NASA Student Competitions

University students engaged in NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition, working on excavators in a competitive STEM-focused environment.

The 2019 Lunar Rover Challenge Competition was hosted by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This annual event celebrated the 25th anniversary of what began as the Great Moonbuggy Race in 1994. High school and College teams from the United States and foreign countries competed. The awards ceremony was held at the adjacent Marriott on Saturday evening.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- University students make final preparations for NASA's second annual Lunabotics Mining Competition held at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.Thirty-six teams of undergraduate and graduate students from the United States, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia and India will participate in NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition May 26 - 28 at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The competition is designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Teams will maneuver their remote controlled or autonomous excavators, called lunabots, in about 60 tons of ultra-fine simulated lunar soil, called BP-1. The competition is an Exploration Systems Mission Directorate project managed by Kennedy's Education Division. The event also provides a competitive environment that could result in innovative ideas and solutions for NASA's future excavation of the moon.

. NASA Armstrongs ER-2 aircraft is uploaded with instruments for its ALOFT mission. The ER-2 will fly at high altitudes above the Floridian coastline to collect data about the energetic characteristics and behavior of lightning and thunderclouds. Scientists from the University of Bergen, Norway will interpret that data from the ground and collaborate with NASA pilots to safely collect the most accurate data for this project about the power of lightning.

MOJAVE DESERT, Calif. - In the Mojave Desert in California, students and engineers checkout the Garvey Spacecraft Corporation's Prospector P-18D rocket. The rocket is scheduled for launch June 15 with the RUBICS-1 payload on a high-altitude, suborbital flight. The rocket will carry four satellites made from four-inch cube sections.Collectively known as CubeSats, the satellites will record shock, vibrations and heat inside the rocket. They will not be released during the test flight, but the results will be used to prove or strengthen their designs before they are carried into orbit in 2014 on a much larger rocket. A new, lightweight carrier is also being tested for use on future missions to deploy the small spacecraft. The flight also is being watched closely as a model for trying out new or off-the-shelf technologies quickly before putting them in the pipeline for use on NASA's largest launchers. Built by several different organizations, including a university, a NASA field center

The 2019 Lunar Rover Challenge Competition was hosted by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This annual event celebrated the 25th anniversary of what began as the Great Moonbuggy Race in 1994. High school and College teams from the United States and foreign countries competed. The awards ceremony was held at the adjacent Marriott on Saturday evening.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- University students prepare for NASA's second annual Lunabotics Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Thirty-six teams of undergraduate and graduate students from the United States, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia and India will participate in NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition May 26 - 28. The competition is designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Teams will maneuver their remote controlled or autonomous excavators, called lunabots, in about 60 tons of ultra-fine simulated lunar soil, called BP-1. The competition is an Exploration Systems Mission Directorate project managed by Kennedy's Education Division. The event also provides a competitive environment that could result in innovative ideas and solutions for NASA's future excavation of the moon.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- University students prepare for NASA's second annual Lunabotics Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Thirty-six teams of undergraduate and graduate students from the United States, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia and India will participate in NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition May 26 - 28. The competition is designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Teams will maneuver their remote controlled or autonomous excavators, called lunabots, in about 60 tons of ultra-fine simulated lunar soil, called BP-1. The competition is an Exploration Systems Mission Directorate project managed by Kennedy's Education Division. The event also provides a competitive environment that could result in innovative ideas and solutions for NASA's future excavation of the moon.

CRS-26 Science Return. Technicians at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida receive scientific research samples for processing at the spaceports Space Station Processing Facility on Jan. 11, 2023. The experiments returned to Earth on SpaceX's 26th commercial resupply services mission, which launched from Kennedys Pad 39A at 2:20 p.m. EST on Nov. 26, 2022, making its successful parachute-assisted splashdown west of Tampa in the Gulf of Mexico, at 5:19 a.m. EST on Jan. 11. The SpaceX cargo Dragon returned approximately 4,400 pounds of scientific experiments and other cargo from the International Space Station. Splashing down off the coast of Florida enables quick transportation of the experiments, allowing SpaceX to retrieve Dragon and offload time-sensitive research cargo to pack on an Airbus H225 helicopter for delivery to Kennedy just hours later. Some of the scientific investigations that Dragon returned include those on deep space radiation protect

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Students from Oakton Community College in Illinois prepare their robot for NASAs Robotics Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. More than 35 teams from around the U.S. have designed and built remote-controlled robots for the mining competition.The competition is a NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate project designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, fields by expanding opportunities for student research and design. Teams use their remote-controlled robotics to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material that has characteristics similar to Martian soil. The objective of the challenge is to see which teams robot can collect and move the most regolith within a specified amount of time.

