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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Students from Universidad Católica Boliviana “San Pablo” compete during NASA’s 2024 Human Exploration Rover Challenge. The 2025 competition takes place Friday and Saturday, April 11-12, 2025, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s Aviation Challenge course in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA NASA’s annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge returns Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12, with student teams competing at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s Aviation Challenge course near the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Media are invited to watch as hundreds of students from around the world attempt to navigate a complex obstacle course by piloting a vehicle of their own design and production. Media interested in attending or setting up interviews should contact Taylor Goodwin in the Marshall Office of Communications at 938-210-2891 no later than 2 p.m. Thursday, April 10.
In addition to the traditional human-powered rover division, this year’s competition expands the challenge to include a remote-control division. The 2025 HERC Handbook includes guidelines for the new remote-control division and updates for the human-powered division.
Participating teams represent 35 colleges and universities, 38 high schools, and two middle schools from 20 states, Puerto Rico, and 16 other nations.
The event is free and open to the public, with rover excursions from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. CDT each day, or until the last rover completes the obstacle course.
Following the competition, NASA will host an in-person awards ceremony Saturday, April 12, at 5:30 p.m. inside the Space Camp Operations Center at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. NASA and industry sponsors will present multiple awards highlighting team successes throughout the past eight-months-long engineering design project, including awards for best rover design, best pit crew, best social media presence, and many other accomplishments.
About the Challenge
Recognized as NASA’s leading international student challenge, the Human Exploration Rover Challenge aims to put competitors in the mindset of NASA’s Artemis campaign. Teams pitch an engineering design for a lunar rover which simulates astronauts exploring the lunar surface while overcoming various obstacles. Eligible teams compete to be among the top three finishers in their divisions, and to win multiple awards, including best vehicle design, best rookie team, and more.
The annual challenge draws hundreds of students from around the world and reflects the goals of NASA’s Artemis campaign, which will establish the first long-term presence on the Moon and pave the way for eventual missions to Mars.
The event was launched in 1994 as the NASA Great Moonbuggy Race – a collegiate competition to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. It expanded in 1996 to include high school teams, evolving again in 2014 into the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge. Since its inception, more than 15,000 students have participated – with many former students now working in the aerospace industry, including with NASA.
The Human Exploration Rover Challenge is managed by NASA Marshall’s Southeast Regional Office of STEM Engagement and is one of eight Artemis Student Challenges. NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement uses challenges and competitions to further the agency’s goal of encouraging students to pursue degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
To learn more about the challenge, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/roverchallenge/
Taylor Goodwin
256-544-0034
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Apr 04, 2025 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By NASA
This year’s RASC-AL competition invited undergraduate and graduate students from across the nation to develop new, innovative concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.ASANASA Fourteen university teams have been selected as finalists for NASA’s 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition. This year’s competition invited undergraduate and graduate students from across the nation to develop new, innovative concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Finalists will present their proposed concepts to a panel of NASA and aerospace industry leaders.
The 2025 Finalists are:
Sustained Lunar Evolution – An Inspirational Moment: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “M.I.S.T.R.E.S.S. – Moon Infrastructure for Sustainable Technologies, Resource Extraction, and Self-Sufficiency” Tulane University, “Scalable Constructs for Advanced Lunar Activities and Research (SCALAR)” Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, “Project Aeneas” Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, “Project Khonsu” Advanced Science Missions and Technology Demonstrators for Human-Mars Precursor Campaign: Auburn University, “Dynamic Ecosystems for Mars ECLSS Testing, Evaluation, and Reliability (DEMETER)” University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, “MATER: Mars Architecture for Technology Evaluation and Research” Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, “Project Vehicles for Engineering Surface Terrain Architectures (VESTA)” Small Lunar Servicing and Maintenance Robot: Arizona State University, “DIANA – Diagnostic and Intelligent Autonomously Navigated Assistant” South Dakota State University, “Next-gen Operations and Versatile Assistant (NOVA)” South Dakota State University, “MANTIS: Maintenance and Navigation for Technical Infrastructure Support” Texas A&M University, “R.A.M.S.E.E.: Robotic Autonomous Maintenance System for Extraterrestrial Environments” University of Maryland, “Servicing Crane Outfitted Rover for Payloads, Inspection, Operations, N’stuff (SCORPION)” University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, “Multi-functional Operational Rover for Payload Handling and Navigation (MORPHN)” Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, “Adaptive Device for Assistance and Maintenance (ADAM)” The RASC-AL Competition is designed to engage university students and academic institutions in innovation within the field of aerospace engineering. By providing a platform for students to develop and present their ideas, NASA aims to cultivate foundational research for new concepts and technologies for the future of space exploration. This year’s RASC-AL projects include scalable lunar infrastructure and services, a lunar robot that can work autonomously or be controlled remotely, and a concept for a science or technology demonstration mission using human-scale launch, transportation, entry, and landing capabilities at Mars. All of these functions are critical to future NASA missions.
