(AGENPARL) – mer 16 agosto 2023 August 16, 2023 
RELEASE 23-091
*NASA Challenges Students to Fly Earth and Space Experiments*
afrc2020-0100-30orig.jpg
One of two commercial platforms slated for flight tests in this year’s NASA
TechRise Student Challenge, Astrobotic’s Xodiac is a vertical takeoff
vertical landing rocket-powered testbed for simulating lunar and planetary
landings as well as a variety of other technology applications for space
exploration.
*/Credits: NASA/Lauren Hughes/*
/Lee esta nota de prensa en español aqui. [1]/
NASA is calling on middle and high school students across the country to
submit experiment ideas for a high-altitude balloon or rocket-powered lander
test flight in the third TechRise Student Challenge.
TechRise [2] is open to students in grades six to 12 attending U.S. public,
private, or charter schools – including those in U.S. territories. It
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.
“NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge is one of the many exciting ways
we’re engaging with the Artemis Generation,” said NASA Administrator Bill
Nelson. “The process of designing flight experiment proposals encourages
students to think big and realize that their talents and creativity will be
key in the future of humanity’s exploration.”
Managed by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program and administered by Future
Engineers, the challenge invites teams of four or more students, under the
guidance of an educator, to design science and technology experiments for
suborbital flight. Sixty winning teams will be selected to turn their
proposed experiment ideas into reality. Winners will receive $1,500 to build
their experiments, a 3D printed flight box in which to build it, and an
assigned spot for their payload on a NASA-sponsored flight test. Experiment
ideas must be submitted no later than Oct. 20, 2023.
This year, TechRise entrants will propose to fly with one of two commercial
flight platforms: a high-altitude balloon operated by World View of Tucson,
Arizona, or the Xodiac suborbital rocket-powered lander operated by
Astrobotic of Pittsburgh. The high-altitude balloon will provide
approximately four hours of flight time at 70,000 feet (21,000 meters) with
exposure to Earth’s upper atmosphere, high-altitude radiation, and
perspective views of Earth, while the lander will fly for approximately two
minutes at an altitude of 80 feet (approximately 25 meters) over a test field
designed to simulate the Moon’s surface.
NASA encourages students and their instructors to submit experiment ideas
even if they have no prior experience with these activities. A wide variety
of resources are available to support teams through the submission process,
including two upcoming virtual educator workshops and a virtual field trip.
Winning teams will receive technical support and mentorship from Future
Engineers, who will help students learn the skills they need to turn their
experiment idea into reality.
“TechRise was an amazing STEM experience for my students,” said Gregory
Tucker, educator lead for the TechRise team at Nesbitt Discovery Academy in
Asheville, North Carolina, a winner of the second TechRise challenge. “It
was wonderful to see the excitement in the group when the final test was
complete, all sensors and data collection were working correctly, and our
experiment was ready for launch. The confidence and pride that these students
gained over the months working on this project was immeasurable.” The
Nesbitt Discovery Academy team’s experiment recently flew on a high-altitude
balloon.
To enter the competition, teams will propose their experiment idea online
using the design guidelines and proposal template on the competition site
[3]. Winners will be announced in January 2024. The selected student teams
will build their payloads from January to May, and the final experiments will
take flight in summer 2024.   
The NASA TechRise Challenge is led by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program,
which rapidly demonstrates technologies for space exploration and the
expansion of space commerce through suborbital testing with industry flight
providers. Flight Opportunities is based at the agency’s Armstrong Flight
Research Center [4] in Edwards, California, and is part of NASA’s Space
Technology Mission Directorate [5] (STMD). TechRise is also supported by the
NASA Tournament Lab, part of STMD’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing
program.
For more information about the challenge and to register:
-end-
*Press Contacts*
Sarah Frazier 
Headquarters, Washington
202-853-7191
Sarah Mann
Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.
661-233-3758
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[4] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/home/index.html
[5] https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/home/index.html