The Aerospace Badge Challenge, hosted by the Institute of Competition Sciences (ICS) in partnership with SEDS USA, brings the nation’s brightest collegiate minds together onto one shared leaderboard. Every time you and your classmates design, build, and compete in premier challenges - from the Plant the Moon Challenge and NASA ORBIT to NCAS, SUITS, and RASC-AL - your hard work earns official ICS Aerospace Badge points.
Those badges don’t just validate your hands-on technical and research skills; they propel your entire college or university up the national rankings. Assemble your peers, compete in the challenges you already love, and stake your institution’s claim as the premier aerospace collegiate powerhouse in the country. Learn more about the ICS Aerospace Badge here.
Competition Process
Taking part in the Aerospace Badge Challenge requires no separate project submissions, portfolios, or duplicate paperwork. Points are earned naturally through the collegiate aerospace competitions for which your students are already preparing.
1. Rally Your Campus & Identify Participants
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Identify Interested Members: Connect with peers across your SEDS chapter who plan to compete in aerospace challenges this year.
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Open to Any Undergraduate: There is no minimum or maximum limit to how many students or teams can contribute points toward your institution’s overall score.
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Create a Free ICS Account: Every participating student creates an individual user profile on the ICS platform and selects their college or university. All aerospace badge points earned automatically connect to that institution.
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Flexible Participation: You do not need your entire group locked in on day one. Students and project teams can be identified and involved at any point throughout the academic year.
2. Register Your Institution as a Team (For Award Eligibility)
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Official Entry via ICS: To appear in the official award standings and compete for the $3,000 prize pool, your institution must be officially registered for the Aerospace Badge Challenge. Within this competition listing, select Register For Free and complete the registration fields.
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Who Registers: A designated SEDS Chapter Representative or your chapter’s official Faculty Advisor completes this registration between November 4, 2026 and May 1, 2027.
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Full Season Point Coverage: All points earned by your affiliated students during the entire 2026–2027 academic year (from August 1, 2026 onward) will count toward your institution's total, regardless of whether those points were earned before or after your team registration was submitted.
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Active SEDS Requirement: Confirm that your SEDS USA chapter remains in active good standing through May 1, 2027, with a designated faculty or staff advisor named to receive any awarded funds. Don’t have a SEDS Chapter at your university? Get one! Start a New Chapter for University Groups at seds.org/join.
3. Add Your Organization and Team Members
Once the team has been registered, the SEDS chapter representative or advisor who registered the team connects their campus organization and student competitors directly through the ICS portal:
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Log In: Sign in to your ICS Dashboard.
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Access Teams: Navigate to the Teams section on your dashboard toolbar.
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Select Your Team: Click on the name of your institution's registered team.
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Connect Your Organization: Upon entering your Team Dashboard, you will be prompted to Add Your Organization. Connect your team to your SEDS-affiliated institution.
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Open Roster Controls: Go to Team Management → Coaches and Members.
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Send Invites: Select Invite Members to add your student competitors.
Members can be invited and added to your roster continuously throughout the challenge window as more students get involved.
4. Compete in Qualifying Aerospace Challenges
Students earn Aerospace Badge points by taking part in approved collegiate competitions throughout the season. Current eligible challenges include:
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NASA NCAS (NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars)
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NASA HERC (Human Exploration Rover Challenge)
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NASA SUITS (Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students)
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NASA HuLC (Human Lander Challenge)
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NASA RASC-AL (NASA Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage)
Each qualifying competition awards Aerospace Badge points based on participation, placement, and recognized skill achievements.
5. Automatic Scoring & Live Leaderboard Tracking
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Zero Extra Submissions: Once official competition results are posted by event organizers, badge points are calculated automatically and credited to student profiles and your institution's team tally.
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Track Your Rank: Watch your institution climb the national public leaderboard in real time as points accumulate through June 30, 2027.
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Tiebreakers: If institutions tie in points, rankings favor the campus with the higher count of contributing students, followed by participation across a wider variety of qualifying competitions.