“This year’s RASC-AL projects are not just academic exercises; they will contribute real solutions to some of the most pressing challenges we currently face. The competition continues to highlight the importance of innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration in aerospace,” said Daniel Mazanek, RASC-AL program sponsor and senior space systems engineer from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA.
These finalist teams will move forward to the next phase of the competition, where they will prepare and submit a detailed technical paper outlining their designs, methodologies, and anticipated impacts. Each team will present their concepts at the 2025 RASC-AL Competition Forum in June 2025 showcasing their work to a judging panel of NASA and industry experts for review and discussion.
“The ingenuity and out-of-the-box designs showcased by these students is inspiring,” added Dr. Christopher Jones, RASC-AL program sponsor and chief technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA’S Langley “We are excited to see how their ideas can contribute to NASA’s ongoing missions and future exploration goals. This is just the beginning of their journey, and we are proud to be part of it.”
To learn more about NASA’s RASC-AL Competition, visit NASA’s RASC-AL Competition Website. RASC-AL is sponsored by the Strategy and Architecture Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and by the Space Mission Analysis Branch within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA’s Langley Research Center. It is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace.
Genevieve Ebarle / Victoria O’Leary
National Institute of Aerospace
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By NASA
Students, mentors, and team supporters donning team colors watch robots clash on the playing field at the FIRST Robotics Los Angeles regional competition in El Segundo on March 16. NASA/JPL-Caltech Robots built by high schoolers vied for points in a fast-moving game inspired by complex ocean ecosystems at the FIRST Robotics Los Angeles regional competition.
High school students who spent weeks designing, assembling, and testing 125-pound rolling robots put their fast-moving creations into the ring over the weekend, facing off at the annual Los Angeles regional FIRST Robotics Competition, an event supported by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Four of the 43 participating teams earned a chance to compete in April at the FIRST international championship tournament in Houston, which draws winning teams from across the country.
Held March 14 to 16 at the Da Vinci Schools campus in El Segundo, the event is one of many supported by the nonprofit FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), which pairs students with STEM professionals. Teams receive the game rules, which change every year, in January and sprint toward competition, assembling their robot based on FIRST’s specifications. The global competition not only gives students engineering experience but also helps them develop business skills with a range of activities, from fundraising for their team to marketing.
For this year’s game, called “Reefscape,” two alliances of three teams competed for points during each 2½-minute match. That meant six robots at a time sped across the floor, knocking into each other and angling to seed “coral” (pieces of PVC pipe) on “reefs” and harvesting “algae” (rubber balls). In the final seconds of each round, teams could earn extra points if their robots were able to hoist themselves into the air and dangle from hanging cages, as though they were ascending to the ocean surface.
The action was set to a bouncy soundtrack that reverberated through the gym, while in the bleachers there were choreographed dancing, loud cheers, pom-poms, and even some tears.
The winning alliance was composed of Warbots from Downey’s Warren High School, TorBots from Torrance’s South High School, and West Torrance Robotics from Torrance’s West High School. The Robo-Nerds of Benjamin Franklin High in Los Angeles’ Highland Park and Robo’Lyon from Notre Dame de Bellegarde outside Lyon, France, won awards that mean they’ll also get to compete in Houston, alongside the Warbots and the TorBots.
NASA and its Robotics Alliance Project provide grants for high school teams across the country and support FIRST Robotics competitions to encourage students to pursue STEM careers in aerospace. For the L.A. regional competition, JPL has coordinated volunteers — and provided coaching and mentoring to teams, judges, and other competition support — for 25 years.
