NASA is accepting student team proposals to participate in the 2023 Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC), scheduled to return as an in-person event at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) in Huntsville, Alabama, April 20-22, 2023.
Interested teams should review the 2023 HERC handbook for proposal guidelines, new task challenges, and a new obstacle course location at Aviation Challenge near the USSRC. All proposals must be submitted via the NASA STEM Gateway system by Sept. 8. Interested teams are invited to attend a Proposal Expectations webinar Thursday, Aug. 25. 2022, at 9 a.m. or 5 p.m. CDT. This virtual webinar session will outline the proposal processes and does require pre-registration to attend.
ABOUT THE CHALLENGE:
HERC tasks high school, college, and university students around the world to design, build, and test their lightweight, human-powered rovers on a course simulating lunar and Martian terrain, all while completing mission-focused science tasks. The challenge annually draws hundreds of students from around the world and reflects the goals of NASA’s Artemis Program, which seeks to put the first woman and first person of color on the Moon.
“We look forward to working with our partners and sponsors for our first in-person event since 2019,” said Miranda Fike, senior education specialist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. “Having students come together for the culminating on-site event provides such a unique learning experience beyond the classroom.”
Teams chosen to compete in the 2023 season will face months of review milestones – similar to those NASA engineers and scientists conduct during the engineering design process for NASA missions.
“This year, our mission task challenges are liquid-focused to reflect how astronauts may search for liquid on the lunar surface of the South Pole during future NASA missions,” said Catherine Shelton, education specialist at Marshall. “While navigating their rovers through our newly designed obstacle course, students must also complete five tasks of gathering liquid samples.”
For more than 25 years, the annual NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge and its sponsors have encouraged student from the United States and around the world to push the limits of innovation and imagine what it will take to explore the Moon, Mars, and other worlds.
HERC is managed by NASA’s Southeast Regional Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall 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.