Brevard students are participating in an out-of-this-world STEM competition this week, and along the way they are gaining confidence that could lead to future space-related careers.

Kylie Stocky, 11, is a fifth grader at Palm Bay Elementary School who wants to be an astronaut one day, and she's really into STEM.

That's why she's so passionate about the Brevard Schools Foundation's Destination Mars design challenge.

"We are trying to stay in the green and blue parts, because the red to yellow is like giant mountains," Kylie said, describing the activity on a topographical map of Mars spread out on the floor.

This challenge is called the "Mission Robotic Rover Spike Prime," and Kylie and her fellow student teammates programmed their rover to complete missions on Mars.

There are 29 teams representing 23 schools that are competing in four mission areas.

There's also "Mission Base Camp," where students work through challenges humans could potentially face while living on, or exploring the Red Planet.

They even made a daily checklist for "Martians" to keep safe.

"Over here we have a Geiger counter for radiation," Kylie said, pointing to the corner of the camp. "We can check and see if we can't go outside today."

Melissa Woods, the school system Teacher Technology Integrator, said the missions are helping students learn teamwork and collaboration skills.

"The students are learning so much about problem solving and persevering," she said. "We've seen problems with the robots, and they are figuring out how to make that work."

And Woods said the lessons students are absorbing might lead to work or a career in a STEM-related field.

So could a trip to Mars be in Kylie's future?

"I would want to visit, I don't know if I would want to live there," she said with a smile.

The Destination Mars challenge was made possible through a $120,000 grant from the Boeing Company.