For more information about the FIRST Los Angeles regional, visit:
https://cafirst.org/frc/losangeles/
News Media Contact
Melissa Pamer
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-314-4928
melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov
2025-037
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Last Updated Mar 17, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Eight finalist teams participating in the 2025 NASA Gateways to Blue Skies Competition have been selected to present to a panel of judges their design concepts for aviation solutions that can help the agriculture industry.
Sponsored by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, this year’s competition asked teams of university students to research new or improved aviation solutions to support agriculture. The goal of the competition, titled AgAir: Aviation Solutions for Agriculture, is to enhance production, efficiency, sustainability, and resilience to extreme weather. Participants submitted proposals and accompanying videos summarizing their AgAir concepts and describing how they could demonstrate benefits by 2035 or sooner.
“We continue to see a growing interest in our competition with a tremendous response to this year’s agricultural theme – so many great ideas fueled by the passion of our future workforce,” said Steven Holz, NASA Aeronautics University Innovation assistant project manager and co-chair of the Gateways to Blue Skies judging panel. “We are excited to see how each finalist team fleshes out their original concept in their final papers, infographics, and presentations.”
The eight finalist teams will each receive stipends to facilitate their participation in the culminating Gateways to Blue Skies Forum, which will be held near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California, May 20-21 and livestreamed globally. Finalists will present to a panel of NASA and industry experts, and the winning team will have the opportunity to intern at one of NASA’s aeronautics centers during the coming academic year.
We continue to see a growing interest in our competition with a tremendous response to this year’s agricultural theme – so many great ideas fueled by the passion of our future workforce.
steven holz
NASA Aeronautics University Innovation Assistant Project Manager
The finalists’ projects and their universities are:
Proactive Resource Efficiency via Coordinated Imaging and Sprayer Execution
Auburn University, in Alabama
Precision Land Analysis and Aerial Nitrogen Treatment
Boston University
Pheromonal Localization Overpopulation Regulation Aircraft
Columbia University, in New York
Sky Shepherd: Autonomous Aerial Cattle Monitoring
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida
Hog Aerial Mitigation System
Houston Community College, in Texas
Soil Testing and Plant Leaf Extraction Drone
South Dakota State University, in Brookings
RoboBees
University of California, Davis
CattleLog Cattle Management System
University of Tulsa, in Oklahoma
The agriculture industry is essential for providing food, fuel, and fiber to the global population. However, it faces significant challenges. NASA Aeronautics is committed to supporting commercial, industrial, and governmental partners in advancing aviation systems to modernize agricultural capabilities.
The Gateways to Blue Skies competition is sponsored by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate’s University Innovation Project and is managed by the National Institute of Aerospace.
More information on the competition is available on the AgAir: Aviation Solutions for Agriculture competition website.
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The Rocket City Regional – Alabama’s annual For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Regional Competition – is scheduled for Friday, March 14, through Saturday, March 15, at the Von Braun Center South Hall in Huntsville, Alabama.
FIRST Robotics is a global robotics competition for students in grades 9-12. Teams are challenged to raise funds, design a team brand, hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-sized robots to play a difficult field game against competitors.
Students from RAD Robotics Team 7111 – a FIRST Robotics team from Huntsville, Alabama, and sponsored by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center – make adjustments to their robot during the 2024 Rocket City Regional FIRST Robotics Competition in Huntsville. District and regional competitions – such as the Rocket City Regional – are held across the country during March and April, providing teams a chance to qualify for the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition Championship events held in mid-April in Houston.
Hundreds of high school students from 44 teams from 10 states and 2 countries will compete in a new robotics game called, “REEFSCAPE.”
This event is free and open to the public. Opening ceremonies begin at 8:30 a.m. CDT followed by qualification matches on March 14 and March 15. The Friday awards ceremony will begin at 5:45 p.m., while the Saturday awards ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m.
NASA and its Robotics Alliance Project provide grants for high school teams and support for FIRST Robotics competitions to address the critical national shortage of students pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) careers. The Rocket City Regional Competition is supported by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement.
News media interested in covering this event should respond no later than 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 13 by contacting Taylor Goodwin at 256-544-0034 or taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov.
Learn more about the Rocket City Regional event:
https://www.firstinspires.org/team-event-search/event?id=72593
Find more information about Marshall’s support for education programs:
https://www.nasa.gov/marshall/marshall-stem-engagement
Taylor Goodwin
256-544-0034
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Mar 12, 2025 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
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