About once a year NASA posts a press release touting their sponsorship of the FIRST robotics competition. This year is no exception. NASA is sponsoring 130 competitively selected FIRST teams. They will also be hosting seven of the region events. Each team sponsorship last two years. The FIRST competition kicks off in Jan, 2003. After three months of region competitions, the championship will be held, usually in late April (the final data has not been announced yet).