A group of Vancouver students are celebrating victory after they were on the winning team at a NASA-backed competition that challenged them to design a habitable space colony.

The team travelled to NASA's Kennedy Space Center for the International Space Settlement Design Competition at the end of last month, where their design of an eight-domed colony won the top prize, which included a rocket-shaped trophy.

"I believed we had a chance, but at the same time to actually win, it felt momentous," said team member Umamah Mokarram, who just graduated from high school in Vancouver. 

"To be honest, I was just happy to be there," Mokarram said. "We're the rookie team, just to get to the international competition felt incredible. To win it, that was just the cherry on top." 

Over their three-day stay, teams in the competition were split into "companies," each with their own departments that were tasked with handling different aspects of the project. The students did everything from working out construction methods to plotting out the marketing strategy.

Gabrielle Huchet, who was also on the team, said the challenge was exciting and that everyone in the competition gave their best effort.

"Everyone was definitely giving 110 per cent that's for sure," she said. "Lots of sleepless nights and hard work."

Sahba El-Shawa, an engineer who joined the team as an adult advisor, said it was an exciting opportunity for the students to compete in an event Canadians have rarely participated in since it began back in the 1980s.

"In the 30-year history of the competition, there have only been two teams that have participated from Canada," El-Shawa said.

The latest team was made of 23 students from several different Vancouver-area schools, who earned their spot earlier this year in a semi-regional competition. 

This is the first year Canada has held a semi-regional competition, which guarantees one team of students a spot in the ISSDC. Before that, Canadian students could only hope to qualify by submitting a design proposal, which has to stand out among hundreds if not thousands of entries from around the world.

"It's really exciting that they get to work on these projects at such a young age," El-Shawa said. 

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Andrew Weichel