SPLASH P1 Test 7 Swing Test: Documentation of preparation, set up and results of full scale BTA (Boilerplate Test Article) vertical drop test series performed in 2012 at the LaRC Hydro Impact Basin (HIB)

NASA engineers discuss Mars exploration with attendees of a Mars celebration Friday, May 31, 2019, in Mars, Pennsylvania. NASA is in the small town to celebrate Mars exploration and share the agencys excitement about landing astronauts on the Moon in five years. The celebration includes a weekend of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) activities.

The University of Waterloo Robotics Team, from Canada, prepares to place their robot on the start platform during the level one challenge at the 2014 NASA Centennial Challenges Sample Return Robot Challenge, Wednesday, June 11, 2014, at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass. Eighteen teams are competing for a $1.5 million NASA prize purse. Teams will be required to demonstrate autonomous robots that can locate and collect samples from a wide and varied terrain, operating without human control. The objective of this NASA-WPI Centennial Challenge is to encourage innovations in autonomous navigation and robotics technologies. Innovations stemming from the challenge may improve NASA's capability to explore a variety of destinations in space, as well as enhance the nation's robotic technology for use in industries and applications on Earth.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Team members from the University of Florida in Gainesville prepare their robot for the mining portion of NASA's 2014 Robotics Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. More than 35 teams from around the U.S. have designed and built remote-controlled robots for the mining competition.The competition is a NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate project designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, fields by expanding opportunities for student research and design. Teams use their remote-controlled robotics to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material that has characteristics similar to Martian soil. The objective of the challenge is to see which teams robot can collect and move the most regolith within a specified amount of time.

The Saginaw Valley State University teams robotic miner is being measured and weighed to qualify for its turn to dig in the mining arena during NASAs LUNABOTICS competition on May 23, 2022, at the Center for Space Education near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. More than 35 teams from around the U.S. have designed and built remote-controlled robots for the mining competition. Teams use their autonomous or remote-controlled robots to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with rocks and simulated lunar soil, or regolith. The objective of the challenge is to see which teams robot can collect and deposit the most rocky regolith within a specified amount of time.

A "transit of Venus" occurs when the planet Venus passes directly between the sun and the Earth. During the event, Venus will be seen from Earth as a small black sphere moving across the face of the sun. Such an event wont occur again until the year 2117. The Goddard Visitor Center hosted a watch party that included near real-time images from NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory mission, coverage of the event from several locations via NASA TV, in-person presentations by NASA experts, hands-on activities for children of all ages. Heavy cloud cover did not allow viewing opportunities of the transit via solar telescopes.

2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the RTG Facility at Kennedy Space Center, Jim Wojciechowski and Dan Brunson install a clamping ring onto the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). Watching at right is Steve Killian. The RTG is the baseline power supply for the NASAs New Horizons spacecraft, scheduled to launch in January 2006 on a journey to Pluto and its moon, Charon. As it approaches Pluto, the spacecraft will look for ultraviolet emission from Pluto's atmosphere and make the best global maps of Pluto and Charon in green, blue, red and a special wavelength that is sensitive to methane frost on the surface. It will also take spectral maps in the near infrared, telling the science team about Pluto's and Charon's surface compositions and locations and temperatures of these materials. When the spacecraft is closest to Pluto or its moon, it will take close-up pictures in both visible and near-infrared wavelengths. It is expected to reach Pluto in July 2015.

. Robert "Red" Jensen and Justin Hall prepare the DROID 2 (Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone 2) aircraft for the Advanced Exploration of Reliable Operation at Low Altitudes: Meteorology, Simulation, and Technology campaign flights. The weather study was at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The focus was to study wind to provide data for safe takeoff and landing of future air taxis.

High school and university students competed in the 2018 Human Exploration Rover Challenge event at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Students came from across the U.S. as well as several foreign countries such as Brazil, Germany, India, and Mexico. This event, which is normally a 2 day event, was shortened to 1 day in 2018 due to adverse weather conditions.

