Get our roversto Huntsville

Sponsor NASA’s Ingenuity winners. Queen’s Lunar Exploration Team builds rovers for NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge.

NASA Ingenuity Award, 2025 and 2026 NASA, 2025(opens in a new tab) NASA, 2026(opens in a new tab)
Only Canadian team at HERC 2026 Smith Engineering, 2026(opens in a new tab)

Partner with QLET See the track record

187

days until HERC 2027 opens in Huntsville, Alabama, April 21–24.

NASA HERC, dates may change(opens in a new tab)

Sunrise over a lunar plain. Generated imagery.

Ingenuity Award,two years running

We won NASA’s Ingenuity Award in 2025, then won it again in 2026.

2025

NASA Ingenuity Award

HERC 2025 field: 75 teams, from the U.S. and 16 other nations.

NASA, 2025(opens in a new tab)

2026

NASA Ingenuity Award, second year running

HERC 2026 field: 42 teams and more than 500 students.

NASA, 2026(opens in a new tab)

Lunar dust settling in sunlight. Generated imagery.

Only

Canadian team at HERC 2026

Smith Engineering, 2026(opens in a new tab)

NASA gives its Ingenuity Award to the boldest idea at HERC, in any division. Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)

Also in 2025: the Pit Crew Award, Human-Powered College/University Division. NASA, 2025(opens in a new tab)

NASA’s lunarrover challenge

HERC is NASA’s student lunar-rover competition, tied to its Artemis program. NASA, 2026 winners(opens in a new tab) Teams design, build and test a rover that people pilot or operators drive by remote control.

An Apollo 15 astronaut beside the Lunar Roving Vehicle on the Moon, a dark mountain behind. — Archival photo. Apollo 15, 1971, not our rover. NASA/David Scott, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

2 divisions

Human-powered: people pilot the rover. We won the Pit Crew Award here in 2025. NASA, 2025 winners(opens in a new tab)
Remote-controlled: operators drive from a distance and do tasks on the way. Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)

Built by students

NASA requires airless wheels, and students must make them. MDA Space LaunchPad(opens in a new tab)
Our 2025 wheels were 3D printed in carbon-fibre-reinforced nylon. MDA Space LaunchPad(opens in a new tab)

A course with tasks

Illustrative. An invented course to show the idea, not the real HERC layout.

Teams drive a course and do tasks on the way. Our 2026 fleet had 12 minutes, so it worked its tasks in parallel. Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)

HERC 2027 is April 21–24, 2027 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA HERC, dates may change(opens in a new tab)

4 rovers in 2 years

1 human-powered rover in 2025, then 3 remote-control rovers in 2026.

MDA Space LaunchPad(opens in a new tab)Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)

Schematic, not to scale. Shapes are illustrative, not the real rovers.

rovers, working tasks in parallel: 3
operators: one for Moe, one for Eenie and Meenie: 2
on the course to get it all done: 12min

Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)

Remote-control fleet, 2026

Won NASA’s Ingenuity Award at HERC 2026. Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)

Human-powered rover, 2025

MDA Space LaunchPad(opens in a new tab)

Won the Pit Crew Award, Human-Powered College/University Division, at HERC 2025. NASA, 2025 winners(opens in a new tab)

Next: HERC 2027

One slot per division. Specs, and which divisions we enter, go here once the designs are frozen.

Human-powered rover, 2027.In design. We’ll publish the specs once the design is frozen.
What sponsor support goes into: materials, printed wheels, testing.
Remote-controlled rover, 2027.In design. We’ll publish the specs once the design is frozen.
What sponsor support goes into: electronics, sample tools, testing.

An astronaut in a white spacesuit drives Apollo 17’s Lunar Roving Vehicle, a four-wheeled open frame with orange fenders, across grey lunar soil below a sunlit hill and a black sky. — Archival photo. Apollo 17’s Lunar Roving Vehicle on the Moon, December 1972. NASA’s rover, not ours. Photo: NASA / Harrison H. Schmitt, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

From capstone to 2 Ingenuity Awards

QLET started as one student’s capstone proposal. Two years later it’s a design team with 2 NASA Ingenuity Awards. Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab) NASA, 2026 winners(opens in a new tab)

A printer laying a wheel-like part. Generated imagery, not our workshop.

Fall 2024
A capstone project
Brandon Lewis proposes a HERC rover as a fourth-year mechanical engineering capstone.
Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)
October 2024
3 days to a proposal
The team writes its NASA proposal in 3 days. NASA accepts it in October.
MDA Space LaunchPad(opens in a new tab)
7 months
Built around internships
7 months of building, while the team works full-time internships.
MDA Space LaunchPad(opens in a new tab)
HERC 2025
2 NASA awards
The Ingenuity Award and the Pit Crew Award, Human-Powered College/University Division.
NASA, 2025 winners(opens in a new tab)
April 2026
Ingenuity Award, again
3 remote-control rovers, the only Canadian team in the field, and a second Ingenuity Award.
Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)

“I’ve learned as much in the past two years from this team as I have in four to five years of classwork.”

Brandon Lewis, Chief Technical Officer Smith Engineering, May 2026

“We had quite a bit of national pride to go down there as the only team representing Canada.”

