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Definity Education · Flagship Program · Applications Open · Spring 2026
The Lander Challenge The Lander Challenge

Challenging ambitious
young people to build
self-landing rockets.

Engines fired, code written, flights flown — by the students themselves.

Apply Now → See the milestones → Read the rules →
Students in headphones gathered around the rocket on the launch pad at golden hour
Student holding a rocket fin in the desert at sunset, smiling
§ 01 · The Challenge

Build something that lands itself.

The Lander Challenge is a national competition asking collegiate teams to design, build, and successfully fly a self-landing rocket. We provide funding. The teams provide the work.

End-to-end engineering: design, simulate, build, test, fly. The students do every step.

Purdue Space Program team holding a $15,000 Lander Challenge check at the Neil Armstrong statue, Purdue University
Imperial College London team holding a $15,000 Lander Challenge check — 2nd in the world, 1st in UK and Europe

$15,000 prizes awarded · Teams from across the US and internationally

§ 02 · In Action
§ 03 · Grants

Collegiate Aerospace Development Grants

Funded by the Musk Foundation

Musk Foundation
$175K
Total Distributed
50
Teams Awarded
16
Countries
280
Applicants

Open to all collegiate aerospace teams · Lander Challenge participation not required

§ 04 · Milestones

Five technical milestones.

3 Winners Each · 15 Total Prizes
Read the official rules →
  1. 01 Milestone

    TVC Hotfire

    Static fire of a thrust-vector-controlled liquid engine — gimbal alignment plus a sustained hot fire.

    Prize
    × 3
    $15,000
    ✓ All 3 Awarded
    • Space Enterprise at Berkeley
    • SLO Propulsion Technologies
    • Imperial College London Rocketry
  2. 02 Milestone

    Throttleable Engine Hotfire

    Static fire of a throttleable liquid engine — variable thrust under closed-loop control.

    Prize
    × 3
    $15,000
    ✓ All 3 Awarded
    • SLO Propulsion Technologies
    • Imperial College London Rocketry
    • Purdue Space Program: Active Controls
  3. 03 Milestone

    Tethered Hover

    Stable, controlled hover on a tethered vehicle for a sustained duration.

    Prize
    × 3
    $25,000
    All 3 slots open
  4. 04 Milestone

    The Bess Touchdown Award

    Precision landing on the designated target with a controlled descent profile.

    Prize
    × 3
    $25,000
    All 3 slots open
  5. 05 Milestone

    Hop

    A full ascent, translation, and propulsive landing — all subsystems integrated.

    Prize
    × 3
    $50,000
    All 3 slots open
§ 05 · Partners

Partners & Funders.

Hack Club Foresight Institute The Spaceport Company Impulse Space Astrobotic Stoke Space Musk Foundation Bess FamilyFoundation Friends of Amateur Rocketry Hack Club Foresight Institute The Spaceport Company Impulse Space Astrobotic Stoke Space Musk Foundation Bess FamilyFoundation Friends of Amateur Rocketry Hack Club Foresight Institute The Spaceport Company Impulse Space Astrobotic Stoke Space Musk Foundation Bess FamilyFoundation Friends of Amateur Rocketry Hack Club Foresight Institute The Spaceport Company Impulse Space Astrobotic Stoke Space Musk Foundation Bess FamilyFoundation Friends of Amateur Rocketry Hack Club Foresight Institute The Spaceport Company Impulse Space Astrobotic Stoke Space Musk Foundation Bess FamilyFoundation Friends of Amateur Rocketry Hack Club Foresight Institute The Spaceport Company Impulse Space Astrobotic Stoke Space Musk Foundation Bess FamilyFoundation Friends of Amateur Rocketry
§ 06 · Advisors & Safety
Strategic Advisory Board
Will Pomerantz
Will Pomerantz

Head of Space Ventures at AeroVironment, overseeing the team behind the Ingenuity Mars helicopter; co-founder of the Brooke Owens Fellowship and the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship.

Michael Mealing
Michael Mealing

General Partner at Starbridge Venture Capital; former CFO and VP of Business Development at Masten Space Systems.

Tom Marotta
Tom Marotta

Founder and CEO of The Spaceport Company; former FAA commercial space Policy Program Manager and Astra Principal Launch Licensing Manager.

Zenia Tata
Zenia Tata

Former Chief Impact Officer at XPRIZE, leading global expansion and designing innovation prizes including the Water Abundance and Women's Safety XPRIZEs; currently SVP of Strategic Ventures at Entrokey Labs.

Colin Ake
Colin Ake

Former VP of Strategy and Business Development at Masten Space Systems; currently Executive Director of Incubation and Commercialization at Kennesaw State University.

Joe Barnard
Joe Barnard

Founder of BPS.space, pioneering DIY thrust vector control and self-landing model rockets.

Mark Holthaus
Mark Holthaus

Retired Boeing aerospace safety engineer with 42 years across Hughes Aircraft, Rockwell International, and Boeing, specializing in flight termination systems and failure analysis for programs including the Space Shuttle, X-37, and X-51A.

Rahul Saxena
Rahul Saxena

Director of CREATE-X at Georgia Tech, leading the university's startup accelerator and entrepreneurship programs.

Angad Daryani
Angad Daryani

Founder & CEO of Praan, building filterless outdoor air purification systems using AI and computer vision; serial entrepreneur who founded his first company at age 13.

Safety Council
Mark Holthaus
Mark Holthaus

Retired Boeing aerospace safety engineer with 42 years across Hughes Aircraft, Rockwell International, and Boeing, specializing in flight termination systems and failure analysis for programs including the Space Shuttle, X-37, and X-51A.

Adam Trumpour
Adam Trumpour

Concept Designer at Pratt & Whitney Canada and Founder & President of the Launch Canada Rocket Innovation Challenge, advancing experimental liquid-propellant rocketry.

Madison Telles
Madison Telles

Senior Mission Assurance Engineer at Millennium Space Systems; formerly Systems Engineer, Safety & Mission Assurance at Virgin Orbit.

Rick Wills
Rick Wills

Aerospace safety professional and member of the Lander Challenge safety council.

§ 07 · Apply

Apply to the Lander Challenge.

Open to collegiate teams worldwide. Strong applicants demonstrate prior hardware work at any scale. We care more about taste and tenacity than credentials. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

  1. 01

    Submit

    A short written application + any prior project documentation.

  2. 02

    Review

    We read every application. Strong candidates get a technical conversation with a mentor.

  3. 03

    Kickoff

    Accepted teams are onboarded and the clock starts.

Start an application →
§ 08 · Questions

Questions about the Challenge?

Mentors, parents, university admins, prospective applicants, sponsors — write to us.

contact@landerchallenge.space →