Competitions & Opportunities
Don’t miss out on student competition opportunities available from NASA. Check this page often for new additions.
Click on each opportunity below to learn more and find application details.
Description
The Moon to Mars eXploration Systems and Habitation (M2M X-Hab) 2027 Academic Innovation Challenge is a university-level challenge designed to develop strategic partnerships and collaborations with universities. It has been organized to help bridge strategic knowledge gaps and increase knowledge in capabilities and technology risk reduction related to NASA’s vision and missions. The competition is intended to link with senior- and graduate-level design curricula that emphasize hands-on design, research, development, and manufacturing of functional prototypical subsystems that enable functionality for space habitats and deep space exploration missions. NASA will directly benefit from the challenge by sponsoring the development of innovative concepts and technologies from universities, which will result in novel ideas and solutions that could be applied to exploration.
Innovation is the keystone to this challenge. Universities and investigators not normally associated with the aerospace industry are encouraged to consider their potential contribution to changing the way the space industry views the solution space.
NASA’s Mars Campaign Office (MCO) anticipates offering multiple awards up to $15k - $50k each to design and produce studies or functional products of interest to NASA (see Section 3.2, M2M X-Hab Proposal Topic List) as proposed by university teams according to their interests and expertise. The prototypes produced by the university teams (examples of which are shown in Figure 1) may be integrated into existing NASA-built operational prototypes. Universities interested in participating will submit M2M X-Hab proposals, which will be reviewed by technical experts; subsequent down-selection will determine which projects will be funded. M2M X-Hab university teams will be required to complete their products for evaluation by NASA MCO mentors in May 2026. Universities may form collaborations to perform as a single distributed project team.
Students in the Critical Path
The M2M X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge has a unique approach to student involvement, in that the student team is placed in the NASA mission critical path for the product or technology that they develop alongside NASA researchers. Teams are required to go through a series of NASA-standard assessments as other NASA engineering products, including a System Definition Review (SDR), a Preliminary Design Review (PDR), and a Critical Design Review (CDR). With this approach, NASA is putting a great deal of responsibility on the students. This in turn gives the students a bigger stake in the development of space technologies that likely will form the basis for future systems and technologies that will be flown in space.
Eligibility
Proposals will be accepted from faculty who are U.S. citizens and currently teach an Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)-accredited engineering senior or graduate design, industrial design, or architecture curriculum teaming course at a university affiliated with the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, or other US accredited university. Multidisciplinary, multi-departmental, and/or multi-institutional teaming collaborations are highly encouraged.
Proposal Topic List:
- Utilizing Space Temperatures for Atmosphere Management
- Dust-Tolerant Life Support, Are Filters Enough?
- Getting Outside the Box: Unpacking and Integrating Outfitting into Lunar Infrastructure Modules
- The Galactic Garage: Structures and Capabilities to Support Inspection, Maintenance, and Repair on the Lunar Surface
- Automated Medical Inventory System
- Space Exploration Bathing Concepts
- Thriving in Space on Exploration Long Duration Mission
- Enhancing markerless motion capture using asynchronous cabin video
- Health monitoring flexible wearables for space application
- Temperature regulating wearable textiles for space application
- Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Mission Objectives for a Lightweight Spacesuit on Mars
- Intra-vehicular Activity (IVA) Suit Bladder Refurbishment and Extra-vehicular Activity (EVA) Outer-Layer Repair Kit for Lunar/Mars Surface Operations
Proposal Deadline: May 1, 2026
Discover Your Path - Aerospace and Space Exploration
Join our Virtual Career Connection to engage with a NASA apprentice who will discuss the valuable role community colleges can play in becoming a trade professional in aerospace and space exploration. Discover how community college education can be your gateway to exciting opportunities in aerospace.
Students will have the opportunity to engage with subject matter experts and ask questions following their presentations. Perfect for students interested in:
• STEM Fields
• Technical Trades
• Engineering
• Technology
Multiple Pathways to Aerospace Careers!
