AVA Challenge
Workforce Development for STEM Careers
The Australian Virtual Astronaut Challenge is designed to showcase real-world opportunities in the workforce, highlighting STEM skills needed and the career pathways available.
This is done by immersing students in the engineering design process to use the same tools the space industry uses to solve known problems.
Organisations – want to support the AVA Challenge?
Contact us to discuss sponsorship
& joint delivery opportunities!
Current Projects & Challenges
AVA Challenge
AVA Challenge | Home on the Moon
Meeting the NASA Shortfalls
Long-term human habitation.
To establish a permanent lunar base, we need to solve multi-disciplinary challenges. We explore team dynamics, the engineering design process and the overall AVA Challenge framework.
AVA Challenge
Challenge 1 | What we eat
NASA Shortfall: 1525 – Food and nutrition for Mars and Sustained Lunar
Energy, nutrition, sustainability.
How can we sustain life off-world? In this mission, you will explore the complex challenges in nutrition that face astronauts for long-term habitation in space.
AVA Challenge
Challenge 2 | Where we live
NASA Shortfall: 1601 – Enable Observation of Whole Top-to-Bottom Dynamic Ecosystems
Human habitation off-world.
The ability to make tools and instruments and apply observational data can help us build and understand our human-made lunar ecosystem.
AVA Challenge
Challenge 3 | Going Outside
NASA Shortfall: 1304 – Robust, High-Progress-Rate, and Long-Distance Autonomous Surface Mobility
Explore and discover.
How might rover and vehicle design be improved? Apply engineering skills to revolutionise mobility across lunar regolith
SOLIDWORKS® School Sponsorship
Use the free SOLIDWORKS® Software on your browser to create your designs.
Past Projects & Challenges
IAC25 Space Day & Young Space Explorers
Bringing space to the public at IAC25
The 76th International Astronautical Congress 2025 in Sydney was a huge event, drawing over 19,000 members of the public on the last day.
We were proud to work with the STEM Enrichment Team from the NSW Department of Education to bring space to life as we pulled together 15 exhibitors and 5 astronauts to showcase the linkages of space to everyday life.
Partners
Mission Patch Art Competition
Displaying a Collective Student Voice at IAC 2025
Australian schools were invited to enter students in the Mission Patch Art Competition for the 76th International Astronautical Congress 2025 in Sydney.
Partners
- NSW Education
- International Astronautical Federation
- AVA Challenge
Simple Seeds
Plants For Space
Australian schools were invited to create a self-contained environment as ground trials for Exolab 11 in microgravity on the ISS over 4 weeks.
