$5k awarded to UAH students who won nationwide NASA challenge

A team of UAH students competed in a nine-month long NASA challenge and came in first place—bringing home $5000 in the process.

They competed against 22 other university teams in the final “flight round,” where they had to launch their rocket armed with soil analysis equipment, and then conduct tests on the soil once the rocket returned back to the ground.

Learn more about their acomplishment and the challenge below👇

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NASA 2026 Student Launch Initiative

The 2026 NASA Student Launch Initiative (NSLI) is part of the Artemis Student Challenges, a collection of hands-on engineering and technical challenges designed to allow students to face problems that NASA encounters on their Artemis missions.

NSLI tasked teams to engineer a rocket that can travel to a predetermined altitude between 4000-6000 feet, return to the ground while keeping all equipment intact and complete a soil test upon return.

For nine months leading up to “flight round,” Charger Rocket Works, the UAH team, demonstrated excellence in rocket design and systems engineering, along with testing + documentation—all of which ensured their equipment worked properly.

They conducted numerous test flights before the offical “flight round,” being extremely meticulous in their work.

Their efforts paid off as they finished first place. Students on the team have undoubtedly learned much from this experience and made useful connections which will help them as future engineers.

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