By BETHANY BLITZ

Staff Writer

RATHDRUM — The only high school kids in the country who received a grant from NASA to send a satellite into space are raising money to literally get their project off the ground.

The CubeSat team at North Idaho STEM Charter Academy in Rathdrum has been awarded a NASA space grant worth an estimated $5 million — enough to cover the costs of an official space launch. Now students need to raise $250,000 to cover the costs of building the satellite they designed that is scheduled to launch in November from New Zealand.

The team is organizing a fundraiser auction and dinner March 23 to cover costs and materials for Project DaVinci — the satellite they’ve been designing over the past several months.

“This is an epic project,” said North Idaho STEM Charter Academy Executive Director Scott Thomson. “This isn’t Lego and robots — this is a satellite going into space on a real rocket.”

The team of students had amazing mentors to help with the project including Mike Melvill, the world’s first commercial astronaut, and Burt Rutan, who designed 46 different aircraft, five of which are on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

LCF Enterprises has also been helping the team with radio communications and engineering.

“The whole community is behind them,” said Lorna Finman, the president of LCF Enterprises. “When kids take on a challenge like this we should help them get there. They’ve raised the bar, so let’s support them.”

There are several rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities up for grabs at the auction, including a one-hour flight through the Mojave Desert with Melvill.

Auction attendees can also bid on an hour-long, one-on-one meeting with Peter Diamandis, founder of X-Prize.

An official piece of Burt Rutan’s Skigull Aircraft will be auctioned, and other auction items include a weeklong vacation at the Pueblo Bonito Mexican resort and an all-expense-paid trip for two to New Zealand for Project DaVinci’s official launch party.

“I’m so proud of them,” Thomson said. “A school project like this shows that not only do we have the will, we have the talent, too. These kids will launch a lot of new ideas in our lifetime.”

The “North Idaho Goes to Space” fundraiser dinner and auction will be at 5:30 p.m. March 23 at The Coeur d’Alene Resort.

Corporate tables for 8 are $800 and include personalized engraving on the satellite. Individual tickets are $50 each.

For reservations contact Lorna Finman at (208) 777-0555 or by email at lorna@lcfamps.com.

For more information on Project DaVinci and information on how to support the team’s efforts, visit https://www.projectdavincicubesat.org.