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By NASA
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NASA has announced the winners of it’s 31st Human Exploration Rover Challenge . The annual engineering competition – one of the agency’s longest standing student challenges – wrapped up on April 11 and April 12, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA NASA has announced the winning student teams in the 2025 Human Exploration Rover Challenge. This year’s competition challenged teams to design, build, and test a lunar rover powered by either human pilots or remote control. In the human-powered division, Parish Episcopal School in Dallas, Texas, earned first place in the high school division, and the Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, captured the college and university title. In the remote-control division, Bright Foundation in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, earned first place in the middle and high school division, and the Instituto Tecnologico de Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic, captured the college and university title.
The annual engineering competition – one of NASA’s longest standing student challenges – wrapped up on April 11 and April 12, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The complete list of 2025 award winners is provided below:
Human-Powered High School Division
First Place: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas Second Place: Ecambia High School, Pensacola, Florida Third Place: Centro Boliviano Americano – Santa Cruz, Bolivia Human-Powered College/University Division
First Place: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Second Place: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Third Place: University of Alabama in Huntsville Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division
First Place: Bright Foundation, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada Second Place: Assumption College, Brangrak, Bangkok, Thailand Third Place: Erie High School, Erie, Colorado Remote-Control College/University Division
First Place: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Second Place: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Third Place: Tecnologico de Monterey – Campus Cuernvaca, Xochitepec, Morelos, Mexico Ingenuity Award
Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada Phoenix Award
Human-Powered High School Division: International Hope School of Bangladesh, Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh College/University Division: Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Bright Foundation, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada College/University Division: Southwest Oklahoma State University, Weatherford, Oklahoma Task Challenge Award
Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Assumption College, Bangrak, Bangkok, Thailand College/University Division: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Project Review Award
Human-Powered High School Division: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas College/University Division: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Bright Foundation, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada College/University Division: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Featherweight Award
Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Safety Award
Human-Powered High School Division: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas College/University Division: University of Alabama in Huntsville Crash and Burn Award
Universidad de Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico (Human-Powered Division) Team Spirit Award
Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (Human-Powered Division) STEM Engagement Award
Human-Powered High School Division: Albertville Innovation School, Albertville, Alabama College/University Division: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Instituto Salesiano Don Bosco, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic College/University Division: Tecnologico de Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico Social Media Award
Human-Powered High School Division: International Hope School of Bagladesh, Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh College/University Division: Universidad Catolica Boliviana “San Pablo” La Paz, Bolivia Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: ATLAS SkillTech University, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India College/University Division: Instituto Salesiano Don Bosco, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Most Improved Performance Award
Human-Powered High School Division: Space Education Institute, Leipzig, Germany College/University Division: Purdue University Northwest, Hammond, Indiana Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Erie High School, Erie, Colorado College/University Division: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Pit Crew Award
Human-Powered High School Division: Academy of Arts, Career, and Technology, Reno, Nevada College/University Division: Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada Artemis Educator Award
Fabion Diaz Palacious from Universidad Catolica Boliviana “San Pablo” La Paz, Bolivia Rookie of the Year
Deira International School, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
More than 500 students with 75 teams from around the world participated in the 31st year of the competition. Participating teams represented 35 colleges and universities, 38 high schools, and two middle schools from 20 states, Puerto Rico, and 16 other nations. Teams were awarded points based on navigating a half-mile obstacle course, conducting mission-specific task challenges, and completing multiple safety and design reviews with NASA engineers.
NASA expanded the 2025 challenge to include a remote-control division, Remote-Operated Vehicular Research, and invited middle school students to participate.
“This student design challenge encourages the next generation of scientists and engineers to engage in the design process by providing innovative concepts and unique perspectives,” said Vemitra Alexander, who leads the challenge for NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. “This challenge also continues NASA’s legacy of providing valuable experiences to students who may be responsible for planning future space missions, including crewed missions to other worlds.”
The rover challenge is one of NASA’s eight Artemis Student Challenges reflecting the goals of the Artemis campaign, which will land Americans on the Moon while establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration, preparing for future human missions to Mars. NASA uses such challenges to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The competition is managed by NASA’s Southeast Regional Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. Since its inception in 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated – with many former students now working at NASA, or within the aerospace industry.
To learn more about the Human Exploration Rover Challenge, please visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/roverchallenge/home/index.html
News Media Contact
Taylor Goodwin
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:08:54 Meet Amelie Schoenenwald— biotechnologist, business expert, and PhD in structural biology. Whether in the lab or the great outdoors, she thrives in extreme environments, ready to embrace the adventure of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve.
