NASA will hold its 2026 Lunabotics Challenge from Tuesday, May 19, to Thursday, May 21, at the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The competition runs daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Media can attend on Wednesday, May 20, and must RSVP by 4 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 18, to ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. Live streams are available via the agency’s Lunabotics page.
What the teams must do
Fifty college teams from across the U.S. will design, build, and operate autonomous lunar robot prototypes. The core task: the rovers must build a berm — a protective barrier — from soil and other material simulating lunar regolith. In a real lunar mission, such berms could protect equipment from debris during landings and launches, shade cryogenic propellant tank farms, help shield a nuclear power plant from space radiation, and serve other purposes.
Why berms matter for Artemis
“The task of robotically building berm structures will be important for preparation and support of crewed lunar missions,” said Kurt Leucht, NASA software developer, In-Situ Resource Utilization researcher, and Lunabotics commentator at Kennedy. “These competing teams are not only building critical engineering skills that will assist their future careers, but they are literally helping NASA prepare for our future Artemis missions to the Moon.”
Competition background
NASA’s Lunabotics Challenge was established in 2010. It is one of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges, designed to engage and retain students in STEM fields by expanding opportunities for student research and design in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Practical takeaway
For engineers and robotics enthusiasts, the Lunabotics Challenge is a rare public demonstration of autonomous excavation under realistic lunar constraints — soft-soil traction, dust mitigation, and payload targets. The telemetry and design approaches used by the teams directly inform NASA’s in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) strategy for polar ice mining under Artemis. If you are interested in autonomous construction robotics, the live stream is worth watching.