One of These Plushies Is Bound for the Moon
Finalists Found in Freelancer's NASA ZGI Design Challenge - an out-of-this-world contest to find a mini astronaut assistant
SAN FRANCISCO, California - 22 August 2025 – Freelancer (ASX: FLN, OTCQX: FLNCF), the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace, today announced the finalists for the Moon Mascot: NASA Artemis II ZGI Design Challenge.
The global contest seeks to find a cuddly and crucial component for a space mission: a plush toy to serve as a Zero Gravity Indicator (ZGI).
An expert judging panel from Freelancer meticulously assessed 2,605 entries submitted since March 2025.
Today the team revealed the 25 finalists across three categories: Adults, K–12 Classroom, and K–12 Individual.
From these 25 finalists, one design will be chosen by NASA to be fabricated by the Thermal Blanket Lab to join a human crew aboard the Orion Spacecraft for the Artemis II mission, scheduled for no later than April 2026.
“These finalists have proven they indeed have ‘the right stuff’,” Freelancer Chief Executive Matt Barrie said.
“The creativity they’ve shown is incredible - they should be proud to have their efforts recognised on such a stage and be part of humanity’s ongoing quest to understand the cosmos.”
The novel contest facilitated by Freelancer offered US$23,275 in prizes for contestants and continues a cherished tradition in NASA’s human spaceflight programmes.
ZGI’s have an obvious practical purpose - signalling the onset of weightlessness within a spacecraft - but they also have a profound emotional resonance with the public.
Contestants were asked to create a design that represents humanity, exploration and the spirit of the Artemis campaign.
“Each day thousands of people participate in contests on Freelancer - creatives around the world are able to collaborate and find meaningful work,” Barrie said.
“Projects like the Moon Mascot challenge demonstrate the power of this platform and the immense talent of its users.”
The winner is expected to be announced later this year.
NASA & Freelancer: Two Powerful Forces
The Moon Mascot: NASA Artemis II ZGI Design Challenge is just one of dozens of projects where Freelancer has used its unique, world-leading position on behalf of the renowned space agency.
In June this year, Freelancer was one of 25 companies awarded the NASA Open Innovation Services 3 contract.
As the largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by number of users and jobs posted, Freelancer can tap into a talent pool of 82 million users to find innovations and efficiencies across all manner of disciplines.
And in this case, we’ve found a few solutions, both practical and adorable.
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.