In this miniseries, we take you on a journey through the ESA Astronaut Reserve, diving into the first part of their Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) near Cologne, Germany. Our “ARTists” are immersing themselves in everything from ESA and the International Space Station programme to the European space industry and institutions. They’re gaining hands-on experience in technical skills like spacecraft systems and robotics, alongside human behaviour, scientific lessons, scuba diving, and survival training.
ESA’s Astronaut Reserve Training programme is all about building Europe’s next generation of space explorers—preparing them for the opportunities of future missions in Earth orbit and beyond.
This interview was recorded in November 2024.
Learn more about Amelie’s favourite space mission.
You can listen to this episode on all major podcast platforms.
Keep exploring with ESA Explores!
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By NASA
As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, managed out of Johnson Space Center in Houston, is paving the way for conducting lunar science for the benefit of humanity.
Through CLPS, NASA teams worked closely with commercial companies to develop a new model for space exploration, enabling a sustainable return to the Moon. These commercial missions deliver NASA science and technology to the lunar surface, providing insights into the environment and demonstrating new technologies that will support future astronauts—on the Moon and, eventually, on Mars.
Carrying a suite of NASA science and technology, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully landed at 3:34 a.m. EST on Sunday, March 2, 2025, near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a more than 300-mile-wide basin located in the northeast quadrant of the Moon’s near side.Firefly Aerospace Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 captured an image March 6, 2025, after landing in a crater from the Moon’s South Pole. The lunar lander is on its side about 820 feet from the intended landing site, Mons Mouton. In the center of the image between the two lander legs is the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 suite, which shows the drill deployed.Credit: Intuitive Machines 2025: A Year of Lunar Firsts
This year has already seen historic milestones. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully delivered 10 science and technology instruments to the Moon on March 2, 2025. It touched down near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a basin over 300 miles wide in the northeast quadrant of the Moon’s near side. Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 Mission, landed near the Moon’s South Pole on March 6, marking the southernmost lunar landing ever achieved.
The lunar deliveries for NASA have collected valuable insights and data to inform the next giant leap in humanity’s return to the Moon, helping scientists address challenges like lunar dust mitigation, resource utilization, and radiation tolerance.
Meet the Johnson employees contributing to lunar innovations that are helping to shape the future of human presence on the Moon.
Mark Dillard: Pioneering Payload Integration
Official NASA portrait of CLPS Payload Integration Manager Mark Dillard. NASA/James Blair Mark Dillard, Blue Ghost Mission 1 payload integration manager, has been at the forefront of space exploration for more than 40 years, including 28 years with the International Space Station Program. Beyond ensuring all NASA payloads are integrated onto the lunar landers, he oversees schedules, costs, and technical oversight while fostering strong partnerships with CLPS vendors and NASA science teams.
“I believe NASA is about to enter its next Golden Age,” said Dillard. “The enthusiasm of Firefly’s engineering team is contagious, and it has been a privilege to witness their success.”
Dillard’s career includes five years as NASA’s resident manager in Torino, Italy, where he oversaw the development of International Space Station modules, including three logistics modules, the European Space Agency’s Columbus module, and two space station nodes.
Mark Dillard in the clean room with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander behind him. “Like Apollo, Shuttle, and the International Space Station Programs, Artemis will add the next building block for space exploration,” said Dillard. “The CLPS initiative is a significant building block, aiming to establish reliable and long-term access to the lunar surface.”
Susan Lederer: Guiding Science in Real Time
Official portrait of CLPS Project Scientist Susan Lederer.NASA/Bill Stafford Susan Lederer, IM-2 project scientist, has spent years ensuring all the NASA instruments are fully prepared for lunar operations. She oversees real-time science operations from IM’s Nova Control Center, working to maximize the mission’s scientific return and prepare for the next generation of astronauts to explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
“We have done our best with remote data, but the only way to truly understand the Moon—how to drill for resources, how to live on another celestial body—is to go there and do the experiments,” she said. “Now, we get to do that.”
Lederer’s path to CLPS was shaped by a background in space exploration, astrophysics, and planetary science. She has contributed to multiple spacecraft missions, including NASA’s Deep Impact mission, which sent a projectile into Comet Tempel 1, and a separate mission that retrieved a sample from asteroid Itokawa.