2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- University students make final preparations for NASA's second annual Lunabotics Mining Competition held at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.Thirty-six teams of undergraduate and graduate students from the United States, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia and India will participate in NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition May 26 - 28 at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The competition is designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Teams will maneuver their remote controlled or autonomous excavators, called lunabots, in about 60 tons of ultra-fine simulated lunar soil, called BP-1. The competition is an Exploration Systems Mission Directorate project managed by Kennedy's Education Division. The event also provides a competitive environment that could result in innovative ideas and solutions for NASA's future excavation of the moon.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, from the left, Leandro James, rocket avionics lead, Gary Dahlke, high powered rocket subject matter expert, and Julio Najarro of Mechanical Systems make final adjustments to a small rocket prior to launch as part of Rocket University. The launch will test systems designed by the student engineers.As part of Rocket University, the engineers are given an opportunity to work a fast-track project to develop skills in developing spacecraft systems of the future. As NASA plans for future spaceflight programs to low-Earth orbit and beyond, teams of engineers at Kennedy are gaining experience in designing and flying launch vehicle systems on a small scale. Four teams of five to eight members from Kennedy are designing rockets complete with avionics and recovery systems. Launch operations require coordination with federal agencies, just as they would with rockets launched in support of a NASA mission.

Visitors learn about the SOFIA telescope at the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary celebration on the National Mall, Thursday, July 18, 2019 in Washington. Apollo 11 was the first mission to land astronauts on the Moon and launched on July 16, 1969 with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin.

After eight months of designing, building and testing, the middle school, high school and college and university teams launched their rockets as part of NASA Student Launch on Sunday, April 8. The rockets and their payloads are designed to fly to 1-mile in altitude before deploying recovery systems that brings them safely to the ground.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers make final adjustments to a small rocket prior to launch as part of Rocket University. The goal was to test its systems and to verify that it performed as designed. As part of Rocket University, the engineers are given an opportunity to work a fast-track project to develop skills in developing spacecraft systems of the future. As NASA plans for future spaceflight programs to low-Earth orbit and beyond, teams of engineers at Kennedy are gaining experience in designing and flying launch vehicle systems on a small scale. Four teams of five to eight members from Kennedy are designing rockets complete with avionics and recovery systems. Launch operations require coordination with federal agencies, just as they would with rockets launched in support of a NASA mission.

K-10 (red) robot operations tests at Marscape (Ames Mars Yard) with remote operations from Ames Future Flight Centeral (FFC) Simulator, with Mark Helper and Kip Hodges.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASAs Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology FIRST Argos Team 1756 robot from Limestone Community, Brimfield and Richwoods High Schools in Peoria, Ill., is on display in Caterpillars sponsor booth at NASAs Lunabotics Mining Competition.The mining competition is sponsored by NASA Kennedy Space Centers Education Office for the agencys Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Undergraduate and graduate students from more than 50 universities and colleges in the U.S. and other countries use their remote-controlled Lunabots to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material that has characteristics similar to lunar soil.

2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.

Astronomers prepare their telescopes in advance of the 2006 total solar eclipse near Al Salloum in Egypt.

2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.

UP Aerospace employees preparing their SpaceLoft rocket to carry NASA technologies for testing in microgravity.

2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In NASA Kennedy Space Centers Orbiter Processing Facility, bay 3, Don Nielen (foreground), with United Space Alliance, gets help from Dick Logsdon, also with USA, setting up equipment to be used for thermography of Discoverys nose cone. Thermography uses high-intensity light to heat specific areas, which are then immediately scanned with an infrared camera. As the area cools, internal flaws are revealed. Discovery has been identified as the orbiter to fly on mission STS-121.

NASA Glenn Retiree Reunion; Commemorating NASA's 50th Anniversary, Simulated Lunar Operations Test Facility Tour

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, workers prepare a digital still camera they will mount in the External Tank (ET) umbilical well on the aft end of Space Shuttle Discovery. The camera is being used to obtain and downlink high-resolution images of the disconnect point on the ET following the ET separation from the orbiter after launch. The Kodak camera will record 24 images, at one frame per 1.5 seconds, on a flash memory card. After orbital insertion, the crew will transfer the images from the memory card to a laptop computer. The files will then be downloaded through the Ku-band system to the Mission Control Center in Houston for analysis.

High school and university students competed in the 2018 Human Exploration Rover Challenge event at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Students came from across the U.S. as well as several foreign countries such as Brazil, Germany, India, and Mexico. This event, which is normally a 2 day event, was shortened to 1 day in 2018 due to adverse weather conditions.

