PALMDALE — Some 300 elementary school to college-age students from the 25th Congressional District and beyond joined Rep. Mike Garcia Friday afternoon for a virtual discussion on NASA’s Mars Ingenuity helicopter with the program’s chief engineer Bob Balaram.

The four-pound helicopter traveled to Mars on the bottom of the Perseverance rover. Garcia watched the Feb. 18 landing from Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Space Flight Operations facility, also known as The Center of the Universe.

“It’s just an unbelievable experience, just so proud of our country for being able to do what we’re doing and lead the way we are leading in space,” Garcia said in a telephone call after the event.

Balaram talked about Ingenuity’s mission to fly in the Martian atmosphere during Friday’s event.

“The kids were fired up; they had great questions,” Garcia said. “It’s just one of these fantastic events; one of the highlights of my time in office.”

The students asked all sorts of questions, the congressman said. His favorite question came from a student who asked if the four forces of flight — lift, gravity, thrust and drag — apply in the Martian atmosphere.

“The doctor kind of paused and he just said, ‘You know, I have to think about it,’ ” Garcia said.

Students asked about Martian dust storms and whether one could disable Ingenuity. They also wanted to know how far Ingenuity would fly.

“The level of technology know-how from the kids was pretty cool to see,” Garcia said.

Any student could ask a question.

“It was neat to see a six-year-old elementary student ask a question and then have a very senior chief engineer with a PhD in engineering answer it like he was taking to one of his peers,”  Garcia said.

Garcia pledged to host another virtual discussion with Balaram for students in the future.

Garcia is a former Navy officer who flew the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.

“I was a conventional fighter pilot here in our own atmosphere,” Garcia said. “But what we’re doing in space right now as a nation is just phenomenal. I don’t think enough Americans are paying attention to what we are actually doing in space. I don’t think enough of us appreciate how much we’ve accomplished in the last few years.”

Garcia noted Perseverance is NASA’S fifth Mars rover, following Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, and Curiosity. In addition, last year alone, Space X launched 26 times in one year.

“That’s, I think, three times more than what the space shuttle was able to do in its best year in its heyday,” Garcia said. “We’re making these magnificent strides and we’re doing so much in the space domain for civil purposes, commercial but also for national security. It’s one of these things that should unify the country and allow us all to talk about it without having any political anger in either direction from it.”

The Santa Clarita Republican serves on the House Science Space and Technology committee as well as the appropriations committee. He joined the committee last July.

“The role that I have is making sure that we’re staying whole on investing in science, technology, engineering and math,” Garcia said.

Given the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year, the focus has been on how to help universities and government agencies that are still trying to navigate their programs and projects while also keeping students and employees healthy.

Garcia was assigned the energy sub-committee last week. Investing in new technologies and supporting new industries with alternative energy capabilities will one of the sub-committee’s focus areas.

“Really supporting an all-of-the-above strategy when it comes to energy but also encouraging industries to think outside of the box,” Garcia.

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