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Monday, November 9, 2026 · UTC
Missions & Exploration

Puerto Rico students win NASA's ORBIT competition and $50,000 for lunar construction technology

The NOVA team from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez also drew NASA's interest in working together.

Luisa Marconi
Senior Space Correspondent
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Puerto Rico students win NASA contest with lunar construction tech
Puerto Rico students win NASA contest with lunar construction tech AI illustrationhow this picture was made
MAYAGÜEZ, Puerto Rico, Oct. 28, 2026 - The NOVA student team from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez has won NASA's ORBIT competition and a $50,000 prize.[1] The engineering students' project is a reusable technology for building on the Moon.[2] NotiCel reports that the win also brought interest from NASA in collaborating with the team.[3] Space Nugget. Every kilogram launched to the Moon is expensive, so long-term lunar plans depend on hardware that can be reused and on building with as little brought from Earth as possible.
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What this stands on
  1. NOVA UPRM student team from RUM wins NASA ORBIT competition and $50,000 prize · elvocero.com
  2. UPRM engineering student team wins $50,000 NASA prize for reusable lunar construction technology. · WJournal PR
  3. NOVA UPRM student team won NASA ORBIT competition, $50k, and NASA collaboration interest for lunar construction tech. · NotiCel
We could not place any of them by their address. None is an official body: that part stands on reporting, not on the underlying document or transcript.