NASA scientists aren't the only folks poring through the near-constant stream of data coming from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars. An international team of students, sponsored by the non-profit Planetary Society and LEGO Company, is trying its hand at planetary science, working out of NASA's rover mission control in rotating weekly shifts.

The effort is part of the society's Red Rover Goes to Mars Project to offer hands-on experience to students interested in space science. The "student astronaut" team consists of 16 teenagers who won their berths on the project through a worldwide essay contest held by the Planetary Society and LEGO.

Each week, at least two students will sit in the Mars Exploration Rover control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and study mission data and images as they arrive. Students record their efforts online in daily journals, summarizing their activities during their time at JPL.

On-duty Student Astronauts: Maciej Hermanowicz, 17, of Poland, and 14-year-old Janice deBerg of the United States. The two students briefly worked alongside the last shift of student astronauts, Singapore's Tan Wei Lin, and India's Vignan Pattamatta - both 14 - whose JPL run ended on Feb. 1.

With two rovers currently on Mars, Maciej and Janice are splitting their time between Opportunity and Spirit. Both were on hand when Opportunity rolled off its landing platform, firmly planting its wheels in the Martian soil.

"We've got 12 wheels on Mars right now!" wrote Maciej in his first journal entry on Jan. 31. Both Opportunity and Spirit have six wheels. "The scientists were absolutely delighted, I've seen some of them gesturing already in front of the screen, waving their hands and indicating interesting places where the rover may go," Maciej added.

After a couple of days working the early morning hours on Opportunity - which Maciej noted corresponded surprisingly with his local time in Poland - the two students switched their focus to Spirit. The rover recently caused some mission scientists some worry when it stopped sending useful data back to Earth. A computer glitch in Spirit's flash memory was later identified as the culprit and rover controllers were able to press the robot back into scientific service.

"Spirit has been given a clean bill of health," Janice wrote in her Feb. 2 journal, adding that there are still some obstacles to be addressed before the rover is restored to its former self. "Because the flash memory needs to be reformatted, there is not very much room for other activities."

After attending a Feb. 2 Science Context Meeting for Spirit, the students were able to speak with MER co-investigator Morten Madsen about rover's magnets designed to attract magnetic dust particles on Mars. There are three sets of magnets, each at varying strengths, on different parts of the rover; one on Spirit's robot arm, another on in view of the Panoramic Camera and a third set at an angle to allow non-magnetic dust to slide off.

A better understanding of the magnetic properties in the Martian environment will be useful for future manned missions to the planet, Maciej explained in his Feb. 2 journal entry. "The magnetic dust could interfere with the astronauts' gear such as magnetic locks and similar equipment," he added.

In addition to producing images of Opportunity's MarsDial, a sundial that helps scientists tell local time at the rover's landing site, Maciej and Janice have also produced three-dimensional, true color and false color images taken by Spirit of the rock Andirondack.

The next shift of student astronauts is set to begin on Feb. 6, when Hungarian 15-year-old Dàvid Turczi and India's Saatvik Agarwal, 14, arrive to start their run at JPL.

The Planetary Society is a non-profit space advocacy organization based in Pasadena, California. Founded in 1980, the society consists of more than 100,000 members from over 140 countries. Individuals interested in joining the organization can do so here.