After eight months of designing, building and testing, the middle school, high school and college and university teams launched their rockets as part of NASA Student Launch on Sunday, April 8. The rockets and their payloads are designed to fly to 1-mile in altitude before deploying recovery systems that brings them safely to the ground.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- STS-90 Mission Specialist Dafydd (Dave) Williams, M.D., with the Canadian Space Agency speaks with friends and family members near Launch Pad 39B, from which he and the rest of the seven-member crew are scheduled to launch aboard Columbia on May 16 at 2:19 p.m. EDT. The astronauts are under strict health stabilization guidelines to protect them from close contact with persons who do not have health stabilization clearance. This is the 25th flight of Columbia and the 90th mission flown since the start of the Space Shuttle program. STS-90 is a nearly 17-day life sciences research flight that will focus on the most complex and least understood part of the human body the nervous system. Neurolab will examine the effects of spaceflight on the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves and sensory organs in the human body

During an employee event, workers and guests watch as NASA's mobile launcher, atop crawler-transporter 2, moves slowly along the crawlerway toward the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Sept. 7, 2018, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mobile launcher underwent a fit check and several days of systems testing with the pad. This is the first time that the modified mobile launcher made the trip to the pad. The 380-foot-tall mobile launcher is equipped with the crew access arm and several umbilicals that will provide power, environmental control, pneumatics, communication and electrical connections to the agency's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft. The mobile launcher will spend seven months in the VAB undergoing testing. Exploration Ground Systems is preparing the ground systems necessary to launch SLS and Orion on Exploration Mission-1, missions to the Moon and on to Mars.

Ultrasound of a zebra shark at the aquarium in Montpellier

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - College and university teams prepare their robots for the mining portion of NASAs 2014 Robotic Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. More than 35 teams from around the U.S. have designed and built remote-controlled robots for the mining competition. The competition is a NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate project designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, fields by expanding opportunities for student research and design. Teams use their remote-controlled robotics to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material that has characteristics similar to Martian soil. The objective of the challenge is to see which teams robot can collect and move the most regolith within a specified amount of time.

Photos of test hardware, Scarab Lunar Exploration Rover at the DUNE, outdoor Simulated Lunar Operations Laboratory, SLOPE

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Surveyors ensure the hazard field for the Project Morpheus lander is properly situated near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the distance is the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building.Testing of the prototype lander has been ongoing at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in preparation for its first free flight. The SLF will provide the lander with the kind of field necessary for realistic testing, complete with rocks, craters and hazards to avoid. Morpheus utilizes an autonomous landing and hazard avoidance technology, or ALHAT, payload that will allow it to navigate to clear landing sites amidst rocks, craters and other hazards during its descent. Project Morpheus is one of 20 small projects comprising the Advanced Exploration Systems, or AES, program in NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. AES projects pioneer new approaches for rapidly developing prototype systems, demonstrating key capa

2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.

Astrophotographer Ken Crawford is standing beside his 20" RCOS telescope mounted on a Paramount. When not working in his business Ken can be found under the stars taking images of the heavens.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Alejandro Azocar, foreground, and Page Attany, Rocket University participants, prepare an instrument package to launch on a high-altitude balloon flight. The test flight was used to evaluate the stability of an instrumented capsule as it fell to Earth before its parachute opened. Rocket University is a program of courses, workshops, labs and projects offered to engineering and research pros of all stripes to keep their skills fresh and broaden their experiences.

International Space University (ISU - 2009) students participated in a Robotic Competition at NASA'A Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. This panel featured astronauts from four different space agencies with different areas of expertice and diverse perspectives. Konstantin Anonakopoulos, ISU SSP09 student makes last minute adjustments to a robot with his team members before the competition begins,

The 2019 Lunar Rover Challenge Competition was hosted by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This annual event celebrated the 25th anniversary of what began as the Great Moonbuggy Race in 1994. High school and College teams from the United States and foreign countries competed. The awards ceremony was held at the adjacent Marriott on Saturday evening.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The solar array on the prototype rover Artemis Jr. for NASAs Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction, or RESOLVE, project soaks up the sunlight during a rover demonstration for media representatives in a field beside the Operations and Checkout Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rover and its drill are provided by the Canadian Space Agency and work in concert with NASA science instruments to prospect for water, ice and other lunar resources. RESOLVE also will demonstrate how future explorers can take advantage of resources at potential landing sites by manufacturing oxygen from soil. NASA will conduct field tests in July outside of Hilo, Hawaii, with equipment and concept vehicles that demonstrate how explorers might prospect for resources and make their own oxygen for survival while on other planetary bodies.

