NASA Artemis Student Challenges

NASA is committed to landing American astronauts, including the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon under the Artemis program. Through the agency’s Artemis lunar exploration program, we will use innovative new technologies and systems to explore more of the Moon than ever before.

The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft are designed to send humans to deeep space as the backbone for America’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.

As humans travel farther from Earth, we must learn how to sustain human life in the extreme environment of space at the Moon in preparation for human missions to Mars.

Join NASA Student Challenges to help us get back to the Moon!

HERC challenges teams to design and build human-powered rovers to traverse a 0.5 mile, exoplanetary-like landscape and complete mission tasks. Open to high school and college teams around the world, teams have 8:00 minutes of virtual oxygen to complete the tasks. 

Teams must also complete two reports/presentations that make up 40% of their overall score, called the Design Review and Operational Readiness Review. *Upon arrival, teams proceed to the Mission Readiness Review where the rover is weighed and collapsed into a 5x5x5-foot cube. Teams are offered two excursions on the course made up of 12 obstacles (10 have bypasses) and 5 tasks. The level of difficulty determines the number of points earned.  

 

Micro-g NExT challenges undergraduate student teams to design, build, and test a tool or device that addresses an authentic, current space exploration challenge. Test operations are conducted in the simulated microgravity environment at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL). The 2022 challenge focuses on Lunar Surface extra-vehicular activities (EVA) operations. Teams must submit a proposal and concept video for consideration. Challenge 1: EVA Sample Size Location Calibration Marker – provide real time data about a sample or rock to scientists on Earth using a marker. Challenge 2: EVA Sample Bag & Dispenser – dispenser to hold multiple sample bags and dispense one at a time by hand or mounted to spacesuits. Challenge 3: Lunar Reusable Surface Anchoring Device – anchoring mechanism able to provide holding force on a variety of objects with differing types of faces.

 

Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students (SUITS):

The SUITS design challenge engages undergraduate and graduate student teams to design and create spacesuit information displays with augmented reality (AR) environments. The requirements support NASA’s Artemis mission through research and development of human autonomy for future spacewalks on the surface of the Moon and Mars for deep space exploration. Primary objectives include: navigation, terrain sensing, EVA system state, and user interface and controls. Secondary objectives include: tele-robotics, peripheral devices, and geology.

 

 

LUNABOTICS:

Lunabotics is in the process of revamping the challenge from a Lunar Mining to a Lunar Construction competition. The focus will remain on training university students in the systems engineering methods as they design, build, program, and operate a lunar technologies. The challenge for 2022 is under development.

 

 First Nations Launch:

First Nations Launch (FNL) competition offers Tribal Colleges and Universities, in addition to American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) chapter students, the opportunity to demonstrate engineering and design skills through direct application in high-powered rocketry. 

Teams were offered two tracks to design and construct a “moon capsule” or a “moon lander vehicle” to fly on a rocket. Teams complete design reviews throughout the project year.

 

 Student Launch:

Student Launch (SL) challenges teams to design and build high-powered rockets (L-class) containing a scientific or engineering payload. SL is open to all U.S. colleges and universities. High school and Middle school teams must first qualify at The American Rocketry Challenge or the Rockets For Schools competition. 

Teams submit reports and present to NASA at three key milestones, the Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review, and Flight Readiness Review. College and University teams must tackle the official payload challenge and are scored at each milestone. High school and middle school teams choose their own payload and do not compete. Teams conduct a subscale test launch, a full-scale Vehicle Demonstration test flight, and a full-scale Payload Demonstration flight, prior to conducting their final test flight. The final test flights and launch week activities will be conducted both, in-person and virtually. In addition to the Launch Division, teams may choose to participate in the Design Division, which enables 100% virtual participation.

 

 BIG Idea Challenge:

The Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge for 2022 provides undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to design, build, and demonstrate robotic assets with a wide range of alternative rover locomotion modalities to either enhance or replace traditional wheeled assets, and expand access to extreme terrain on the Moon, and (later) on Mars. This competition is intended to be an open innovation challenge with minimal constraints so that proposing teams can genuinely create and develop out-of-the-box solutions. Teams are invited to submit proposals for robots with new mobility solutions in operating scenarios that require access of extreme terrain categories such as: fluffy/high-porosity regolith expected at the lunar poles, steep, rugged slopes (state of the art for a wheeled rover is ~ 30 degrees), uneven terrain with possible ice content at the bottom of deep-shadowed craters and subterranean features, such as caves, lava tubes, and pits.