The StellarXplorers STEM Program engages students in space and aviation careers through camps and competitions.
The Air & Space Forces Association’s 2024-2025 StellarXplorers National Space Design Competition champion is “The Stellar Warriors” from Troy High School Navy Junior ROTC, in Fullerton, Calif.
The StellarXplorers season began with 375 teams from across the country, competing in four rounds of online competition where they solved orbit planning, satellite design, and launch operations missions. Ten teams qualified for the National Finals, a challenging, two-day competition held April 24-25 at the Denver Sheraton Tech Center Hotel in Greenwood Village, Colo. The Stellar Warriors not only claimed first place, but they are the first-ever Navy JROTC unit to participate in the StellarXplorers competition. This year’s season saw several other firsts, including the first-ever middle school team, the first-ever all-female team, and the first-ever two-person team to qualify for a National Finals Competition.
Other top finishers from this season’s StellarXplorers National Finals Competition include:
- Second place, “Space Jam” from The Science Academy STEM Magnet in North Hollywood, Calif.
- Third place, “Pather#5” from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in Rolling Hills Estate, Calif.
Learn more about the teams that competed by viewing the official StellarXplorers National Finals Event Program.
While in the area, teams also had the opportunity to explore the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum and learn about a variety of career opportunities and pathways in the space sector, hearing firsthand from U.S. Space Force personnel and a group of industry representatives from United Launch Alliance, L3Harris, Northrop Grumman, and Ansys Government Initiatives.
Through its annual competition and summer camps nationwide, the StellarXplorers Space STEM Program, created by the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA), inspires high school and middle school students toward careers in space, aviation, and other science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation’s future.
StellarXplorers is generously supported by Air & Space STEM Outreach, L3Harris Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Nova Space, Ansys Government Initiatives, United Launch Alliance, the Bahethi Family Foundation, BAE Systems, BlueHalo, and General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation.
For more information, visit stellarxplorers.org.
