• As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to evolve, NASA will closely monitor and follow guidelines from federal, state and community officials regarding on-site competitions.
• Protecting the health and safety of team members, staff and judges is our primary priority.

NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge features an engineering design challenge to engage students in the next phase of human space exploration. The annual event challenges students to create a human-powered vehicle designed to traverse the simulated surface of another world and complete mission tasks along the way. Student teams design, build and test technologies that enable rovers to perform in a variety of environments.

Event Date: April 15-17, 2021

Event Location: U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama

Eligibility:

• Open to high school and college students worldwide.
• Requires a mentor age 21 or older.

Visit the website or the frequently asked questions to learn more about the challenge.

Get Started!

Note: As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to evolve, NASA will closely monitor and follow guidelines from federal, state and community officials regarding on-site competitions. Protecting the health and safety of team members, staff and judges is our primary priority. Challenge managers will be in contact with participants on specifics and changes to the challenges, if any.

NASA’s Robotic Mining Competion: Lunabotics is a multi semester, university level event that challenges teams to design and build an off-world mining robot. Teams must compete and place in the Phase I, Design Challenge before being advanced to the Phase II, Build It Challenge. From there, teams may be invited to participate at the Kennedy Space Center in the Phase III, Dig It Challenge. Some of the competition events include the developing a project management plan, executive summary, performing public outreach, producing a systems engineering paper and presenting/demonstrating to a NASA engineering panel. The final task requires the teams and the robots to perform mining operations in a simulated Lunar environment. to the Phase II, Build It Challenge. From there, a team may be invited to the On-Site Mining Challenge. Some of the competition events include the project management plan, executive summary, performing public outreach (K-12) and developing a systems engineering paper. The final task requires the teams to present their robots and perform mining operations in a simulated Lunar environment.

Event Date: Phase I: Aug.-Dec. 2020; Phase II: Jan.-April 2021; Phase III: May 2021

Event Location: NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida

Eligibility:

• Schools (post high school, vocational/technical schools, colleges and universities) located in the United States, its Commonwealths, territories and/or possessions are eligible to register for the Lunabotics competition.

Visit the website to learn more about the challenge.

Get Started!

Note: As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to evolve, NASA will closely monitor and follow guidelines from federal, state and community officials regarding on-site competitions. Protecting the health and safety of team members, staff and judges is our primary priority. Challenge managers will be in contact with participants on specifics and changes to the challenges, if any.

Micro-g Neutral Buoyancy Experiment Design Teams (Micro-g NExT) challenges teams to design, build and test devices or tools that address a current, authentic space exploration challenge identified by NASA. The overall experience includes hands-on engineering design, test operations and public outreach. Test operations are conducted in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, a NASA training facility where astronauts train for spacewalks.

Event Date: June 2021

Event Location: NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas

Eligibility:

• Open to full-time undergraduate students (junior college, community college, college or university) at the time the proposal is submitted.
• Requires U.S. citizenship for team members.
• Requires a supervising faculty member.

Visit the website or the frequently asked questions to learn more about the challenge.

Get Started!

Note: As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to evolve, NASA will closely monitor and follow guidelines from federal, state and community officials regarding on-site competitions. Protecting the health and safety of team members, staff and judges is our primary priority. Challenge managers will be in contact with participants on specifics and changes to the challenges, if any.

The Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge provides students with the opportunity to design, build and test novel dust mitigation (or dust tolerant) technologies that could be used for lunar applications. The competition is intended as an open innovation challenge with minimal constraints, so proposing teams can genuinely create and develop out-of-the-box solutions.

2021 Big Idea Forum: Nov. 17-19, 2021

Event Location: NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia

Eligibility:

• Open to undergraduate and graduate students.
• Open to U.S. citizens attending U.S.-based universities. *Teams can include up to five foreign students provided they are attending a U.S.-based university.
• Requires a primary advisor from a space grant affiliated school (the lead institution). *Any additional advisors can be from academia or industry.

Visit the website or the frequently asked questions to learn more about the challenge.

Get Started!

Note: As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to evolve, NASA will closely monitor and follow guidelines from federal, state and community officials regarding on-site competitions. Protecting the health and safety of team members, staff and judges is our primary priority. Challenge managers will be in contact with participants on specifics and changes to the challenges, if any.

First Nations Launch (FNL) is an annual competition offering Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) and American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) collegiate chapters the opportunity to demonstrate engineering and design skills through direct application in high-power rocketry. An experience unique to Native American communities, FNL allows teams to conceive, design, fabricate and launch high-power rockets as part of this competitive challenge.

Event Date: April 23-25, 2021

Event Location: Richard Bong State Recreational Area, Kansasville, Wisconsin, and Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin

Eligibility:

• Undergraduate students from TCUs and AISES collegiate chapters.
• Teams must have a faculty advisor and team mentor.

Visit the website to learn more about the challenge.

Get Started!

Note: As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to evolve, NASA will closely monitor and follow guidelines from federal, state and community officials regarding on-site competitions. Protecting the health and safety of team members, staff and judges is our primary priority. Challenge managers will be in contact with participants on specifics and changes to the challenges, if any.

NASA Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students (SUITS) challenges students to design and create spacesuit information displays within augmented reality (AR) environments. As part of the application process, teams must submit a letter of intent and a proposal complete with technical, outreach and administrative sections.

Event Date: April 19-23, 2021

Event Location: Student participation is virtual this year, including test week. Preloaded and preconfigured hardware must be shipped for design evaluations to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Eligibility:

• Full-time undergraduate or graduate students enrolled at U.S. institutions of higher learning.
• Team members must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents to attend on-site testing activities.
• Support team members may be university students of any level, faculty members, professional consultants, etc.

Visit the website or the frequently asked questions to learn more about the challenge.

Get Started!

Note: As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to evolve, NASA will closely monitor and follow guidelines from federal, state and community officials regarding on-site competitions. Protecting the health and safety of team members, staff and judges is our primary priority. Challenge managers will be in contact with participants on specifics and changes to the challenges, if any.

Student Launch challenges student teams to design, build and fly a high-powered rocket containing a science or engineering payload. Teams complete a series of design reviews that mirror the NASA engineering design life cycle. Teams must successfully complete a Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review, Flight Readiness Review and Launch Readiness Review, which include safety briefings, analyses of vehicle and payload systems and flight test data.

Event Date: April 7-10, 2021

Event Location: Two options in 2020-2021 — NASA Launch Complex (with NASA in Huntsville, Alabama) or a commercial spaceport launch site (i.e. a local launch field).

Eligibility:

• Open to teams from U.S. colleges and universities, high schools and middle schools.
• Open to U.S. citizens and international students. *Any foreign national team members must be identified by the PDR and may or may not have access to certain activities during launch week due to security restrictions.
• Requires an adult mentor as a team member throughout the project.

Visit the website to learn more about the challenge.

Get Started!

Note: As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to evolve, NASA will closely monitor and follow guidelines from federal, state and community officials regarding on-site competitions. Protecting the health and safety of team members, staff and judges is our primary priority. Challenge managers will be in contact with participants on specifics and changes to the challenges, if any.