NASA Seeks Proposals for 2026 Human Exploration Rover Challenge

NASA now is accepting proposals from student teams for a contest to design, build, and test rovers for Moon and Mars exploration through Sept. 15.

Known as the Human Exploration Rover Challenge, student rovers should be capable of traversing a course while completing mission tasks. The challenge handbook has guidelines for remote-controlled and human-powered divisions.

The cover of the HERC 2026 handbook, which is now available online.

“Last year, we saw a lot of success with the debut of our remote-controlled division and the addition of middle school teams,” said Vemitra Alexander, the activity lead for the challenge at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “We’re looking forward to building on both our remote-controlled and human-powered divisions with new challenges for the students, including rover automation.” 

This year’s mission mimics future Artemis missions to the lunar surface. Teams are challenged to test samples of soil, water, and air from sites along a half-mile course that includes a simulated field of asteroid debris, boulders, erosion ruts, crevasses, and an ancient streambed. Human-powered rover teams will play the role of two astronauts in a lunar terrain vehicle and must use a custom-built task tool to manually collect samples needed for testing. Remote-controlled rover teams will act as a pressurized rover, and the rover itself will contain the tools necessary to collect and test samples onboard. 

“NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge creates opportunities for students to develop the skills they need to be successful STEM professionals,” said Alexander. “This challenge will help students see themselves in the mission and give them the hands-on experience needed to advance technology and become the workforce of tomorrow.” 

Seventy-five teams comprised of more than 500 students participated in the agency’s 31st rover challenge in 2025. Participants represented 35 colleges and universities, 38 high schools, and two middle schools, across 20 states, Puerto Rico, and 16 nations around the world.

The 32nd annual competition will culminate with an in-person event April 9-11, 2026, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center near NASA Marshall.

The rover challenge is one of NASA’s Artemis Student Challenges, reflecting the goals of the Artemis campaign, which seeks to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars. NASA uses such challenges to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

Since its inception in 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated in the rover challenge – with many former students now working at NASA or within the aerospace industry.    

To learn more about HERC, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/roverchallenge/ 

Source: NASA Seeks Proposals for 2026 Human Exploration Rover Challenge  - NASA