Aug. 8, 2024
RELEASE: 24-104
Calling All Innovators: Apply for NASAâs 2025 Lunabotics Challenge
A college team dressed in protective clean room suits prepares their robotic rover to compete in the final round of NASAâs annual Lunabotics competition
on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Teams score points when their rover completes challenging tasks inside the Artemis Arena â a simulated lunar landscape inside The Astronauts Memorial Foundationâs Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complexâ¯in
Florida. (Credit: NASA)
NASA invites teams from colleges, universities, as well as technical and vocational schools around the country to test their engineering skills in the 2025 Lunabotics Challenge.
Applications open at 5 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 6. The competition is aimed at inspiring Artemis Generation students to explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for the benefit of humanity.
Managed by NASAâs Office of STEM Engagement, the Lunabotics Challenge asks teams to design and build an autonomous or telerobotic robot capable of navigating a simulated lunar
surface and completing the assigned construction task. The robots will have to master the complexities of regolith, or lunar soil, simulants used to excavate and construct berm structures in a lunar environment, be capable of operating by remote control or
through autonomous operations, and account for weight and size limitations.
By participating in one of NASAâs
Artemis Student Challenges, students have the opportunity to provide data on robotic excavator and builder design and operations, helping shape future missions at the Moon and ultimately Mars. NASA encourages
creative construction techniques and evaluates student designs and data just like it does for its own prototypes, increasing the chances of finding smart solutions for the challenges the agency may encounter at the Moon under the Artemis campaign.
Additionally, the competition will educate college students in the
NASA systems engineering process, the agencyâs
methodical, multi-disciplinary approach for the design, realization, technical management, operations, and retirement of a system.
The competition will close on Thursday, Sept. 12, and NASA will announce selected teams on Friday, Sept. 20. These teams will put their robots to the test during the University of Central Floridaâs
Lunabotics Qualification Challenge in May 2025, with the highest scoring teams invited to the culminating event at NASAâs Kennedy Space Center in Florida later that month.
Lunabotics takes place annually, running since 2010, and is one of several
Artemis Student Challenges reflecting the goals of the Artemis campaign, which seeks to land the first woman, first person of color, and first international astronaut on the Moon where NASA will establish a long-term presence and prepare for future science
and exploration of Mars.
More than 7,000 students have participated in Lunabotics with many former students now working at NASA, or within the aerospace industry.
To learn more about LUNABOTICS, visit:
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