Wisconsin Space Grant Director’s Team Wins NASA’s TechLeap Prize

NASA has awarded a team of Wisconsin researchers $500,000 to continue working on a system for refueling spacecraft in space.

Kevin Crosby is a professor of physics, astronomy and computer science at Carthage College, and director of the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium. He’s also a visiting senior scientist at NASA. Crosby and his team of students at Carthage have been working on microgravity ullage trapping, a method for increasing in-space refueling efficiency.

Crosby told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that the process is needed to make trips to the moon and Mars easier.

“Our idea is fairly unique, so it got some attention from this competition,” he said.

NASA’s TechLeap Prize means to support technology ideas “of significant interest” to the space industry. Crosby’s team is one of 10 that won a prize out of more than 200 applicants.

Semaje Farmer is a senior majoring in physics at Carthage College and part of Crosby’s team. On “Wisconsin Today,” he compared their work to the plumbing aspect of space operations.

Read the full article on urbanmilwaukee.com

Original Post Date: 11.9.25

Author Credit:  Royce Podeszwa, Wisconsin Public Radio

Image Credit: Open Access