Atmospheric science. Climate research. Coding. Electronics. Remote sensing. Microgravity. Space exploration technology. These are just some of the skills 6-12th grade students in the U.S. will learn this school year when they participate in the NASA TechRise Student Challenge

Teams will be tasked with developing “a research or technology experiment idea” under 4in x 4in x 8in that can go on either a suborbital rocket or a high-altitude balloon. Winning teams will receive $1500 USD to develop their projects, which will go on a real-life suborbital rocket or a high-altitude balloon on a NASA-sponsored flight operated by either Blue Origin, UP Aerospace, or Raven Aerostar. Guidelines will soon be posted here

Not only will participating students explore the potential career fields of “science, technology, and space exploration,” the competition will also give them a unique chance to “engage with NASA and technology communities,” according to a recent press release

“This competition is an exciting opportunity for students across the country, whether they’re already passionate about space exploration or looking for a new challenge,” stated Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), in the press release. “Student teams will get hands-on experience creating and building their own experiments and then get to see them fly to suborbital space, just like NASA engineers and university researchers.”

Entries open August 8. Teams must contain a minimum of four students and be affiliated with U.S. public, private, and charter schools, including in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and all other U.S. territories. 

Teams must propose their experiment idea using the TechRise Proposal Template, which will be released in August. The team leader, who must be an adult employee of the school, is responsible for submitting the proposal. Schools can submit an unlimited number of proposals as long as each is unique, according to the competition website. 

Workshops to support educators will be available July 28th and August 11th and 12th. 

Learn more about the competition and how to pre-register. 

Learn more about aerospace engineering with IEEE TryEngineering here.