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Academic Initiative

2023 RASC-AL Competition

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

03/13/2023
https://rascal.nianet.org

Program Overview

Open to teams of undergraduate and/or graduate students studying fields with applications to human space exploration, NASA’s RASC-AL Competition is an engineering design challenge that allows students to incorporate their coursework into real aerospace design concepts and work together in a team environment. This year's competition is also seeking space-minded business, management, and space policy students to form multidisciplinary teams alongside traditional engineering majors. The 2023 RASC-AL themes range from supporting lunar operations and tourism at the south and north poles, to enabling long-term survival on the surface of Mars. Each team’s proposal should include novel and robust technologies, capabilities, and operational models to support expanding humanity’s ability to thrive beyond Earth in response to one of four themes: 1) Homesteading Mars: Develop a crewed human exploration architecture of Mars that can enable astronauts to survive on the surface of Mars for at least 7 years with minimal support from Earth. 2) Lunar North Pole Tourism: Develop a profitable business case and associated architecture for bringing tourists to the lunar north pole, using a mix of NASA-derived and in-development commercial systems. 3) Lunar Surface Transporter Vehicle: Develop a vehicle concept for offloading, moving, deploying, and supporting payloads on the lunar surface, up to the scale of habitats. 4) Multi-use Platform at L1: Develop an architecture and system concept for a platform that provides spacecraft services and logistics, as well as space observations and communications, deployed to and operated from the Earth-Moon First LaGrange Point (L1) in cislunar space. Teams who submit an NOI by the deadline will be invited to attend an interactive Q&A Session with the NASA Sponsors on October 27, 2022.

Program Benefits

In FY23, up to 14 teams may be chosen to compete at the RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Each team will receive a monetary award to facilitate full participation in the RASC-AL Forum. The teams with the top two winning papers will be invited to present their design projects to industry experts at a major aerospace conference, such as AIAA ASCEND (additional travel stipends provided).

Program Contact

Victoria O'Leary
rascal@nianet.org

Location

Nationwide
United States

Type Of Program

Audience

Collegiate
Faculty

Discipline(s)

Aerospace Engineering

History

Established

01/2002

Individuals Served

1,001-2,000

Research, Roles & Responsibilities

Research Components

Funding to attend professional development sessions/coursework
Stipend/compensation

Identity & Inclusion

RASC-AL helps to shape senior design for students interested in aerospace, and gives them a framework to do a project based on real aerospace engineering. Students grow to become very comfortable with what they have learned.

Diversity Groups (Social Identity)

N/A
Other

Race/Ethnic Minority Group

African American/Black
African American/Hispanic American
African Americans
African-American
Alaska Natives
American Indian and Alaska Natives
and Pacific Islander
Asian American
Cuban Americans
European American/White
Hispanic/Latino
Hispanics
Native American
Native Americans
Native Hawaiians
Other
other Pacific Islanders
Pacific Islander

Inclusionary Practices/Activities

Development Of Academic Sense Of Belongingness (E.G. Meetings With Doctoral Scholars, Peer Researchers, Exchanges At Academic Conferences)

Voice

Mentoring Components

Mentees Are Allowed To Attend Events With Mentors

I.E. Dinners, Social Events, Conferences, Retreats) Mentees Are Allowed To Attend Events With Mentors (I.E. Dinners, Social Events, Conferences, Retreats
Mentors Provide Mentees With Access To Academic Resources

Empowering Activities

Academic Recognition (I.E. Research Credibility, Prestige)
Publication Opportunities

Expectation

N/A

Evaluation Methods

Other

Key Performance Indicators

N/A

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