NASA Student Challenge Helps Launch a Drone Entrepreneur's Company

Gavin Gardner, an engineering graduate of Michigan State University in the United States, co-founded the company AG3 Labs in 2024 with fellow alumni of NASA's University Student Research Challenge (USRC). The firm specializes in drones for military training exercises. Gardner says the programme, which gives grants to student teams working toward the space agency's aeronautical research goals, boosted his path at a young age.

Grant and first lessons

Five years ago Gardner was researching next-generation drone technology under a NASA grant. He found the financial side harder than expected: drawing up budgets, handling large sums and promoting the work for crowdfunding. Combining engineering with entrepreneurship is a core element of USRC.

In 2021 his team won a USRC grant for a project called AIDED. In it, a cargo drone would take off, dock on top of a vehicle such as a bus, recharge its batteries while riding, and then fly the last leg of a delivery. The team built and flew a full-scale drone but chose not to commercialize it, citing the many regulations on flying over people in a dense city. A second USRC award followed in 2023 for LEADS, a system that used a laser to send power to a drone in flight. During that project Gardner met staff from NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and became a NASA intern in 2024.

From student project to company

After a friend suggested in late 2024 that the military could use low-cost drones to test counter-drone systems, Gardner founded AG3 Labs with his brother Gryson and other USRC alumni. An initial U.S. Army award led to further contracts, letting the company expand. Its production capability now allows thousands of drones to be built each month.

USRC manager Steven Holz said the story shows what students can achieve when they receive both funding and guidance.