Freelancer launches 'Moon Mascot' Global Design Contest
Hosted on behalf of NASA, the challenge is seeking an original zero gravity indicator to be used in the upcoming NASA Artemis II Mission
SAN FRANCISCO, California - 18 March 2025 – Freelancer.com (ASX: FLN), the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by number of users and jobs posted, today announced the launch of the Moon Mascot: NASA Artemis II ZGI Design Challenge.
Hosted by Freelancer on behalf of NASA, the global design challenge invites both adults and K12 school students to submit an original design for a zero gravity indicator (ZGI), which are small items carried aboard spacecrafts that provide a visual indicator for when a spacecraft has reached the weightlessness of microgravity. A plush Snoopy doll was the ZGI for the Artemis I mission. For that uncrewed mission, Snoopy floated around, tethered inside the vehicle to indicate when the craft had reached space.
For this challenge, designers from all around the world are challenged to create a new ZGI to be fabricated by NASA’s Thermal Blanket Lab and launched into space aboard the Artemis II mission around the moon.
“We are excited to launch this new design contest on behalf of NASA. This is a great opportunity for anyone, whether they’re K-12 school students all the way or adults, to participate and make history by designing an exciting component to the upcoming NASA Artemis II mission around the moon. We look forward to seeing how creative and unique the submissions will be.” said Trisha Epp, Program Manager for the NASA Open Innovation Services contract at Freelancer.
Challenge Background
With Artemis, NASA will explore more of the Moon than ever before, learn how to live and work farther away from home, and prepare for future human exploration of Mars.
Artemis II is targeted to launch in early 2026 and will be the first test flight of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft with humans aboard.
Lasting about 10 days, the mission will launch four astronauts from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to fly around the Moon before safely returning to Earth. The mission is a crucial step toward the Artemis III Moon landing mission in 2027.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will be joined by another important crewmember: the ZGI aboard the Artemis II mission.
Eligibility & Prizes
Up to 25 finalists from this Challenge will be selected and awarded: 13 adult finalists and 12 finalists from the K-12 division. NASA will ultimately choose one design to fabricate and fly aboard the Orion spacecraft. The 25 finalists’ designs will be presented to the Artemis II crew to select the final ZGI.
This Challenge is open to the following categories:
● Individuals, Teams, and Entities (adults): 13 prizes of $1,225 each
● K-5 Classrooms: Two K-5 Classroom winners of $1,225 each
● 6-8 Classrooms: Two 6-8 Classroom winners of $1,225 each
● 9-12 Classrooms: Two 9-12 Classroom winners of $1,225 each
● K-12 Individuals: Six K-12 Individual winners of an Artemis Prize Pack each
More in-depth details surrounding the challenge, including guidelines, timelines, prize allocations, and the criteria for designs can be accessed here: https://www.freelancer.com/contest/2527909
Brent O'Halloran
About Freelancer
Thirteen-time Webby award-winning Freelancer is the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by total number of users and projects posted. More than 80 million registered users have posted over 25 million projects and contests to date in over 3,000 areas as diverse as website development, logo design, marketing, copywriting, astrophysics, aerospace engineering and manufacturing. Freelancer owns Escrow.com, the leading provider of secure online payments and online transaction management for consumers and businesses on the Internet with over US$8 billion in transactions secured. Freelancer also owns Loadshift, Australia’s largest heavy haulage freight marketplace with over 800 million kilometres of freight posted since inception. Freelancer Limited is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker ASX:FLN and in the United States as FRLCY.
