Utopian Academy Scholar To Share Space Travel Invention With NASA

Xavier Foster, a budding inventor, will share his idea for a new spacecraft with scientists from NASA today. Foster worked with a team of students at the iSTEM enrichment program at Morehouse College to develop a concept that could improve lunar travel and save the space program millions of dollars. The invention, the “Lunar Hoverboard,” says Foster, would be more cost efficient and convenient than traditional modes of lunar travel used by NASA. It could someday replace NASA’s Lunar Roving Vehicle, which weighs 463 pounds and was used during several trips to the moon, the scholar predicts. The Lunar Hoverboard resembles the trendy motorized board that is the latest craze for children and adults bored with skateboards. When used in space travel, says Foster, the Hoverboard would be transformed from a toy to an essential accessory. A Lunar Hoverboard could be conveniently carried on the back of a space suit. It would use magnetic energy to help keep astronauts upright while traveling across the surface of moons and planets. “It’s smaller and cheaper to make than traditional space vehicles,” Foster said. “We can’t wait to present the idea to NASA scientists.” Foster and his team will showcase their idea at the Morehouse Innovation Expo, which will be held today, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Morehouse’s Shirley A. Massey Executive Conference Center. Mr. Artesius Miller, founder of Utopian Academy of the Arts, also will be a presenter for another workshop at the conference. Foster is the only Utopian Academy for the Arts student to participate in the iSTEM program at Morehouse. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, Foster learns how to use science, technology, engineering and mathematics to conduct research experiments and find solutions to real world problems. At iSTEM, students in grades 6-8 study advanced content in science that hasn’t been taught yet at their local schools. “I wanted to be in iSTEM because this is something that I could do early on to get more practice in the field of science,” Foster said. “I didn’t want to have to wait to learn this stuff.”