STS-132 LAUNCH L-1 MEDIA TWEETUP OPENING CEREMONY

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the "Lunarena" at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor in Florida, university students maneuver their remote controlled or autonomous excavators, called lunabots, in a "sand box" of ultra-fine simulated lunar soil during NASA's second annual Lunabotics Mining Competition.Thirty-six teams of undergraduate and graduate students from the United States, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia and India will participate in NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition May 26 - 28 at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The competition is designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Teams will maneuver their remote controlled or autonomous excavators, called lunabots, in about 60 tons of ultra-fine simulated lunar soil, called BP-1. The competition is an Exploration Systems Mission Directorate project managed by Kennedy's Education Division. The event also provides a competitive environment that could result in innovative

2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.

Buildings 7 & 29. Explore@NASAGoddard celebrates the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. All areas of Goddards research - Earth science, heliophysics, planetary science, astrophysics, and engineering and technology - will be presented, as each discipline plays a critical part in NASA's ongoing journey to reach new heights.

The 2019 Lunar Rover Challenge Competition was hosted by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This annual event celebrated the 25th anniversary of what began as the Great Moonbuggy Race in 1994. High school and College teams from the United States and foreign countries competed. The awards ceremony was held at the adjacent Marriott on Saturday evening.

Rob Mueller, NASA senior technologist in the Surface Systems Office in Kennedy Space Center's Engineering and Technology Directorate, demonstrates the Regolith Advanced Surface System Operations Robot, or RASSOR, during a media event at Kennedy's automated landing and hazard avoidance technology, or ALHAT, hazard field at the north end of the Shuttle Landing Facility. The event was held to announce Moon Express Inc., of Moffett Field, California is selected to utilize Kennedy facilities for NASA's Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown, or Lunar CATALYST, initiative. Moon Express is developing a lander with capabilities that will enable delivery of payloads to the surface of the moon, as well as new science and exploration missions of interest to NASA and scientific and academic communities. Moon Express will base its activities at Kennedy and utilize the Morpheus ALHAT field and a hangar nearby for CATALYST testing. The Advanced Exploration Systems Division of NASA's

In order to make sure weather conditions are acceptable at multiple altitudes, NASA meteorologists on the ground conduct constant monitoring operations, and launch weather balloons to get accurate data for aircraft and pilot.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center, members of the 1998 astronaut candidate class (Group 17) watch as candidate Tracy E. Caldwell (Ph.D.) practices using firefighting equipment during fire training. The class is at KSC for training activities, including a flight awareness program, plus touring the OPF, VAB, SSPF, SSME Processing Facility, launch pads, SLF, Apollo/Saturn V Center, and the crew quarters. The other U.S. candidates in the '98 class are Clayton C. Anderson, Lee J. Archambault, Gregory E. Chamitoff (Ph.D.), Timothy J. Creamer, Christopher J. Ferguson, Michael J. Foreman, Michael E. Fossum, Kenneth T. Ham, Patricia C. Hilliard (M.D.), Gregory C. Johnson, Gregory H. Johnson, Stanley G. Love (Ph.D.), Leland D. Melvin, Barbara R. Morgan, William A. Oefelein, John D. Olivas (Ph.D.), Nicholas J.M. Patrick (Ph.D.), Alan G. Poindexter, Garrett E. Reisman (Ph.D.), Steven R. Swanson, Douglas H. Wheelock, Sunita L. Williams, Neil W. Woodward III, G

Students from the University of Virginia prepare their robotic miner for its turn to dig in the mining arena during NASAs LUNABOTICS competition on May 26, 2022, at the Center for Space Education near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. More than 35 teams from around the U.S. have designed and built remote-controlled robots for the mining competition. Teams use their semi-autonomous or remote-controlled robots to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with rocks and simulated lunar soil, or regolith. The objective of the challenge is to see which teams robot can collect and deposit the most rocky regolith within a specified amount of time.

MOJAVE DESERT, Calif. - In the Mojave Desert in California, students and engineers checkout the Garvey Spacecraft Corporation's Prospector P-18D rocket at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site. The rocket is scheduled for flight June 15 with the RUBICS-1 payload on a high-altitude, suborbital flight. The rocket will carry four satellites made from four-inch cube sections.Collectively known as CubeSats, the satellites will record shock, vibrations and heat inside the rocket. They will not be released during the test flight, but the results will be used to prove or strengthen their designs before they are carried into orbit in 2014 on a much larger rocket. A new, lightweight carrier is also being tested for use on future missions to deploy the small spacecraft. The flight also is being watched closely as a model for trying out new or off-the-shelf technologies quickly before putting them in the pipeline for use on NASA's largest launchers. Built by several different organizatio

A man and his son prep a large model rocket on a launch platform. It stands next to another of their rockets, shaped like a soccer ball.

