Challenge Overview:
The challenge opens August 1st and invites student teams in sixth-12th grade to submit experiment ideas to fly on a high-altitude balloon flight. It Includes teacher professional development opportunities, free educational resources to foster STEM in the classroom and an exciting student virtual field trip in the fall. Sixty winning teams will also receive $1500 to build their experiment, a spot to test it on a NASA-sponsored flight, and technical support from our awesome NASA TechRise advisors. The challenge is a great way to get hands-on with a NASA project this school year, and we encourage teams of all skill levels to apply. Updated challenge resources (including videos, slide decks, and educator pacing guides) can all be found on the challenge website HERE when the challenge opens in August.
NASA TechRise Student Challenge: NASA is calling on middle and high school students to join the fourth NASA TechRise Student Challenge, which invites student teams to submit science and technology experiment ideas to fly on a commercial high-altitude balloon. Students in sixth to 12th grades attending a U.S. public, private, or charter school – including those in U.S. territories – are challenged to team up with their schoolmates to design an experiment under the guidance of an educator. Administered by Future Engineers, the challenge offers participants hands-on insight into the payload design and suborbital flight test process, with the goal of inspiring a deeper understanding of space exploration, Earth observation, coding, electronics, and the value of test data. The challenge opens at the beginning of August and teams should submit their experiment ideas by the challenge deadline on November 1, 2024. A total of 60 winning teams will be selected to build their proposed experiment. Each winning team will receive $1,500 to bui ld their experiment, a flight box in which to build it, and an assigned spot to test their experiment on a NASA-sponsored high-altitude balloon flight. Winning teams will also receive technical support from Future Engineers advisors, who will help students learn the sk ills needed to turn their experiment idea into reality. No experience is necessary to join the NASA TechRise Challenge!
CHALLENGE WEBSITE: https://www.futureengineers.org/nasatechrise
KEY DATES:
● Contest Opens: August 1, 2024
● Educator Workshops: Click HERE to book a Workshop Time.
● Student Virtual Field Trip: September 20, 2024
● Proposal Help Q&A: October 15, 2024
● Entries due: November 1, 2024, 11:59 PM PT
● Winners Announced & Experiment Build Begins: January 21, 2025
● Experiment Build Period: January-May 2025
● Experiment Showcase: May 13, 2025
● Experiments Shipped: May 14, 2025
● Experiments Launch: Summer 2025
WHO CAN ENTER: The NASA TechRise Challenge is for SCHOOLS in U.S. states and territories. U.S. public, private, or charter schools that serve sixth to 12th grade students can assemble a team (or multiple teams) and enter. The minimum number of students per team is four, and there is no maximum per team. Proposals must be submitted by a team lead that is a teacher or employee of the school. Homeschools are not eligible to participate unless they are affiliated with a public, private, or charter school that complie s with the insurance requirements as stated in the RULES.