I am excited to share that my 2025 Ohio State University NASA Human Lander Challenge (HuLC) team has been selected as a finalist to compete for a prize purse of $18,000 in Huntsville, AL this summer. Our project entry, titled “Autonomous Magnetized Cryo-Couplers with Active Alignment Control for Propellant Transfer (AMCC-AAC),” was selected as one of twelve to compete in the finals. We have recieved a stipend of approximately $9,000 to facilitate our participation. NASA’s HuLC competition is an initiative supporting NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate’s (ESDMD’s) effors to explore innovative solutions for a variety of known HLS challenge areas. Through this competition, college students become important partners in NASA’s advancement of HLS technologies, concepts, and approaches. Improvements in these technology areas have the potential to revolutionize NASA’s approach to space exploration, and contributions from the academic community are a valuable part of the journey to discovery. We are thrilled to be attending the forum and can’t wait to show what’s next for our team!!
About The Project
The 2025 Human Lander Challenge asks teams of students and their faculty advisors to design innovative solutions and technology developments addressing in-space cryogenic liquid storage and transfer systems for long duration NASA missions to the Moon. In-space propulsion systems utilizing cryogenic liquids as propellants are necessary to achieve NASA’s exploration missions to the Moon, and later to Mars. In current state of the art (SOA) human scale, in-space propulsion vehicles, cryogenic liquids can be stored for several hours. In order for the planned HLS mission architecture to close, cryogenic liquids must be stored on-orbit on the order of several months.
The 2025 HuLC competition asks student teams to develop innovative, systems-level solutions to understand, mitigate potential problems, and mature advanced cryogenic fluid technologies that can be implemented within 3-5 years. The potential solutions that teams can propose include, but are not limited to, the following categories:
- On-Orbit Cryogenic Propellant Transfer
- Microgravity Mass Tracking of Cryogenics
- Large Surface Area Radiative Insulation
- Advanced Structural Supports for Heat Reduction
- Automated Cryo-Couplers for Propellant Transfer
- Low Leakage Cryogenic Components
Our team decided to pursue a solution in the automated cryo-couplers category. Using existing coupler technology, such as NASA’s CryoMag, and combining it with advanced alignment strategies, we aim to develop a seamless and fully autonomous coupling experience while on-orbit.
I have dedicated many long hours to this project and to finally see its realization is amazing!
Shoot for the stars but if you happen to miss shoot for the moon instead. Neil Armstrong
The race is on to build a functional partial prototype of our design before the competition. Our team is working hard to finish the paper and submit in late May. Check back for updates on the status of the project!
You can learn more about this project and my leadership role here: OSU HuLC Team Project