Judging Criteria
The Aerospace Badge Challenge evaluates institutions based entirely on objective, verified student achievement across the 2026–2027 academic competition season. There are no review boards for this challenge - your standing is determined directly by cumulative performance.
Scoring Methodology
An institution’s final standing is calculated by summing all Aerospace Badge points earned by its affiliated undergraduate students between August 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027 (11:59 PM EDT).
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Automatic Calculation: Points are awarded per each competition’s verified results and the standard ICS badging framework.
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No Roster Caps: Both individual competitors and multi-student teams contribute toward the university's overall total. Every registered student from your campus helps move the needle.
Tiebreaker Rules
If two or more institutions conclude the challenge with identical point totals, ties are broken using the following hierarchical criteria:
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Student Breadth: The institution with the higher total number of individual students who earned Aerospace Badge points during the season.
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Competition Diversity: The institution whose students earned points across the greater variety of distinct qualifying competitions.
How the Top Two Institutions Are Awarded
At the close of the competition window, ICS management conducts a comprehensive audit of points for the top-ranking institutions and confirms active chapter standing directly with SEDS USA.
The two highest-scoring eligible institutions will receive institutional awards from the $3,000 Total Prize Pool:
| Placement | Award | Disbursement & Recipient |
| Grand Prize | $2,000 USD | Paid directly to the winning institution's bank account designated by the SEDS Chapter Faculty Advisor on the chapter's behalf |
| Runner-Up | $1,000 USD | Paid directly to the second-place institution's bank account designated by the SEDS Chapter Faculty Advisor on the chapter's behalf |
Participate
Managing Organization: Institute of Competition Sciences
The Aerospace Badge Challenge Official Rules & Guidelines
2026–2027 Academic YearI. General Provisions
- Authority: The rules noted herein are subject to change and may be updated by Aerospace Badge Challenge management at the Institute of Competition Sciences (ICS).
- Announcements: All updates shall be announced publicly on the official website and/or through the email newsletter.
- Responsibility: It is the sole responsibility of participants to ensure their understanding of and compliance with these rules.
- Inquiries: Questions regarding rules should be sent to: theo@competitionsciences.org. Questions about a specific competition entry should be directed to the organizers of that competition.
- Relationship to Other Competitions: The Aerospace Badge Challenge does not change the rules of any connected competition. Points are earned through each competition under their own rules and the ICS badge scoring system. The inclusion of a competition in the ICS Aerospace Badge Challenge does not indicate a management, promotional, or other partnership or relationship with the competition organizers or sponsors. The Aerospace Badge Challenge is conducted and offered by ICS independently of competition management.
- Disqualification: Failure to adhere to the rules herein shall be cause for disqualification at the sole discretion of management. All decisions are final.
II. Eligibility
- Eligible Organizations: Accredited two- and four-year colleges and universities located in the United States.
- Eligible Students: Points count from any undergraduate student or undergraduate student team enrolled at an eligible institution during the 2026–2027 academic year.
- Geographic Scope: U.S. only (the 50 states and the District of Columbia).
- Competing Unit: The institution, not an individual or team, is the competitor. There is no minimum or maximum number of students whose points may count toward an institution’s total.
- Student Affiliation: Each student’s points count toward one institution only: the institution listed on the student’s ICS profile at the time the points are earned. Points stay with that institution if the student later changes institutions.
- SEDS Chapter Requirement: To be eligible for the award, the institution must have an active Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) USA chapter no later than May 1, 2027. A chapter is “active” if it is in good standing with SEDS USA. Chapter status is confirmed by SEDS USA.
- Faculty Advisor: Each registered SEDS chapter must name a faculty or staff advisor employed by the institution. The advisor receives any prize on the chapter’s behalf.
III. Registrations
- Platform: All students must register as users on the ICS online platform and list their institution on their profile. Only aerospace badge points earned through the ICS platform count.
- Public Leaderboard: Every eligible U.S. institution whose students earn aerospace badge points is automatically ranked on the public Aerospace Badge leaderboard. No registration is needed to appear there.
