The Advanced Data Structures class from River Hill High School recently competed in the ZeroRobotics High School Tournament, sponsored by MIT and NASA. Students in the class wrote code to simulate controlling SPHERES satellites onboard the International Space Station (ISS). There were several levels in the competition: 2D completion in which RHHS placed 7th out of 184 teams and in the 3D RHHS placed 28th out of 84 teams. The RHHS students formed an alliance with teams from Italy and Greece. The three teams worked together to place 6th internationally and qualify for the opportunity to visit MIT and watch as the team's code was run on the actual International Space Station.

At MIT, the River Hill team had the opportunity to hear notable speakers from the aerospace engineering industry, including astronaut Steven Swanson who shared his experiences aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Following the guest speakers, MIT's Zero Robotics coordinators established a live feed connecting the group to the ISS. For the next 4 hours, teams in attendance were able to watch astronauts on the ISS run the teams' codes on satellites aboard the ISS for the final round of the competition. The River Hill team earned the second highest score at the event. Following the event, the students were given a backstage tour of MIT's Space Lab before returning to Maryland.