Freelancer.com has announced the launch of the Moon Mascot: NASA Artemis II ZGI Design Challenge.
Hosted by Freelancer.com on behalf of NASA, the global design challenge invites both adults and K12 school students to submit an original design for a zero-gravity indicator (ZGI), which are small items carried aboard spacecrafts that provide a visual indicator for when a spacecraft has reached the weightlessness of microgravity. A plush Snoopy doll was the ZGI for the Artemis I mission. For that uncrewed mission, Snoopy floated around, tethered inside the vehicle to indicate when the craft had reached space.
For this challenge, designers from all around the world are challenged to create a new ZGI to be fabricated by NASA’s Thermal Blanket Lab and launched into space aboard the Artemis II mission around the moon.
“We are excited to launch this new design contest on behalf of NASA. This is a great opportunity for anyone, whether they’re K-12 school students all the way or adults, to participate and make history by designing an exciting component to the upcoming NASA Artemis II mission around the moon. We look forward to seeing how creative and unique the submissions will be.” said Trisha Epp, Program Manager for the NASA Open Innovation Services contract at Freelancer.com.
Challenge Background
With Artemis, NASA will explore more of the Moon than ever before, learn how to live and work farther away from home, and prepare for future human exploration of Mars. Artemis II is targeted to launch in early 2026 and will be the first test flight of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft with humans aboard.
Lasting about 10 days, the mission will launch four astronauts from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to fly around the Moon before safely returning to Earth. The mission is a crucial step toward the Artemis III Moon landing mission in 2027.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will be joined by another important crewmember: the ZGI aboard the Artemis II mission.
Eligibility & Prizes
Up to 25 finalists from this Challenge will be selected and awarded: 13 adult finalists and 12 finalists from the K-12 division. NASA will ultimately choose one design to fabricate and fly aboard the Orion spacecraft. The 25 finalists’ designs will be presented to the Artemis II crew to select the final ZGI.
This Challenge is open to the following categories:
- Individuals, Teams, and Entities (adults): 13 prizes of $1,225 each
- K-5 Classrooms: Two K-5 Classroom winners of $1,225 each
- 6-8 Classrooms: Two 6-8 Classroom winners of $1,225 each
- 9-12 Classrooms: Two 9-12 Classroom winners of $1,225 each
- K-12 Individuals: Six K-12 Individual winners of an Artemis Prize Pack each
Challenge Schedule
Challenge Launch 7 March 2025
Submission Deadline May 27th, 2025, by 5pm ET
Finalists Announced by July 31, 2025
More in-depth details surrounding the challenge, including guidelines, timelines, prize allocations, and the criteria for designs can be accessed here: https://www.freelancer.com/contest/2527909
