SOCORRO, N.M. – Three New Mexico Tech students built a spider-inspired sensor that won NASA’s Best Innovation Award and could help protect astronauts on the moon.

New Mexico Tech shared the students’ work Thursday.

The school said three mechanical engineering students built “SPIDER,” a low-power sensor that detects tiny meteorite impacts and environmental hazards in space.

The group won the Best Innovation Award at NASA’s Human Lander Challenge.

New Mexico Tech said the students will present the project to the wider aerospace industry at next year’s American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) SciTech conference.