A sixth-grade student at Open Window School in Bellevue has designed a tool to enable astronauts to grow plants in space.

Sydney Vernon said she got the idea during a field trip to the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture.

Vernon’s design was selected as one of four finalists from a field of 470 students across the country for the Future Engineers 3-D Printing in Space Challenge.

The competition challenged students in kindergarten through 12th grade to create and submit a digital 3-D model of a tool they though astronauts could use in space. For her winning-design, NASA is sending the school a 3-D printer and Vernon is getting a 3-D print of her space planter, which she calls a “cute monster.”

Niki Werkheiser, NASA’s In-Space Manufacturing project manager at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center, said she and the other judges were blown away by the creativity of the submissions and the potential of printing tools in space.

“If an astronaut tool breaks, future space pioneers won’t be able to go to the local hardware store to purchase a replacement, but with 3-D printing they will be able to create their own replacement or event create tools we’ve never seen before,” she said.

Last week Vernon got the chance to pitch her idea to the panel of expert judges including Werkheiser, Made In Space Inc. head of research and development Mike Snyder and NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Dr. Yvonne Cagle.

The Space Planter model would allow people to grow plants on the International Space Station while being “really water conservative,” Vernon said.

“First, put the disc into the ‘mouth’ of the creature. Tie a string to each of the ears and dangle them down through the hole in the disc into the lower part of the monster,” she told Wiseman during her Skype interview with him. “Fill this lower part with water. Fill the top part with dirt and plant a seed. The plant will actually suck up any water it needs from the two strings dangling into the water so it is very water conservative. Also, it looks like a cute monster.”

The challenge is the first in a series of Future Engineers 3-D Printing challenges for students focused on designing solutions to space exploration problems.

The next challenge is slated to be announced in April.