On Ascension Island, a remote joint U.S. Air Force and Royal Air Force base, she co-led the construction of a 20,000-pound optical telescope to study space debris. Her work spans collaborations with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a tenure as a physics professor, and the design of impact experiments at NASA’s Experimental Impact Lab, where she used a vertical gun firing projectiles at speeds exceeding those of sniper rifles to study asteroid and comet collisions.
Lederer has logged hundreds of hours conducting observing runs at professional observatories worldwide, where she refined both her scientific precision and her ability to repair instruments while working alone on remote mountaintops.
As a private pilot and SciComm (the science equivalent of Capsule Communicator) for NASA’s Desert Research and Technology Studies, she honed her mission communication skills. She was also part of an international team that discovered two extrasolar planetary systems—one with a single Earth-sized planet and another with seven—orbiting ultracool red dwarf stars.
Her expertise has uniquely prepared her to oversee real-time science operations for lunar missions in high-intensity environments.
NASA and Intuitive Machines IM-1 lunar lander mission status press briefing. From left to right: Steve Altemus, Intuitive Machines’ chief executive officer and co-founder; Dr. Joel Kearns, NASA’s deputy associate administrator, Exploration, Science Mission Directorate; Dr. Tim Crain, Intuitive Machines’ chief technology officer and co-founder; and CLPS Project Scientist Susan Lederer. NASA/Robert Markowitz Lederer emphasizes the importance of both scientific discovery and the practical realities of living and working on another world—a challenge NASA is tackling for the first time in history.
“Honestly, it’s when things don’t go as planned that you learn the most,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the surprises that we get to solve together as a team. That’s our greatest strength—the knowledge and teamwork that make this all happen.”
Lederer credits the success of CLPS lunar deliveries to the dedication of teams working on payloads like Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 and Lunar Retroreflector Array, as well as peers within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Space Technology Mission Directorate, and Intuitive Machines.
“What we do every day in CLPS creates a new world for exploration that is efficient in schedule, cost, and gaining science and technology knowledge in these areas like we’ve never done before,” said Lederer. “It feels very much like being a trailblazer for inspiring future generations of explorers – at least that’s my hope, to keep the next generation inspired and engaged in the wonders of our universe.”
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By NASA
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov onboard, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA/Keegan Barber NASA invites the public to take part in virtual activities for the launch of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain, commander, and Nichole Ayers, pilot, along with mission specialists JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, will embark on a flight aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the orbiting laboratory. The launch, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, is targeted for 7:48 p.m. EDT Wednesday, March 12, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The public can register to be a virtual launch guest and receive curated resources, interactive opportunities, timely launch updates, and a mission-specific collectible stamp for their virtual guest passport after liftoff – all sent straight to their inbox.
A new way to collect and share stamps has arrived. Print one for your virtual guest passport and receive another, made special for sharing on social media. Don’t have a passport yet? Print one here and be ready to add a stamp!
Want to learn more about the mission and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program? Follow along with the Crew-10 mission blog, Commercial Crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, or check out Commercial Crew on Facebook.
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By NASA
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/Univ Mexico/S. Estrada-Dorado et al.; Ultraviolet: NASA/JPL; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI (M. Meixner)/NRAO (T.A. Rector); Infrared: ESO/VISTA/J. Emerson; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/K. Arcand; A planet may have been destroyed by a white dwarf at the center of a planetary nebula — the first time this has been seen. As described in our latest press release, this would explain a mysterious X-ray signal that astronomers have detected from the Helix Nebula for over 40 years. The Helix is a planetary nebula, a late-stage star like our Sun that has shed its outer layers leaving a small dim star at its center called a white dwarf.
This composite image contains X-rays from Chandra (magenta), optical light data from Hubble (orange, light blue), infrared data from ESO (gold, dark blue), and ultraviolet data from GALEX (purple) of the Helix Nebula. Data from Chandra indicates that this white dwarf has destroyed a very closely orbiting planet.
This artist’s impression shows a planet (left) that has approached too close to a white dwarf (right) and been torn apart by tidal forces from the star. The white dwarf is in the center of a planetary nebula depicted by the blue gas in the background. The planet is part of a planetary system, which includes one planet in the upper left and another in the lower right. The besieged planet could have initially been a considerable distance from the white dwarf but then migrated inwards by interacting with the gravity of other planets in the system.CXC/SAO/M.Weiss An artist’s concept shows a planet (left) that has approached too close to a white dwarf (right) and is being torn apart by tidal forces from the star. The white dwarf is in the center of a planetary nebula depicted by the blue gas in the background. The planet is part of a planetary system, which includes one planet in the upper left and another in the lower right. The besieged planet could have initially been a considerable distance from the white dwarf but then migrated inwards by interacting with the gravity of the other planets in the system.
