NASA Selects Finalist Teams for Student Human Lander Challenge

[NASA]

NASA has selected 12 student teams to develop solutions for storing and transferring the super-cold liquid propellants needed for future long-term exploration beyond Earth orbit.

The agency’s 2025 Human Lander Challenge is designed to inspire and engage the next generation of engineers and scientists as NASA and its partners prepare to send astronauts to the Moon through the Artemis campaign in preparation for future missions to Mars. The commercial human landing systems will serve as the primary mode of transportation that will safely take astronauts and, later, large cargo from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back.

For its second year, the competition invites university students and their faculty advisors to develop innovative, “cooler” solutions for in-space cryogenic, or super cold, liquid propellant storage and transfer systems. These cryogenic fluids, like liquid hydrogen or liquid oxygen, must stay extremely cold to remain in a liquid state, and the ability to effectively store and transfer them in space will be increasingly vital for future long-duration missions. Current technology allows cryogenic liquids to be stored for a relatively short amount of time, but future missions will require these systems to function effectively over several hours, weeks, and even months.

The 12 selected finalists have been awarded a $9,250 development stipend to further develop their concepts in preparation for the next stage of the competition.

The 2025 Human Lander Challenge finalist teams are:

• California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, “THERMOSPRING: Thermal Exchange Reduction Mechanism using Optimized SPRING”
• Colorado School of Mines, “MAST: Modular Adaptive Support Technology”
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, “Electrical Capacitance to High-resolution Observation (ECHO)”
• Jacksonville University, “Cryogenic Complex: Cryogenic Tanks and Storage Systems – on the Moon and Cislunar Orbit”
• Jacksonville University, “Cryogenic Fuel Storage and Transfer: The Human Interface – Monitoring and Mitigating Risks”
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “THERMOS: Translunar Heat Rejection and Mixing for Orbital Sustainability”
• Old Dominion University, “Structural Tensegrity for Optimized Retention in Microgravity (STORM)”
• Texas A&M University, “Next-generation Cryogenic Transfer and Autonomous Refueling (NeCTAR)”
• The College of New Jersey, “Cryogenic Orbital Siphoning System (CROSS)”
• The Ohio State University, “Autonomous Magnetized Cryo-Couplers with Active Alignment Control for Propellant Transfer (AMCC-AAC)
• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, “Efficient Cryogenic Low Invasive Propellant Supply Exchange (ECLIPSE)”
• Washington State University, “CRYPRESS Coupler for Liquid Hydrogen Transfer”

Finalist teams will now work to submit a technical paper further detailing their concepts. They will present their work to a panel of NASA and industry judges at the 2025 Human Lander Competition Forum in Huntsville, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, in June 2025. The top three placing teams will share a total prize purse of $18,000.

“By engaging college students in solving critical challenges in cryogenic fluid technologies and systems-level solutions, NASA fosters a collaborative environment where academic research meets practical application,” said Tiffany Russell Lockett, office manager for the Human Landing System Mission Systems Management Office at NASA Marshall. “This partnership not only accelerates cryogenics technology development but also prepares the Artemis Generation – the next generation of engineers and scientists – to drive future breakthroughs in spaceflight.”

NASA’s Human Lander Challenge is sponsored by the agency’s Human Landing System Program within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate and managed by the National Institute of Aerospace.

For more information on NASA’s 2025 Human Lander Challenge, including team progress, visit the challenge website.

News Media Contact

Corinne Beckinger 
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 
256.544.0034  
corinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov 

View the full article