Accepting collegiate teams year-round

The Lander
Challenge

Challenging ambitious young people to build self-landing rockets.

Students design, build, and test every part themselves, from the engines to the flight software.

Apply See the milestones

A student-built thrust-vector-controlled engine firing at sunset at the Lander Challenge test site

30+Collegiate teams

16+Countries

5Technical milestones

$390KPrize pool

The Challenge

Build something that lands itself.

The Lander Challenge asks collegiate teams to design, build, and successfully fly a self-landing rocket. We set the milestones and award the prizes. The teams do the building.

All six $15,000 prizes awarded · 9 prizes still available

Look back

The day the first prize was won.

Lander Challenge, awarding the first prize

Watch: Awarding the first prize · YouTube

Milestones

Five milestones, fifteen prizes.

The first three teams to complete each milestone receive prizes. All prizes for the first two milestones have been awarded; the final three remain open. Read the official rules for the technical requirements.

01 TVC Hotfire Static fire of a thrust-vector-controlled liquid engine — gimbal alignment plus a sustained hot fire.Won by Space Enterprise at Berkeley · SLO Propulsion Technologies · Imperial College London Rocketry $15K × 3 All 3 awarded

02 Throttleable Engine Hotfire Static fire of a throttleable liquid engine — variable thrust under closed-loop control.Won by SLO Propulsion Technologies · Imperial College London Rocketry · Purdue Space Program: Active Controls $15K × 3 All 3 awarded

03 Tethered Hover Stable, controlled hover on a tethered vehicle for a sustained duration. $25K × 3 All 3 slots open

04 The Bess Touchdown Award Precision landing on the designated target with a controlled descent profile. $25K × 3 All 3 slots open

05 Hop A full ascent, translation, and propulsive landing — all subsystems integrated. $50K × 3 All 3 slots open

Last updated October 2026.

Prize winners

Six prizes, four teams.

Every prize awarded so far, in order. Each milestone pays out to the first three teams to complete it.

October 7, 2023TVC Hotfire

Space Enterprise at Berkeley

The first Lander Challenge prize, won at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry test site.

Awarding the first prize

December 2023TVC Hotfire

SLO Propulsion Technologies

Won on the team’s sixth attempt, 33 days after its first.

SPT’s successful TVC test

February 25, 2024TVC Hotfire

Imperial College London Rocketry

Claimed the third and final TVC Hotfire prize.

THANOS-R hot fire campaign

May 2024Throttleable Engine Hotfire

SLO Propulsion Technologies

The first throttle prize, won on the first attempt with the team’s new system.

SPT’s winning throttle run

June 15, 2024Throttleable Engine Hotfire

Imperial College London Rocketry

Won on the team’s eleventh attempt.

ICLR’s winning throttle hot fire

April 2025Throttleable Engine Hotfire

Purdue Space Program: Active Controls

Claimed the final throttle prize, completing the first two milestones.

TADPOLE throttle data from the winning hot fire

The field

Student teams around the world

Space Enterprise at Berkeley, SLO Propulsion Technologies, Imperial College London Rocketry, and Purdue Space Program: Active Controls have hotfired engines they built themselves and won all six prizes for the first two milestones: the TVC Hotfire and the Throttleable Engine Hotfire.

The challenge began in fall 2022 with nine founding teams. Teams now include universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Taiwan, Germany, India, and other countries.