The Human Lander Challenge (HuLC) is an initiative supporting NASA’s efforts to explore innovative solutions for a variety of known technology development areas for human landing systems (HLS). Landers are used to safely ferry astronauts to and from the lunar surface as part of the mission architecture for NASA’s Artemis campaign. Through this challenge, college students contribute to the 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.

NASA’s 2027 Human Lander Challenge (HuLC) invites collegiate student teams to develop innovative, systems-level solutions that improve critical aspects of lunar communications performance. This year’s theme focuses on advancing network capabilities for lunar landers throughout cislunar transit and lunar surface operations. The initiative emphasizes developing robust communication architectures that support reliable command, telemetry, and data transmission during all mission phase – from Earth departure through lunar orbit insertion, descent, and sustained surface operations.