Visitors prepare to view the Orion crew module flown on NASAs Pad Abort-1 (PA-1) flight test, which is on display at an event at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas on June 20, 2011. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Visitors direct a robotic ball through a maze at the Smithsonian Institutions National Air and Space Museum Mars Day, an annual event celebrating the Red Planet with exhibits, speakers, and educational activities, Friday, July 21, 2017 in Washington.

2016 ROVER CHALLENGE EVENTS AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO TEST THEIR ENGINEERING SKILLS OVER A SIMULATED OUTER PLANET OBSTACLE COURSE.

Office of the Secretary - SECRETARY DONALD EVANS WITH DEAN KAMEN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA astronaut candidate Tyler "Nick" Hague surveys the flame trench at Launch Complex 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center during a daylong set of briefings and tours of different facilities at NASA's primary launch center. The astronaut class of 2013 was selected by NASA after an extensive year-and-a-half search. The new group will help the agency push the boundaries of exploration and travel to new destinations in the solar system.

Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.

FIRST Robotics Competition 'Lunacy' hosted by NASA at San Jose State University Event Center. For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology let the games begin. Ames Space Cookies team #1868 on the floor

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Hollings Student Scholarship Presentations_Student Scholarship Poster Presentations

Students from high schools around the United States busily prepare their robots for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Southeast Regional competition March 9-11 at the KSC Visitor Complex. In the front is a team called Lightning, from Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School in Miami, Fla. Teams of high school students are testing the limits of their imagination using robots they have designed, with the support of business and engineering professionals and corporate sponsors, to compete in a technological battle against other schools' robots. Of the 30 high school teams competing at KSC, 16 are Florida teams co-sponsored by NASA and KSC contractors. Local high schools participating are Astronaut, Bayside, Cocoa Beach, Eau Gallie, Melbourne, Melbourne Central Catholic, Palm Bay, Rockledge, Satellite, and Titusville

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Social media participants are given an opportunity to look into the high bay of the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida where the Orion spacecraft is being prepared for its first unpiloted flight during 2014. The participants were on hand for the upcoming launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, mission.Their visit included tours of key facilities at the Florida Spaceport and participating in presentations by key NASA leaders who updated the space agency's current efforts.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Research team members roll out acoustic cable to the water's edge during underwater acoustic research being conducted in the Launch Complex 39 turn basin. Several government agencies, including NASA, NOAA, the Navy, the Coast Guard, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission are involved in the testing. The research involves demonstrations of passive and active sensor technologies, with applications in fields ranging from marine biological research to homeland security. The work is also serving as a pilot project to assess the cooperation between the agencies involved. Equipment under development includes a passive acoustic monitor developed by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and mobile robotic sensors from the Navys Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Photographers set up equipment next to the runway at NASA Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility to wait for the early morning landing of Space Shuttle Discovery, returning from the successful Return to Flight mission STS-114. The landing was eventually deferred to Edwards Air Force Base in California due to weather concerns. The landing occurred at 8 11 a.m. EDT, guided by Mission Commander Eileen Collins. Discovery spent two weeks in space on Return to Flight mission STS-114, where the crew demonstrated new methods to inspect and repair the Shuttle in orbit. The crew also delivered supplies, outfitted and performed maintenance on the International Space Station. A number of these tasks were conducted during three spacewalks.

NASA engineers discuss Mars exploration with attendees of a Mars celebration Friday, May 31, 2019, in Mars, Pennsylvania. NASA is in the small town to celebrate Mars exploration and share the agencys excitement about landing astronauts on the Moon in five years. The celebration includes a weekend of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) activities.

A participant of the Mars celebration launches a rocket, Saturday, June 1, 2019, in Mars, Pennsylvania. NASA is in the small town to celebrate Mars exploration and share the agencys excitement about landing astronauts on the Moon in five years. The celebration includes a weekend of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) activities.

