigail Arnold-Treanor) and the “Pennridge Men’s NASA Team” (Finn Bachman, Gavin Chordoroff, and Gavin Mill), have spent months working during their RAMS Flex period in SueEllen Thomas’ gifted classroom. Their dedication impressed Thomas, who praised their innovative designs and collaborative problem-solving.

“Their concepts are brilliant and they had to collaborate, compromise, and find just the right balance of realistic solutions and innovative design,” Thomas said.

After submitting initial sketches and measurements, the students will now build prototypes. Once completed, the prototypes go to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, for testing. Following evaluation, NASA will invite a select group of teams to present their findings at the 2025 American Society for Gravitational and Space Research meeting.

The Pennridge teams are eager to advance. Nasa will announce winners in May 2025. Read more about Pennridge High School and the Drop Tower Challenge in The Reporter.