MSU Texas students participating in NASA SUITS Challenge

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - Every year, NASA selects prestigious and Ivy League schools to participate in its special SUITS Challenge.

This year, Midwestern State University students have been chosen to take part in the event.

The annual challenge aims to gather student research to improve graphical interfaces in NASA space suits. It also contributes to other technology that may be used in NASA’s Artemis mission, which seeks to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon and, ultimately, Mars.

The team’s outreach lead was ecstatic upon hearing the news.

“When they announced Midwestern State University, I had this rush of adrenaline like, I cannot believe that we got this and it’s just incredible to think that, you know, the only public liberal art school in Texas is going to be punching with the heavy weights.” said Kerry Rahimi.

MSU is one of only 10 schools chosen to participate this year.

Other schools in the challenge include Rice University, Columbia University, Brown University, and the University of California, Irvine, which is teaming up with MSU on the project.

MSU’s Team Selene is developing an interface for the Toyota JAXA rover to help navigate lunar and Martian terrains while ensuring passenger safety.

“We’re working on having an easy thing to read for astronauts will be within the pressurized rover. So, make sure that the proper tab that displays the map Options to properly pinpoint locations of interest along with other information well into the mission.” said Adrian Robledo.

The team consists of 13 members, each assigned different tasks for the project, including community outreach about the Artemis mission.

“Almost every time I meet with them, I go wow because of the way they’re cooperating, the way they have divided up the tasks. They work together, they work individually, they come together and share ideas.” said Tina Johnson.

The students will test their systems at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston from May 18–22.