NASA Student Challenge Prepares Future Designers for Lunar Missions

At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the next generation of lunar explorers and engineers are already hard at work. Some started with sketchbooks and others worked with computer-aided design files, but all had a vision of how design could thrive in extreme environments.
Thanks to NASA’s Student Design Challenge, Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students (SUITS), those visions are finding their way into real mission technologies.

The SUITS challenge invites university and graduate students from across the U.S. to design, build, and test interactive displays integrated into spacesuit helmets, continuing an eight-year tradition of hands-on field evaluations that simulate conditions astronauts may face on the lunar surface. The technology aims to support astronauts with real-time navigation, task management, and scientific data visualization during moonwalks. While the challenge provides a unique opportunity to contribute to future lunar missions, for many participants, SUITS offers something more: a launchpad to aerospace careers.

The challenge fosters collaboration between students in design, engineering, and computer science—mirroring the teamwork needed for real mission development.

Keya Shah, now a softgoods engineering technologist in Johnson’s Softgoods Laboratory, discovered her path through SUITS while studying industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

“SUITS taught me how design can be pushed to solve for the many niche challenges that come with an environment as unique and unforgiving as space,” Shah said. “Whether applied to digital or physical products, it gave me a deep understanding of how intuitive and thoughtfully designed solutions are vital for space exploration.”

As chief designer for her team’s 2024 Mars spacewalk project, Shah led more than 30 designers and developers through rounds of user flow mapping, iterative prototyping, and interface testing.

“Design holds its value in making you think beyond just the ‘what’ to solve a problem and figure out ‘how’ to make the solution most efficient and user-oriented,” she said, “SUITS emphasized that, and I continually strive to highlight these strengths with the softgoods I design.”

Shah now works on fabric-based flight hardware at Johnson, including thermal and acoustic insulation blankets, tool stowage packs, and spacesuit components.

“There’s a very exciting future in human space exploration at the intersection of softgoods with hardgoods and the digital world, through innovations like smart textiles, wearable technology, and soft robotics,” Shah said. “I look forward to being part of it.”

For RISD alumnus Felix Arwen, now a softgoods engineer at Johnson, the challenge offered invaluable hands-on experience. “It gave me the opportunity to take projects from concept to a finished, tested product—something most classrooms didn’t push me to do,” Arwen said.

Serving as a technical adviser and liaison between SUITS designers and engineers, Arwen helped bridge gaps between disciplines—a skill critical to NASA’s team-based approach.

“It seems obvious now, but I didn’t always realize how much design contributes to space exploration,” Arwen said. “The creative, iterative process is invaluable. Our work isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about usability, safety, and mission success.”

Arwen played a key role in expanding RISD’s presence across multiple NASA Student Design Challenges, including the Human Exploration Rover Challenge, the Micro-g Neutral Buoyancy Experiment Design Teams, and the Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing Idea Challenge. The teams, often partnering with Brown University, demonstrated how a design-focused education can uniquely contribute to solving complex engineering problems.

“NASA’s Student Design Challenges gave me the structure to focus my efforts on learning new skills and pursuing projects I didn’t even know I’d be interested in,” he said.

Both Arwen and Shah remain involved with SUITS as mentors and judges, eager to support the next generation of space designers.

Their advice to current participants? Build a portfolio that reflects your passion, seek opportunities outside the classroom, and do not be afraid to apply for roles that might not seem to fit a designer.

“While the number of openings for a designer at NASA might be low, there will always be a need for good design work, and if you have the portfolio to back it up, you can apply to engineering roles that just might not know they need you yet,” Arwen said.

As NASA prepares for lunar missions, the SUITS challenge continues to bridge the gap between student imagination and real-world innovation, inspiring a new wave of space-ready problem-solvers.

“Design pushes you to consistently ask ‘what if?’ and reimagine what’s possible,” Shah said. “That kind of perspective will always stay core to NASA.”

Are you interested in joining the next NASA SUITS challenge? Find more information here.

The next challenge will open for proposals at the end of August 2025.