The Caltech Space Challenge is a 5-Day International Student Space Mission Design Competition 

The Caltech Space Challenge brings 32 talented and highly-motivated graduate students to the Caltech campus to participate in a week-long space mission design competition. The participants are split into two teams and both teams work under the mentorship of experts from industry, NASA and academia to design their mission concept from scratch to final proposal. The Challenge is a unique opportunity for enthusiastic students to build technical and teamwork skills, interact with world-renowned experts in space exploration and connect to like-minded peers from all around the world.

The 2026 Caltech Space Challenge has finished!! Congratulations to Team Voyager for securing another win!

Very well done to all the students for their hard work in 2026

Applications are now close and all participants have been selected and notified. Thank you for all the applications hat have been submitted! More than 500 graduate students have submitted their application and selection process was very difficult. If you were not chosen, we suggest waiting for the next installment in a few years!

News

Mar 30, 2026 - Team Voyager wins! Watch the final presentations on our youtube channel here!

Mar 9, 2026 - The teams have been made, look on the participants tab for the full lists!

Mar 25, 2022 - The Caltech Space Challenge has concluded. Congratulations to Team Voyager, the winners of the 2022 edition of the CSC!

Mar 20, 2022 - The Caltech Space Challenge has started! We are looking forward to an exciting challenge week!

Nov 7, 2021 - The application portal has closed. We received a record number of applications and will contact all applicants with the outcome in January.

Sep 1, 2021 - The application portal is open. Click here to see if you are eligible and to apply.

May 18, 2021 - The Caltech Space Challenge website is live. Stay tuned for more information. Applications open in Fall 2021.