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Winter 2026
Health & Science

Balloons on the Moon

Engineering students won first prize in NASA’s 2024 BIG Idea Challenge.

Mechanical engineering student Trevor Abbott co-led the Northwestern team that won NASA’s 2024 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge.Video: Shane Collins

Winter 2026
News

Northwestern engineering students took the top prize at NASA’s 2024 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge, which asked teams to develop inflatable systems that could benefit future lunar missions. The students designed an inflatable metal tank that can safely store cryogenic fluids like liquid hydrogen and oxygen for long periods of time in the harsh lunar environment. Made of thin metal sheets, the structure can be compacted for launch and then inflated once on the lunar surface, a critical capability as NASA looks to build a sustained human presence on the moon. 

Trevor Abbott holds a piece of his team’s inflatable system. Additional pieces of the system sit on a table in front of him.

Trevor Abbott with his team’s inflatable metal balloons. Credit: Shane Collins

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