Competitions & Challenges
Competitions and Challenges for Students
Don’t miss out on student competition opportunities available from NASA. Check this page often for new additions.
Student Payload Opportunity With Citizen Science
NASA STEM on Station will fund five payloads to the space station, including return, through the Student Payload Opportunity with Citizen Science (SPOCS). This opportunity is co-designed and executed through NanoRacks, who will provide payload integration support and training.
Payloads will remain on the space station for approximately 30 days without any interaction or observation from the station crew. In addition to funding flight and return of the payload, STEM on Station will also provide up to $20,000 awarded as a subcontract which is used toward equipment or supplies to build the experiment and perform outreach.
Teams of students will propose experiments related to bacteria resistance or sustainability research, topics that are critical not only to the space station but also to future exploration. Selected teams are expected to involve K-12 students as citizen scientists in a substantial part of their experiment and conduct educational outreach activities. Participating students may be citizens of any country, however, only U.S. citizens will be allowed to attend the launch and all teams must have a faculty advisor who is a U.S. citizen.
Submit a letter of intent to participate in SPOCS by February 21, 2020.
Proposals are due March 27, 2020 by 5:00 p.m. ET. Click here to view proposal guidelines.
More info here
Have questions? Contact JSC-STEMonStation@mail.nasa.gov
Moon to Mars eXploration Systems and Habitation (M2M X-Hab) 2021 Academic Innovation Challenge
The Moon to Mars eXploration Systems and Habitation (M2M X-Hab) 2021 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. 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.
The Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Division will offer multiple awards of $15k – $50k each to design and produce studies or functional products of interest to the AES Division (see Section 3.2, Moon to Mars (M2M) X-Hab Proposal Topic List) as proposed by university teams according to their interests and expertise. The prototypes produced by the university teams 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 the AES Division in May 2021. Universities may form collaborations to perform as a single distributed project team.
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.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges, and other minority-serving educational institutions are particularly encouraged to apply. Proposals from women, members of underrepresented minorities groups, and persons with disabilities are highly encouraged.