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NASA Glenn Announces 2025 Drop Tower Challenge Winners 

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Looking down into the drop tower, two workers in hard hats stand on a platform halfway down. They watch a large red box suspended on a thick wire land into a black pillow-type material at the bottom of the test area.
On Tuesday, March 4, 2025, technicians at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland help lower student experiments in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower.
Credit: NASA/Jef Janis 

Nineteen teams of students from across the nation in grades 8-12 worked for months in classrooms, labs, basements, and garages for the opportunity to test their projects at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. This spring, the teams’ hard work was put to the test in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower facility at NASA Glenn.  

The “2025 Drop Tower Challenge: Paddle Wheel” invited teams to design and build paddle wheels that rotate in water during free fall. The wheels could not rotate by mechanical means. A better understanding of fluid behavior in microgravity could improve spacecraft systems for cooling, life support, and propellants.

Three technicians surround a test stand containing an experiment. One technician holds a hook to place at the top of the stand, and another holds a large yellow cord with controls at the end. A large American flag is on one wall while electrical boxes and other equipment sit on another wall.
On Thursday, May 6, 2025, NASA Glenn Research Center technicians — left to right, John Doehne, Jason West, and Moses Brown — prepare the 2.2. Second Drop Tower for testing student experiments during the 2025 Drop Tower Challenge.
Credit: NASA/Jef Janis 

Based on test performance, analyses, reports, the students’ approach to the challenge, and more, the following teams have been identified as the winners:  

  • First Place: Arth Murarka, Umar Khan, Ishaan Joshi, Alden Al-Mehdi, Rohnin Qureshi, and Omy Gokul (advised by David Dutton), Bellarmine College Preparatory, San Jose, California  
  • Second Place: Emma Lai, Keaton Dean, and Oliver Lai (advised by Stephen Lai), Houston, Texas  
  • Third Place: Chloe Benner, Ananya Bhatt, and Surabhi Gupta (advised by SueEllen Thomas), Pennridge High School, Perkasie, Pennsylvania 

“We’re impressed with the variety of designs students submitted for testing in Glenn’s drop tower,” said Nancy Hall, co-lead for the 2025 Drop Tower Challenge. “The teams showed significant creativity and background research through their paddle wheel designs and analysis of results.”  

Students from Bellarmine College Preparatory shared how they navigated through the process to earn first place. Using NASA guidelines and resources available to assist students with the challenge, the team submitted a research proposal, including two 3D designs. Learning their team was selected, they reviewed feedback from the NASA staff and set to work.  

Five high school students in a classroom stop working on their project to look at the camera. They are wearing T-shirts and hoodies and stand around a high worktable containing a plexiglass box, a roll of glossy material, markers, rulers, and other items needed for their experiment. Several other tables surround them along with a large television on the wall.
NASA Glenn Research Center’s 2025 Drop Tower Challenge first place winners, left to right, Ishaan Joshi, Umar Khan, Rohnin Qureshi, Omy Gokul, and Arth Murarka of Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California, prepare their experiment for testing in NASA Glenn’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower on Friday, May 30, 2025.
Credit: Courtesy of Bellarmine College Preparatory 

To start, students stressed that they conducted a large amount of research and testing of materials to use in their paddle wheels before deciding on the final design.  

“I learned that something doesn’t need to be super expensive or complex to work,” said student Umar Khan. “We found that white board sheets or packing peanuts — just household items — can be effective [in the design].”  

Student Arth Murarka added, “Our original design looks a lot different from the final.” 

Bellarmine staff member and team advisor David Dutton helped the students get organized in the beginning of the process, but said they worked independently through much of the project.  

A NASA researcher, left, adds liquid to a small, Plexiglass container and an intern arranges an experiment in another. They both wear purple gloves. Other items such as scissors, pens, and markers sit on the cluttered worktable.
Nancy Hall, left, co-lead of NASA Glenn Research Center’s 2025 Drop Tower Challenge, and intern Jennifer Ferguson prepare student experiments for testing in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
Credit: NASA/Jef Janis 

Once the design was finalized, the team shipped their hardware to NASA Glenn. NASA technicians then tested how the paddle wheels performed in the drop tower, which is used for microgravity experiments.

Students said they studied concepts including capillary physics and fluid dynamics. They also learned how to write a research paper, which they said they will appreciate in the future.  

The team dedicated a lot of time to the project, meeting daily and on weekends. 

“We learned a lot of useful skills and had a lot of fun,” Murarka said. “It was definitely worth it.” 

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