In order to make sure weather conditions are acceptable at multiple altitudes, NASA meteorologists on the ground conduct constant monitoring operations, and launch weather balloons to get accurate data for aircraft and pilot.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers make final adjustments to a small rocket prior to launch as part of Rocket University. The goal was to test its systems and to verify that it performed as designed. As part of Rocket University, the engineers are given an opportunity to work a fast-track project to develop skills in developing spacecraft systems of the future. As NASA plans for future spaceflight programs to low-Earth orbit and beyond, teams of engineers at Kennedy are gaining experience in designing and flying launch vehicle systems on a small scale. Four teams of five to eight members from Kennedy are designing rockets complete with avionics and recovery systems. Launch operations require coordination with federal agencies, just as they would with rockets launched in support of a NASA mission.

NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field 50th Anniversary Open House

After eight months of designing, building and testing, the middle school, high school and college and university teams launched their rockets as part of NASA Student Launch on Sunday, April 8. The rockets and their payloads are designed to fly to 1-mile in altitude before deploying recovery systems that brings them safely to the ground.

In order to make sure weather conditions are acceptable at multiple altitudes, NASA meteorologists on the ground conduct constant monitoring operations, and launch weather balloons to get accurate data for aircraft and pilot.

Hurricane Katrina/Hurricane Rita, Baton Rouge, La., October 9, 2005 - A HAZMAT instructor (2nd from left) shows members of an area Emergency Medical Technician team the correct way to suit up for an upcoming training exercise in recovering a "victim" from a chemical spill situation. HAZMAT teams cleaning up the chemical spills and toxic contaminations caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have undergone similar training. Win Henderson / FEMA

work order 153425Solar Eclipse at JPL 21 Aug, 2017Jim Grafphotog: Dutch Slager

MoonFest From Apollo to LCROSS and Beyond public event at NASA'S Ames Researc Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The day included scientific talks, model rocket launches on the flight line, musical performances, family-friendly activities and more. Robot '971 Spartan Robotics' from the FIRST Robotic competition, demo their abilities.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Tana Utley, Caterpillar Company vice president and chief technology officer talks to university students gathered for the opening ceremony of NASA's second annual Lunabotics Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.Thirty-six teams of undergraduate and graduate students from the United States, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia and India will participate in NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition May 26 - 28 at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The competition is designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Teams will maneuver their remote controlled or autonomous excavators, called lunabots, in about 60 tons of ultra-fine simulated lunar soil, called BP-1. The competition is an Exploration Systems Mission Directorate project managed by Kennedy's Education Division. The event also provides a competitive environment that could result in innovative ideas and solutions for

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Thomas Lippitt of NASA's Advanced Systems Development (ASD) laboratory observes robotic operations as Chris Nicholson, owner of Deep Sea Systems, and Bill Jones of NASA's ASD laboratory operate the unmanned robotic submersible recovery system, known as Max Rover, during a test of the system at the Trident Pier at Port Canaveral. The submersible is seen in the water with the Diver Operated Plug (DOP). Kennedy Space Center's solid rocket booster (SRB) retrieval team and ASD laboratory staff hope that the new robotic technology will make the process of inserting the plug safer and less strenuous. Currently, scuba divers manually insert the DOP into the aft nozzle of a jettisoned SRB 60 to 70 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. After the plug is installed, water is pumped out of the booster allowing it to float horizontally. It is then towed back to Hangar AF at Cape Canaveral Air Station for refurbishment. Deep Sea Systems of Falmouth, Mass., built

2017 Exploration Rover Challenge events at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. High school and college students from around the U.S. and the world come together for this 2 day event which challenges them to compete for the fastest time as well as technical design of the actual rover itself.

jsc2017e110791 (Aug. 21, 2017) --- Employees at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston joined the rest of the country in experiencing the 2017 eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017. Many used protective eclipse glasses, and others made use of manufactured or pin-hole cameras of opportunity to view the eclipse. In Houston, the partial eclipse duration was 2 hours, 59 minutes, reaching its maximum level of 70 percent at 1:16 p.m. CDT. Some members of the team supporting the International Space Station in the Christopher C. Kraft Mission Control Center took advantage of a break in their duties to step outside the windowless building to witness what their colleagues in orbit also saw and documented with a variety of cameras.

Placing 'Command Module' on Model Saturn V

Visitors learn about rover tires at the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary celebration on the National Mall, Friday, July 19, 2019 in Washington. Apollo 11 was the first mission to land astronauts on the Moon and launched on July 16, 1969 with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin.

. Jennifer Fowler works on securing sensors onto the test fixture on the Alta-X aircraft. Justin Link, Grady Koch, and Tyler Willhite are in the background. The Advanced Exploration of Reliable Operation at Low Altitudes: Meteorology, Simulation and Technology campaign was at NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The focus was to study wind from the ground to 2,000 feet to provide data to assist future drones to safely land on rooftop hubs called vertiports and to potentially improve weather prediction.

