Parks Junior High student Dane Soaper smiles while being interviewed after a surprise ceremony recognizing him as the grand prize winner of the Lockheed Martin Generation Beyond video challenge at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
Dane Soaper was one of 300 students across the country brave enough to accept the mission.
His objective: Design living quarters for a Mars-bound spacecraft and present his creation to a global leader in aerospace research, design, development and manufacturing.
Launched last year, Lockheed Martin’s Generation Beyond Video Challenge Contest hopes to inspire students to pursue careers in deep space exploration.
Soaper, 13, is just the guy the company is looking for.
At a special assembly on Tuesday, May 23, the Parks Junior High seventh-grader was declared the contest’s grand prize winner. Soaper received $10,000 and a VIP trip to the Kennedy Space Center with his parents.
“Not knowing what’s out there makes me want to go out there even more,” Soaper said. “Not knowing if there’s life on Mars, and trying to figure that out, is what drives me.”
Parks Junior High student Dane Soaper shakes hands with Lockheed Martin executive vice president Rick Ambrose while accepting the grand prize for the Generation Beyond video challenge during a surprise ceremony at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
Parks Junior High student Dane Soaper’s hand shoots up when the speaker asks if anyone would like to go to Mars during a surprise ceremony recognizing him as the grand prize winner of the Lockheed Martin Generation Beyond video challenge at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
Parks Junior High student Dane Soaper makes his way to the stage after being announced as the grand prize winner of the Lockheed Martin Generation Beyond video challenge during a surprise ceremony at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
Parks Junior High student Dane Soaper is congratulated by principal Sherry Dustin as he makes his way to the stage after being announced as the grand prize winner of the Lockheed Martin Generation Beyond video challenge during a surprise ceremony at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
Parks Junior High student Dane Soaper makes his way to the stage after being announced as the grand prize winner of the Lockheed Martin Generation Beyond video challenge during a surprise ceremony at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
“I’m speechless” said Parks Junior High student Dane Soaper as he talks with Lockheed Martin executive vice president Rick Ambrose while accepting the grand prize for the Generation Beyond video challenge during a surprise ceremony at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
The parents of Parks Junior High student Dane Soaper, Michell Soaper, left, and Greg Soaper, center-left, celebrate with Dane, center-right, while he accepts the grand prize of the Generation Beyond video challenge during a surprise ceremony at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
Parks Junior High students state up a cheer of “Dane Soaper” during a surprise ceremony recognizing their peer Dane Soaper as the grand prize winner of the Lockheed Martin Generation Beyond video challenge at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
The entire Parks Junior High student body assembled for a surprise ceremony recognizing their peer Dane Soaper as the grand prize winner of the Lockheed Martin Generation Beyond video challenge at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
Parks Junior High student Dane Soaper smiles while being interviewed after a surprise ceremony recognizing him as the grand prize winner of the Lockheed Martin Generation Beyond video challenge at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
Parks Junior High students; in white, from left: Ketan Bharadwaja, Kurtis Jacobson, and Jordan Philip welcome back with a fist bump Dane Soaper to Joshua Kim’s 7th grade history class after a surprise ceremony recognizing Soaper as the grand prize winner of the Lockheed Martin Generation Beyond video challenge at the school on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Fullerton, Calif. Soaper made a video with his proposed design for a spacecraft that to take humans to Mars. (Photo by Josh Barber, Contributing Photographer)
Parks Junior High also was given some prizes, including a 3D printer for a science classroom.
“It’s exciting helping kids realize what’s possible and giving them the tools to explore,” Superintendent Robert Pletka said.
Surprised during the assembly by his parents, a grandmother and an aunt, Soaper said hearing his name called Tuesday was “mindblowing.”
“I was shaking,” he said.
Dane Soa-per! Dane Soa-per! Dane Soa-per! his classmates chanted.
In a pre-recorded video, Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson offered her congratulations.
Turned on to the competition by his father, Soaper used the Kerbal Space Program website to create his spacecraft. Over two weeks, he workshopped different designs and launch strategies, settling on a four-piece shuttle that could be sent into space in pieces and constructed in orbit.
Soaper, who draws his interest in innovation from his father, also drew up contingency plans in the event something failed en route to, or returning from, Mars.
He then edited a 90-plus-second video presentation on iMovie.
“Certain things are common sense,” Soaper said. “You need air in space, you need to be protected from radiation. Knowing that helped create something that worked instead of something that was just science fiction.”
A field of experts in science and communications from school districts across the country judged submissions on scientific feasibility, creativity, effective communication and overall presentation.
Models needed to keep astronauts healthy and safe in space.
Soaper said he plans to put the $10,000 toward college.
“We’ll let him take a little bit out to play with,” said his father, Greg. “He deserves it.”
