What is the NASA's 2026 Student Launch Challenge?

NASA's 2026 Student Launch Challenge is a national competition for middle school, high school, and university students to design, build, and launch high-powered rockets. This year's payload challenge is inspired by the Artemis missions, requiring university teams to create a lunar habitat that can test soil samples. The challenge fosters STEM careers through hands-on experience and teamwork.

NASA's Student Launch Challenge is among the globe's most distinguished forums for future space engineers and scientists. The 2026 event is going to be another year of frontier innovation, teamwork, and practical learning for middle school, high school, and university students. With a strong focus on Artemis-driven exploration and STEM education, the challenge calls for teams to conceptualize, engineer, and launch high-powered rockets—leading them to be tomorrow's space exploration leaders.

The 2026 Student Launch Challenge: An Overview
Nearing its climax in April 2026, the NASA Student Launch Challenge is a national competition that draws students of all levels to participate in advanced rocketry projects. Here's why it's unique:

Who Can Participate?
Available to middle school and high school students and college and university teams from the United States.

What's Required?
Teams are required to design, build, and launch high-powered rockets that are capable of carrying engineering or scientific payloads. Not only do they compete on flight performance, but also on documentation, review, and payload creativity.

Timeline:

The September 22, 2025 deadline is due for proposals. Once selected, teams go through a nine-month process that is packed with several deadlines for documentation and some tough reviews to ensure compliance and safety.

Spotlight: The Artemis-Inspired Payload Challenge
One focal point for university teams in 2026 is the payload challenge inspired by Artemis. In line with NASA's long-term vision for exploring the lunar and Mars surfaces, the payload should:

Simulate a Habitat for "STEMnauts":
Teams should design and build a habitat for four "STEMnauts"—artificial models of astronauts—into their rocket's payload.

Facilitate Soil Testing to Agriculture:

The environment must consist of hardware to collect and analyze soil samples, imitating what astronauts can use to assess the ability to nurture a farm on other planets.

Test and Competition Structure

Each team must undergo various checks of technical and safety reviews throughout the life cycle of the project to make sure that the designs meet the aerospace engineering rules.

Partners and Supporters
Large partners include NASA Next Generation STEM project, NASA Space Operations Mission Directorate, Northrop Grumman, National Space Club Huntsville, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Association of Rocketry, Relativity Space, and Bastion Technologies who offer support by providing expertise and resources to increase student success as much as possible.