) What Does the Future of Space Exploration Look Like? NASA provided a first-hand experience to student robotics teams at the 2025 FIRST Robotics World Championship, in Houston. This included lunar rovers, robot arms, and real discussions about shaping the next age of discovery.

NASA worked directly with the Artemis Generation to connect with more than 55, 000 students and 75,000 mentors and parents. Through interactive exhibits, students learned about NASA’s robotic technology, STEM career paths, internships, as well as its bold vision for the near future. Many students expressed an interest in internships, and dreams of contributing to NASA’s missions of exploring the unknown to the benefit of humanity.

Several NASA centers took part in the event. These included the Johnson Space Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Kennedy Space Center, Langley Research Center, Ames Research Center, Michoud Assembly Facility, Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, and Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility, West Virginia. Each brought their own unique technologies and expertise onto the exhibit floor. Displays highlighted key innovations, such as:

• Automated Mission Adaptive Digital Assembly Systems : A modular system consisting of small robots with smart algorithms which can autonomously assemble large structures in space.

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  Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (): A team composed of small lunar rovers that can operate autonomously, navigate and make decisions without human input.

• AutoNomy Capabilities for Surface Operations and Construction – Lightweight Surface Manipulation Systems: A robotic arm designed for lunar construction tasks. Developed through NASA’s Early Career Initiative.

• Space Exploration Vehicle () : A prototype pressurized rover built for human exploration of planet surfaces, giving attendees a glimpse at how future astronauts might one day travel across the Moon and Mars. Mars Perseverance Rover (19459018) : An exhibit describing the rover’s mission to collect samples and search for ancient microorganisms for return to Earth.

• The In-Situ Resources Utilization Pilot Excavator is a lunar bulldozer/dump truck hybrid that will mine and transport regolith to support long-term exploration via the Artemis campaign.

“These demos help students visualize themselves as part of NASA’s mission, and the next frontier in lunar exploration,” said Johnson Public Relations Specialist Andrew Knotts. “They can imagine their future as a part of the team that shapes how we live and operate in space,” said Knotts. This year, the agency celebrated the fusion between science, engineering, creativity, and robotics that defines both space exploration and robotics.

Local high school students had the opportunity to learn about the Texas High School Aerospace Scholars Program, which gives Texas juniors the chance to design space missions and solve engineering challenges – an early gateway into NASA’s world of exploration.

As competition ended, students and mentors began to look forward to the next season, energized by new ideas and friendships strengthened, and dreams for future missions.

Jeanette Snyder, aerospace system engineer for Gateway, said, “It was an honor to represent NASA in front of so many inspiring educators, students, and mentors.” “I was a robotics enthusiast myself not too long ago. I still use the skills I learned through FIRST Robotics to this day as a NASA engineer. I am encouraged by the excitement that is being generated around engineering and technology. I can’t believe these students will become the next generation NASA engineers and world-changers.”

With NASA’s continued commitment in STEM outreach and the enthusiastic support from volunteers, mentors and sponsors, as well as industry leaders and sponsors, the future of space exploration is in capable and bold hands. The panorama videos below will bring the event to life.