COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. - West Collierville Middle School’s 8th Grade TechRise Team, the “Lunar‑Tics,” has been selected by NASA as one of only 60 teams nationwide, and the sole winning team from Tennessee, in the 2025-26 NASA TechRise Student Challenge.

The NASA TechRise program invites students in grades 6–12 to design, build, and launch experiments that will ride on a high‑altitude scientific balloon or a suborbital rocket. Thousands of entries are submitted each year from across the United States. Selected teams receive $1,500 and engineering support from NASA to turn their ideas into fully functional experiments. The Lunar-Tics experiment will fly on a high-altitude balloon operated by World View Enterprises of Tucson, Arizona.

“Congratulations to our outstanding team, Lunar-Tics, for qualifying for the NASA TechRise Challenge," said West Collierville Middle School principal Kimberly Shaw. "This achievement reflects their creativity, problem-solving skills, and commitment to innovative STEM learning. We are proud of their hard work and excited to see how they will continue to reach new heights. Well done, Dragons!"

This year, the Lunar‑Tics proposed an experiment that focuses on a longstanding challenge in lunar exploration: the behavior of lunar dust. Lunar dust consists of extremely fine, abrasive particles that adhere stubbornly to tools, suits, and equipment. Over time, dust buildup can interfere with mechanical components, degrade materials, and create safety concerns for astronauts.

The students’ experiment will investigate how lunar dust interacts with different surface coatings. Their goal is to determine which coating reduces dust accumulation most effectively. The team hypothesizes that the untreated surface will collect the greatest amount of dust, while a surface treated with anti‑static spray will accumulate the least due to reduced static charge.

Under the direction of Dr. Carmen Kelsey, 7th and 8th grade AgriSTEM and 8th grade STEM teacher at WCMS, the students will meet virtually for the next 16 weeks with NASA engineers as they build their experiment in the classroom. Once complete, the project will be shipped to NASA and launched later this summer on a high‑altitude balloon reaching 70,000–95,000 feet. After the payload returns to Earth, students will receive the full results of their investigation.

For more information about NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge, visit: TechRise (for 6–12 graders) - NASA