Eventually debris from the planet will form a disk around the white dwarf and fall onto the star’s surface, creating the mysterious signal in X-rays that astronomers have detected for decades.
Dating back to 1980, X-ray missions, such as the Einstein Observatory and ROSAT telescope, have picked up an unusual reading from the center of the Helix Nebula. They detected highly energetic X-rays coming from the white dwarf at the center of the Helix Nebula named WD 2226-210, located only 650 light-years from Earth. White dwarfs like WD 2226-210 do not typically give off strong X-rays.
In about 5 billion years, our Sun will run out of fuel and expand, possibly engulfing Earth. These end stages of a star’s life can be utterly beautiful as is the case with this planetary nebula called the Helix Nebula.X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/Univ Mexico/S. Estrada-Dorado et al.; Ultraviolet: NASA/JPL; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI (M. Meixner)/NRAO (T.A. Rector); Infrared: ESO/VISTA/J. Emerson; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/K. Arcand; A new study featuring the data from Chandra and XMM-Newton may finally have settled the question of what is causing these X-rays from WD 2226-210: this X-ray signal could be the debris from a destroyed planet being pulled onto the white dwarf. If confirmed, this would be the first case of a planet seen to be destroyed by the central star in a planetary nebula.
Observations by ROSAT, Chandra, and XMM-Newton between 1992 and 2002 show that the X-ray signal from the white dwarf has remained approximately constant in brightness during that time. The data, however, suggest there may be a subtle, regular change in the X-ray signal every 2.9 hours, providing evidence for the remains of a planet exceptionally close to the white dwarf.
Previously scientists determined that a Neptune-sized planet is in a very close orbit around the white dwarf — completing one revolution in less than three days. The researchers in this latest study conclude that there could have been a planet like Jupiter even closer to the star. The besieged planet could have initially been a considerable distance from the white dwarf but then migrated inwards by interacting with the gravity of other planets in the system. Once it approached close enough to the white dwarf the gravity of the star would have partially or completely torn the planet apart.
WD 2226-210 has some similarities in X-ray behavior to two other white dwarfs that are not inside planetary nebulas. One is possibly pulling material away from a planet companion, but in a more sedate fashion without the planet being quickly destroyed. The other white dwarf is likely dragging material from the vestiges of a planet onto its surface. These three white dwarfs may constitute a new class of variable, or changing, object.
A paper describing these results appears in The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and is available online. The authors of the paper are Sandino Estrada-Dorado (National Autonomous University of Mexico), Martin Guerrero (The Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Spain), Jesús Toala (National Autonomous University of Mexico), Ricardo Maldonado (National Autonomous University of Mexico), Veronica Lora (National Autonomous University of Mexico), Diego Alejandro Vasquez-Torres (National Autonomous University of Mexico), and You-Hua Chu (Academia Sinica in Taiwan).
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:
https://www.nasa.gov/chandra
https://chandra.si.edu
Visual Description
This release features two images; a composite image of the Helix Nebula, and an artist’s rendering of a planet’s destruction, which may be occurring in the nebula’s core.
The Helix Nebula is a cloud of gas ejected by a dying star, known as a white dwarf. In the composite image, the cloud of gas strongly resembles a creature’s eye. Here, a hazy blue cloud is surrounded by misty, concentric rings of pale yellow, rose pink, and blood orange. Each ring appears dusted with flecks of gold, particularly the outer edges of the eye-shape.
The entire image is speckled with glowing dots in blues, whites, yellows, and purples. At the center of the hazy blue gas cloud, a box has been drawn around some of these dots including a bright white dot with a pink outer ring, and a smaller white dot. The scene which may be unfolding inside this box has been magnified in the artist’s rendering.
The artist’s digital rendering shows a possible cause of the large white dot with the pink outer ring. A brilliant white circle near our upper right shows a white dwarf, the ember of a dying star. At our lower left, in the relative foreground of the rendering, is what remains of a planet. Here, the planet resembles a giant boulder shedding thousands of smaller rocks. These rocks flow off the planet’s surface, pulled back toward the white dwarf in a long, swooping tail. Glowing orange fault lines mar the surface of the crumbling planet. In our upper left and lower right, inside the hazy blue clouds which blanket the rendering, are two other, more distant planets. After the rocks from the planet start striking the surface of the white dwarf, X-rays should be produced.
News Media Contact
Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Center
Cambridge, Mass.
617-496-7998
mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu
Lane Figueroa
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
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