14 Student Teams Design Moon and Mars Bases for NASA

The next generation of space innovators is already building tomorrow's Moon and Mars bases, and they're still in college.

NASA announced 14 university teams as finalists in its 2026 RASC-AL Competition, where students design real solutions for living and working beyond Earth. The challenge connects young engineers with NASA's actual mission needs, from powering lunar bases to navigating Mars.

"The innovation and technical depth demonstrated this year are exemplary of the next generation of aerospace leaders," said Daniel Mazanek, senior space systems engineer at NASA's Langley Research Center. Teams had to prove not just creativity but rigorous engineering analysis to advance.

The competition gave students four real mission challenges facing NASA. Some teams designed communication networks for Mars explorers, while others created power systems to keep lunar bases running through two-week-long nights. Other groups tackled bringing Moon rocks back to Earth and testing technologies that turn lunar soil into useful materials.

The project names show the students' enthusiasm. MIT's team named their lunar power system ECLIPSE. University of Illinois dubbed their Moon soil processing experiment CHEESEBURGER (yes, really—it stands for CLPS-enabled Highly-autonomous End-to-End isru-System Evaluations to Build Understanding and Resilient Growth by Experimenting with Regolith). Texas students call their Mars communication plan Project Pharos, after the ancient lighthouse that guided ships home.

Each finalist started by submitting a technical paper and two-minute video, evaluated by NASA scientists and aerospace industry experts. Now they'll develop full presentations for an in-person showcase June 2 in Cocoa Beach, Florida, where they'll present to NASA leaders and get feedback on their designs.

Why This Inspires

These aren't just theoretical classroom exercises. NASA specifically chose challenges that match real problems engineers face planning Artemis missions and future Mars exploration. Student ideas often expand how the agency thinks about upcoming missions.

The competition does double duty by solving NASA's technical puzzles while training the workforce who'll actually build these systems. Students from Dartmouth to South Dakota State are getting hands-on experience with the same questions NASA engineers work on daily.

The concepts these teams develop could influence actual mission designs, meaning today's college projects might become tomorrow's lunar infrastructure.