- Chapter Registration: For inclusion in the official Challenge standings and eligibility for the award, the institution’s SEDS chapter must register for the Challenge on the ICS platform. Registration must be completed by a chapter officer or the faculty advisor.
- Registration Window: Chapters may register any time from November 4, 2026 through May 1, 2027. All points earned during the 2026–2027 academic year count, including points earned before the chapter registered.
IV. Challenge Requirements
- Core Task: Institutions compete to earn the highest combined total of ICS aerospace badge points. Students earn points by taking part in ICS competitions that award aerospace badge points.
- Qualifying Competitions: Every ICS competition that awards aerospace badge points during the 2026–2027 academic year counts. The current list is published on the ICS platform at https://www.competitionsciences.org/badges/aerospace/.
- Timeline: The Challenge runs from November 4, 2026 through June 30, 2027. All aerospace badge points earned from August 1, 2026 through 11:59 p.m. on June 30, 2027 count toward an institution’s total.
- Late-Posted Results: Points for competition activity completed by June 30, 2027 whose results are posted after that date will not count.
- Scoring: An institution’s score is the sum of all aerospace badge points earned by its affiliated students, as calculated by the ICS badge scoring system detailed at https://www.competitionsciences.org/about-badges/.
- Tiebreakers: If two or more institutions are tied, the tie is broken first by the number of individual students who earned aerospace badge points, then by the number of different qualifying competitions in which the institution’s students earned points.
V. Points & Verification
- No Separate Submission: Institutions do not submit work to this Challenge. Points are recorded automatically on the ICS platform as competition results are posted.
- Legitimate Participation: Points must come from genuine student participation in qualifying competitions. Points from any entry that is disqualified in its own competition will be removed.
- Account Integrity: Creating duplicate accounts, listing an institution a student does not attend, or otherwise misrepresenting affiliation is grounds for removing points or disqualifying the institution.
- Deadlines: Points earned after the Timeline cutoff will not count toward award qualification.
VI. Standings & Review
- Standings: Standings are calculated by ICS from ICS platform data. Live standings are displayed on the ICS platform throughout the Challenge.
- Final Review: Before the award is announced, management will audit the points totals of the top-ranked institutions and confirm the winner’s chapter status with SEDS USA.
- Decision Authority: Eligibility and scoring decisions are made by ICS management. SEDS USA’s role is limited to confirming chapter status.
- Finality: All standings and decisions of management are final.
VII. Awards & Recognition
- Categories: Grand Prize: the registered institution with the highest total aerospace badge points for the 2026–2027 academic year.
- Prizes: One First Place Award of $2,000 USD, and one Runner Up of $1000, paid to the bank account designated by the faculty advisor of the winning institution’s SEDS chapter on the chapter’s behalf.
- Ineligible Top Finisher: If the highest-ranking institution is not registered or does not have an active SEDS chapter by May 1, 2027, the award goes to the highest-ranking eligible institution.
- Announcement: The winner will be announced by August 1, 2027 on the official website and/or through the email newsletter.
- Non-Transferability: All prizes are non-transferable.
VIII. Code of Conduct
- General Standards: Participants are held to high ethical standards, treating others with respect and courtesy regardless of background.
- Sportsmanship: Disparaging remarks about other institutions, teams, judges, or staff are strictly prohibited.
- Plagiarism & AI: Plagiarism and unauthorized use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are prohibited as set out in the rules of each qualifying competition. Management reserves the right to use detection technologies.
IX. Legal Requirements
- Liability Release: Participants agree to release and hold harmless the sponsors and related entities from any claims or damages arising from participation.
- Media Release: By participating, entrants grant the right to use their names, likenesses, and institution names for promotional purposes.
- Intellectual Property: The Challenge involves no submissions of its own. Ownership of work entered in qualifying competitions is governed by each competition’s rules.
X. Aerospace Badge Competitions
- Plant the Moon Challenge
- NASA NCAS
- NASA ORBIT
- NASA HERC
- NASA SUITS
- NASA Lunabotics
- NASA HuLC
- NASA RASC-AL
- NASA Student Challenge
- NASA Gateway to Blue Skies