There’s more than one way to reach NASA! Discover how
community colleges provide:
• Hands-on Training
• Workforce Certifications
• Apprenticeships
Dates: April 9 & 23, 2026
Time: 1:00 - 1:50 PM EDT
Register for April 9 Here
Registration Deadline: March 31, 2026 at 11:59 PM EDT
Register for April 23 Here
Registration Deadline: April 14, 2026 at 11:59 PM EDT
We are reaching out to ask for your help in spreading the word about NASA ORBIT (Opportunities in Research, Business, Innovation, and Technology for the Workforce)—a brand new national challenge inviting university and community college students to solve tomorrow's challenges in space and on Earth.
How does the challenge work?
NASA ORBIT offers two innovation tracks:
- ORBIT Earth: Transform NASA patents into commercial products that solve terrestrial problems
- ORBIT Space: Design next-generation systems for NASA's Moon to Mars missions
Students can participate in one or both tracks, with an optional Integration Bonus for bridging both challenges.
What's in it for participants?
- $380,000 in total award funding
- Mentorship from NASA experts
- An in-person showcase event
- Exclusive accelerator program for finalists
For faculty advisors, NASA ORBIT can be integrated into curriculum as a capstone project, extra credit, research credit, an extracurricular activity, or to promote interdisciplinary collaboration for courses with a variety of majors.
Applications/Registration: Closed
Learn more at: https://nasaorbit.org/
Opportunity to invite your Space Grant Consortium and EPSCoR universities, along with multidisciplinary teams of students, to participate in the Earth Cup Race-1 Challenge.
This competition represents the inaugural phase of a long-term space challenge/program focused on developing the technical readiness and workforce capabilities required to deploy sunshade systems at the Earth–Sun L1 point.
The challenge is particularly well suited for students pursuing interests in STEM disciplines, aerospace engineering, satellite technologies, environmental impact, and space-related business and commercialization opportunities.
- STEP 1 is a white paper challenge. Participants will form teams and those teams will respond to specific technical challenges posed in the STEP 1 challenge.
- STEP 2 is an on-orbit challenge where as many as 50 teams will complete specific mission objectives. The team with the highest overall score is crowned the RACE 1 winner. RACE 1 may also be referred to as a challenge.
Up to 50 qualifying teams will be selected to advance to STEP 2 based on their STEP 1 entries. The STEP 1 effort is akin to a preliminary design review (PDR), with STEP 2 being akin to a critical design review (CDR) and flight campaign. Teams that demonstrate the most technical proficiency will succeed.
In the Lunabotics Challenge, participants will develop a robot capable of performing construction operations that support future space exploration objectives.
Some of the Challenge Deliverables include Project Management Plan, Career Engagement Report, Presentation and Demonstration, Systems Engineering Paper, Robot Data Report, Proof of Life Video, and a functional Prototype Robot.
The prototype robot should demonstrate capabilities outlined in the challenge guidebook and to provide construction data for future off-world operations. This initiative aligns with NASA’s progressive approach to space exploration – using experiences gained in low Earth orbit and lunar missions as stepping stones toward the ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars.
Event Dates (Subject to Change):
- Sept 8, 2025 - The Guidebook release date
- May 14-17, 2026 - The Qualifying Challenge at the University of Central Florida
- May 19-21 The Challenge at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Applications/Registration: Closed
Audience: Colleges/Universities
Contact: ksc-lunabotics@mail.nasa.gov
The Robotics Alliance Project actively supports national robotics competitions: Best Robotics, Botball Robotics, and the FIRST Robotics Competition. These competitions are available nationwide for teams of professionals and young people to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way. The Robotics Alliance Project also maintains a clearinghouse of robotics-related educational materials.
Visit the website to learn more about the competitions, starting a team and event schedules.
Applications/Registration: Closed
Contact: agency-rap@mail.nasa.gov
- Conceptual study
- Submission of a 5-7 page proposal
- Creation of a 2-minute video summarizing the team's proposal
- Award: $126,000 in total prizes
Applications/Registration: Closed
TechRise seeks to equip America’s future workforce with the skills needed to advance the U.S. aerospace economy. Under this nationwide contest, sixth to 12th graders team up to design an experiment under the guidance of an educator. Teams from schools in U.S. states and territories submit ideas for experiments to fly on a NASA-sponsored flight test aboard a suborbital vehicle. NASA’s Flight Opportunities program provides flight testing via its cadre of commercial flight providers.