In the Vehicle Assembly Building, Mike Ravenscroft, with United Space Alliance, points to some of the foam repair done on the external tank of Space Shuttle Atlantis. Holes filled with foam are sanded flush with the adjacent area. In late February, Atlantis' external tank received hail damage during a severe thunderstorm that passed through the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 area. The hail caused visible divots in the giant tank's foam insulation as well as minor surface damage to about 26 heat shield tiles on the shuttle's left wing. The launch now is targeted for June 8.

Regions - Images Relating to the Discover-AQ Program - images and video clips relating to the Discover-AQ Program. Discover-AQ stands for Deriving Information on Surface conditions from COlumn and VERtically resolved observations relevant to Air Quality , Environmental Protection Agency

Two of team KuuKulgur's robots are seen as they attempt a rerun of the level one challenge during the 2014 NASA Centennial Challenges Sample Return Robot Challenge, Saturday, June 14, 2014, at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass. Eighteen teams are competing for a $1.5 million NASA prize purse. Teams will be required to demonstrate autonomous robots that can locate and collect samples from a wide and varied terrain, operating without human control. The objective of this NASA-WPI Centennial Challenge is to encourage innovations in autonomous navigation and robotics technologies. Innovations stemming from the challenge may improve NASA's capability to explore a variety of destinations in space, as well as enhance the nation's robotic technology for use in industries and applications on Earth.

Team members from the University of Colorado at Boulder pause with their robot miner outside of the mining arena on the third day of NASA's 9th Robotic Mining Competition, May 16, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. More than 40 student teams from colleges and universities around the U.S. will use their mining robots to dig in a supersized sandbox filled with BP-1, or simulated Lunar soil, gravel and rocks, and participate in other competition requirements. The Robotic Mining Competition is a NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate project designed to encourage students in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM fields. The project provides a competitive environment to foster innovative ideas and solutions that could be used on NASA's deep space missions.

Jerry Waechter of team Middleman from Dunedin, Florida, works on their robot named Ro-Bear during the 2014 NASA Centennial Challenges Sample Return Robot Challenge, Tuesday, June 10, 2014, at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass. Team Middleman is one of eighteen teams competing for a $1.5 million NASA prize purse. Teams will be required to demonstrate autonomous robots that can locate and collect samples from a wide and varied terrain, operating without human control. The objective of this NASA-WPI Centennial Challenge is to encourage innovations in autonomous navigation and robotics technologies. Innovations stemming from the challenge may improve NASA's capability to explore a variety of destinations in space, as well as enhance the nation's robotic technology for use in industries and applications on Earth.

Yuri's Night at Ames a celebration of the first human in space

Children on a tour at the KSC Visitor Complex get an early look at the Discovery Channel's Liberty Bell 7 Space Capsule Exhibit, which opens to the public on Saturday, June 17. They are on a re-creation of the deck of Ocean Project, the ship that located and recovered the space capsule from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Liberty Bell 7 launched U.S. Air Force Captain Virgil Gus” Grissom July 21, 1961, on a mission that lasted 15 minutes and 37 seconds before sinking. It lay undetected for nearly four decades before a Discovery Channel expedition located it and recovered it. The space capsule, now restored and preserved, is part of an interactive exhibit touring science centers and museums in 12 cities throughout the United States until 2003. The exhibit also includes hands-on elements such as a capsule simulator, a centrifuge, and ROV pilot

Buildings 7 & 29. Explore@NASAGoddard celebrates the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. All areas of Goddards research - Earth science, heliophysics, planetary science, astrophysics, and engineering and technology - will be presented, as each discipline plays a critical part in NASA's ongoing journey to reach new heights.

$Lukas and Stephen shooting the Moon through Stephens 140mm TEC refractor, at the Saskatchewan Summer Star Party, August 26, 2017.$

Boyertown Area High School students, 12th grader Bransen Mackey, left, and 11th grader Nick Cioppi wear solar safety glasses and attempt to see the planet Mercury as it transits across the face of the sun, Monday, May 9, 2016, Boyertown, Pennsylvania. Mercury passes between Earth and the sun only about 13 times a century, with the previous transit taking place in 2006.

Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.

AIRMAN 1ST Class Mary Jett, an air traffic controller, is trained on a radar simulator by her supervisor, Ron Johnston, at the Oakland Airport Control Tower. Base: Oakland State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

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