Overview

• The challenge tasks student rovers with collecting and testing soil, water and air samples along a half-mile course strewn with simulated asteroid debris, boulders, erosion ruts, crevasses and a streambed.
• Teams compete in human-powered divisions, where students manually collect samples as two ‘astronauts’, or remote-controlled divisions acting as pressurized rovers with onboard testing.
• HERC 2026 builds on last year’s debut of remote divisions and middle school participation by introducing rover automation tasks to reflect Artemis-era mission needs.
• The 32nd competition will convene April 9-11, 2026, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville with winners announced on site.
• Since 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated in the challenge and last year 75 teams from 20 states, Puerto Rico and 16 nations fielded over 500 participants.