From left, Samuel Walowen, Zephan Samuel and Mitchell Miller test out a filtering device at the 4-H Robotics group meeting Tuesday at the Butler Farm Show grounds in Connoquenessing Township.

CONNOQUENESSING TWP — Members of Butler County 4-H Robotics club are planning for a trip to Mars.

They are conducting experiments to create technology that could sustain life on the planet, to submit to the Mars Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math Challenge hosted by the borough of Mars.

Samuel Walowen, 10, secretary of the 4-H Robotics club, said that after working virtually on STEAM projects with the group for about a year, its members are excited to work in person again. “We just started meeting again,” he said. “We all have projects to work on to survive life on Mars.”

Laura Kellar, an adviser to the club, said this is the first time the group, whose members range in age from 9 to 16, has entered this contest. The group just started meeting in person again after going virtual for the coronavirus pandemic, and its members found the contest to be a good project to work on. “The challenge is: You and 99 earthlings are going to live on Mars, and you need to survive,” Kellar said. “The kids all brainstormed the basic needs for colonizing Mars, and they are working on their own projects.”

Once the kids complete their projects, they make a video detailing their experiments. The top three videos in each grade category will be shown Aug. 27 and 28 during the Mars New Year Celebration, according to Kellar. The event coincides with planet Mars' new year, which occurs every 687 earth days.

First place in each grade level gets $1,000, second gets $400 and third gets $200.

Samuel is working in a group of three on a distilling device that could filter urine into purified water. His group cut two plastic water bottles to put together, and put filtering materials such pasta, charcoal and paper between them to see how well it could filter mock urine.

“You need water on Mars, you literally can't live without it,” Samuel said.

Another group is working on a rover that could transport people around the red planet, and a third group in the robotics club is working on growing plants that could survive on Mars with little water, also known as aquaponic gardening.

The videos are due Aug. 1, and Kellar said the groups are working diligently to make sure their projects are finished before then. However, she said winning is not the groups' only goal. “It's not the winning that matters to them,” Kellar said. “It's what they learn along the way.”