Brandon Lewis, Chief Technical Officer Smith Engineering, May 2026

Placeholder. Team photo, coming

What your company gets

Early access to engineers who build to deadlines, and your name on a NASA stage. If you want it, a technical problem your team helps us solve.

Who has backed us

MDA Space, 2025: LaunchPad program and mentorship from its rover team. MDA Space LaunchPad(opens in a new tab)
NordSpace, 2026: Support for the 2026 season. Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)
Smith Engineering, 2026: Support for the 2026 season. Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)

Archival photographs: Carol M. Highsmith; NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; NASA. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Hire engineers who ship hardware
Our members design, print and drive real rovers to a NASA deadline. Meet them before they graduate, at a recruiting session on campus or at your office.
The 2025 rover went from a 3-day proposal to a finished machine in 7 months, built around full-time internships. MDA Space LaunchPad(opens in a new tab) The team grew out of a fourth-year mechanical engineering capstone at Smith Engineering. Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)
Wheel tracks in lunar soil. Generated imagery, not our rover’s.
Your name at a NASA competition
Your logo travels on the rover, the team kit and this site, all the way to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
HERC 2026 brought 42 teams and more than 500 students. NASA, 2026 winners(opens in a new tab) We were the only Canadian team there. Smith Engineering, May 2026(opens in a new tab)
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center, 2010. Not our photo.
Work on a real problem with us
Give your engineers a rover problem to mentor: wheels, sampling tools, electronics. That’s how MDA Space worked with us.
In 2025, MDA Space’s rover team guided us through its LaunchPad program. MDA Space LaunchPad(opens in a new tab)
A NASA wheel test, 1969. Not ours.
A story your people will share
A Canadian student team, a NASA award two years running, and a rover your sponsorship helped build. It writes your next post for you.
NASA Ingenuity Award, HERC 2025 and HERC 2026. NASA, 2026 winners(opens in a new tab)
Apollo 17, 1972. Not our team.

4 ways to partner

Pick a level, or give parts, machining or software instead. We’ll shape any tier around what your company wants.

All amounts in Canadian dollars, for one season ending at HERC 2027.

Supporter

$250

For alumni, friends and small firms who want to help.

Your name on this site
Thank-you post on our social channels

Email about Supporter

Launch

$1,000

Your logo on the jersey and this site for the whole season.

Everything in Supporter, plus:

Your logo on this site and the deck
Your logo on the team jersey

Email about Launch

Orbital

$2,500

Your logo on the rover in Huntsville, and first access to our engineers.

Our pick for most companies.

Everything in Launch, plus:

Your logo on the rover
Recruiting session with the team

Email about Orbital

Lunar

$5,000+

Your name on a rover subsystem, and the rover at your office for a day.

Everything in Orbital, plus:

Rover demo day at your office
A rover subsystem named for your company

Email about Lunar

In-kind

Give what you make or do. We credit in-kind support at its fair value, on the same tiers.

Materials and components
Machining and fabrication
Software licences
Travel to Huntsville

Offer in-kind support

Where your money goes

Most of it becomes the rover. The rest gets the rover and the team to Huntsville.

$40,000

CAD, to build, test and race at HERC 2027

Materials and componentsFrame stock, drivetrain parts, electronics, sensors, and the carbon-fibre nylon we print wheels from.
35%$14,000
Travel and lodging to HuntsvilleGetting the competing team from Kingston, Ontario to Huntsville, Alabama and housing them for race week.
25%$10,000
Manufacturing and toolingMachining, printer time and the jigs and tools a build needs.
20%$8,000
Registration and shippingCompetition fees and shipping the rovers to Alabama and back.
10%$4,000
Testing and sparesTest days, and the spare wheels and parts we carry to the course.
10%$4,000

Illustrative. Placeholder shares of a $40,000 CAD season, until the team signs its budget off.

Huntsville, April 21, 2027

187

days until HERC 2027 opens in Huntsville

NASA HERC, dates may change

Our 2025 rover took 7 months to build. Support that arrives this fall buys the parts we test in the spring. MDA Space LaunchPad(opens in a new tab)

Partner with QLET

Done:
September 17, 2026
Proposals due
The deadline for HERC 2027 proposals to NASA.
NASA HERC(opens in a new tab)
Next:
November 2026
Design review
Concepts frozen and checked against NASA’s rules before we cut material.
Planned:
January–February 2027
Build
Frames, drivetrains and electronics built. Wheels printed.
Planned:
March 2027
Test
Drive days on rough ground, timed runs, fixes, spares.
Planned:
Early April 2027
Ship to Huntsville
Rovers packed and on the road to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
Planned:
April 21–24, 2027
HERC 2027
Race week at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama. NASA says dates may change.
NASA HERC(opens in a new tab)

Proposals and race week are NASA’s dates. The ones between are our plan, still to be confirmed.

Earth over a lunar ridge. Generated imagery, not NASA footage.

Email us about HERC 2027

sponsorship@example.com

Tell us what your company wants from a partnership. We’ll come back with a plan built around it.

Queen’s Lunar Exploration Team, Smith Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.

Partner with QLET Download the deck (PDF)

Follow the build on Instagram and LinkedIn: links coming.

187 days until HERC 2027. The sooner you’re in, the more of the rover you’re on. NASA HERC, dates may change(opens in a new tab)