- Competition winners receive $1,500 to build their payloads
Applications/Registration: Closed
Student Launch is a 9-month long challenge that tasks student teams from across the U.S. to design, build, test, and launch a high-powered rocket carrying a scientific or engineering payload. It is a hands-on, research-based, engineering activity and culminates each year with a final launch in Huntsville, Alabama, home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The activity offers multiple challenges reaching a broad audience of colleges and universities as well as middle and high school aged students across the nation.
Any U.S. College or University can submit a proposal to be considered for the Student Launch Challenge – University Student Launch Initiative (USLI). The USLI Division is a competitive division.
The handbook includes rules and requirements, proposal guidelines, a detailed timeline, and more.
Applications/Registration: Closed
HERC is a nine-month long challenge that tasks student teams to design and build human-powered or remote-controlled rovers capable of traversing challenging lunar terrain while completing mission tasks. It is a hands-on, research-based, engineering activity and culminates each year with a final excursion event in Huntsville, Alabama, home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The activity offers multiple challenges, reaching a broad audience of colleges and universities as well as middle and high school aged students across the world.
NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge is open for proposals from:
- Any U.S. college, university, middle school, or high school.
- Any U.S. informal education institution serving middle school or high school aged students.
- Any international college, university, middle school, or high school.
- This 2025-2026 HERC Handbook document represents complete operational content. Final internal administrative revisions are in progress but will not affect procedures or requirements. Proposal period is now open, and teams are authorized to proceed.
The 2025-2026 HERC Handbook document represents complete operational content. Final internal administrative revisions are in progress but will not affect procedures or requirements. Proposal period is now open, and teams are authorized to proceed.
Application/Registration: Closed
Proposal Deadline: Sept. 15, 2025, by 8 AM CT
Event Dates: April 9-11, 2026
Event Location: U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL
To submit a proposal, Click Here
Contact: HERC@mail.nasa.gov
Applications/Registration: Closed
Event dates: April 13-13, 2026
Event location: Johnson Space Center
Audience: High School and Community College
NASA Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students (NASA SUITS) is a design challenge in which college students from across the country help design user interface solutions for future spaceflight needs. With NASA’s Artemis campaign, we are exploring the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars. This means engineers are actively developing technologies needed to assure successful completion of science and exploration missions. As humanity pushes further into the space it is essential that crewmembers on spacewalks be equipped with the appropriate new technologies necessary for the elevated demands of surface exploration on the Moon and Mars. By participating in the NASA SUITS challenge, you can play a part in revolutionizing the human spaceflight experience
Applications: Closed
Onsite Test Week: May 17-21, 2026
Event Location: Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
Audience: College and University
Contact: nasa-suits@mail.nasa.gov
Micro-g Neutral Buoyancy Experiment Design Teams (Micro-g NExT) challenges undergraduate students to design, build, and test a tool or device that addresses an authentic, current space exploration challenge. The overall experience includes hands-on engineering design, test operations, and public outreach. Test operations are conducted in the simulated microgravity environment of the NASA Johnson Space Center Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL). Teams will propose a design and prototype a tool identified by NASA engineers as necessary in space exploration missions. Professional NBL divers will test the tools and students will direct the divers from the Test Conductor Room of the NBL facility. Micro-g NExT provides a unique opportunity to contribute to NASA’s missions.
Applications/Registration: Closed
Onsite Test Week: June 1-3, 2026
Event Location: Johnson Space Center
Audience: Colleges and Universities
Contact: jsc-reducedgravity@nasa.gov
The 2026 RASC-AL Competition is seeking US based undergraduate and graduate teams to develop concepts that support exploration of the Moon and Mars.
- For full eligibility guidelines, review the 2026 RASC-AL Competition Guidelines .
Applications/Registration: Closed
Contact:rascal@nianet.org
The Dream With Us design challenge invites students to design uncrewed aerial systems and technologies that support the agricultural industry.
Applications/Registration: Closed
Audience: Grades 6–12
