First Nations Launch Announcement: 2022 Champions

Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium is pleased to announce the 2022 NASA Artemis Student Challenge: First Nations Launch winning teams. 

The 2022 First Nations Launch Mars Competition Grand Champion:  Northern Arizona University.

The 2022 First Nations Launch Moon Competition Grand Champion:  University of California, Davis.

More than 96 students participated in the program, representing thirteen colleges and universities from ten states and Canada.  Many congratulations are extended to the teams that overcame challenges to complete this year’s competition by traveling to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin April 22-24, 2022.

We thank Carthage College and the amazing team on campus that helped make the launch weekend a huge success; NASA representatives from Headquarters, Office of STEM Engagement, Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP), Kennedy Space Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Glenn Research Center, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory; industry representatives from Blue Origin, The Boeing Company, Bonneville Power Administration, Molex, Raytheon Missile Systems, and Sierra Nevada Corporation; the Department of Natural Resources at Richard Bong Recreational Area who allows us to launch rockets; the AISES, Tripoli Rocketry Association, and the National Association of Rocketry Communities; as well as the Space Grant community for their support in making this opportunity available to so many undergraduate students across our great nation.  

Congratulations to the winning teams!  The Grand Prize award winners will each receive a cash prize.  The first-place teams, the University of California-Davis and Northern Arizona University, will be invited to Kennedy Space Center for a VIP tour in August. 

The Overall Awards were announced at the First Nations Launch Banquet held on April 23, 2022, at the Stella Hotel in Kenosha, Wisconsin. University of Colorado, Boulder, Biomedical Engineering student, Evie Clark, designed the 2022 Mission Patch.  She received $100 plus a framed display of her design.  

Northern Oklahoma University hosted a Pre-Engineering Workshop, building Estes Alpha Rockets with 30 high school and undergraduate students.  The team received a $500 award to help them continue their outreach efforts in their community.

For a detailed list of winners, visit https://spacegrant.carthage.edu/first-nations-launch/awards/.