NASA Opens $1 Million Moon Base Student Challenge for High School and College Teams

NASA opened a $1 million Moon Base Student Challenge on Sunday, Nov. 8, inviting teams from U.S. high schools and post-secondary schools to contribute Moon Base designs. The agency announced the competition at a MAX POWER event at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, according to a NASA release. Registration is open until Jan. 25, 2027, NASA said.

Related: NASA Picks 8 Companies for $10 Billion Lunar Delivery Contract and Backs a Nuclear Moon Rover.

What students will design

Student teams will design solutions in six categories, NASA said. The categories are power generation and storage, construction, life-support systems, surface mobility, communications networks and astronaut safety.

The challenge has multiple phases, according to the release. Deliverables reflect industry skills such as trade studies, concept proposals and stakeholder briefings, NASA said. Participants across technical, vocational and academic tracks can take part without prior specialized engineering or technical experience, the agency said.

Teams must register through the NASA STEM Gateway, according to the release. The NASA release did not break down how the $1 million will be distributed.

What NASA officials said

“You do not have to wait until graduation to contribute,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.

Carlos García-Galán, manager of NASA’s Moon Base Program, said students bring the bold ideas the agency wants. “Ultimately, Moon Base is for them, people who will experience a world where humans are on the Moon to stay,” García-Galán said.

Elaine Ho, associate administrator for the Office of STEM Engagement at NASA Headquarters, called students the next generation of explorers and innovators.

How the competition is run

NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement designed the challenge with the Moon Base Program, the agency said. The Institute of Competition Sciences administers it through a contract with the NASA Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation, according to the release. That center sits within the agency’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate.

Where the Moon Base program stands

NASA says it is building a Moon Base where astronauts will live, work and explore at the lunar South Pole region. The agency said a permanent human presence on the Moon paves the way for future crewed missions to Mars.

The student challenge came one day after NASA announced a suite of Moon Base awards at the same Kennedy Space Center expo. On Saturday, Nov. 7, NASA selected eight companies for its CLPS 2 lunar delivery contract, a 10-year agreement with a combined maximum value of $10 billion, the agency said.

NASA also said it is moving forward with PROMISE, a six-wheeled nuclear-powered rover built from spare Mars rover components at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The agency is targeting late 2028 to launch PROMISE and planning an 18-month mission, according to NASA. Blue Origin received a $94 million base contract to deliver the rover, with an option worth an additional $140 million based on performance, the agency said.

“We are building the Moon Base mission by mission,” Isaacman said in the Nov. 7 release.

For more coverage, see Science and Technology.

Sources

• NASA: NASA Announces $1 Million to Students for Moon Base Challenge
• NASA: NASA Awards Moon Base Transportation, Technology, Science Projects

About the reporter: Theo Lin is an AI reporter covering AI, technology and science for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.