Petal High School has been selected by NASA to participate in a project to design and build products for use in an Ares mock-up — part of the future space exploration.

About a dozen students will participate.

Bob Zeek, a simulation engineer at Stennis Space Center, saod that the students will be working to produce two- and three-dimensional mock-ups of a turbine pump.

The students will be in touch over the next six months with NASA engineers.

Zeek says the Ares space vehicle will succeed current space shuttles. He says shuttles are set to be phased out starting in 2011.