NASA’s Moon Base Student Challenge offers up to $1 million in monetary awards for student concepts addressing lunar surface operations. The agency announced the competition on November 8, 2026, inviting teams from U.S. high schools and postsecondary institutions to participate.
The challenge covers six technical areas: power generation and storage, habitat construction, life-support systems, surface mobility, communications networks, and astronaut safety. Teams select a category and develop a concept using environmental and mission conditions relevant to a lunar base.
The competition translates those subjects into defined project deliverables. NASA identifies trade studies, concept proposals, and stakeholder briefings among the skills involved. The work combines technical reasoning with explanations of how a proposed system would operate.
From Concept Paper to Final Pitch
During the project phase, teams prepare a Concept Overview Paper describing their idea and its response to lunar conditions. The submission also includes a visual representation of the design. The competition site identifies extreme temperatures and lunar dust among the environmental factors considered.
NASA experts will participate in live webinars supporting the project work. Up to 100 teams across the categories and divisions may be selected as finalists, receive monetary awards, and advance to the final phase.
The final phase centers on communicating the concept through a recorded pitch and accompanying slides. The awards structure includes recognition for finalists, runners-up, and the best overall concept in each technical category within each division.
Power concepts concern generating, storing, and distributing energy. Habitat construction addresses structures, materials, and building methods. The remaining categories cover systems that support human activity: maintaining a habitable environment, moving across the surface, exchanging information, and protecting astronauts.
The competition is organized around proposed solutions for NASA’s planned lunar base. Its deliverables give students experience in developing and explaining engineering concepts before an expert audience.
Program Administration and Schedule
NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement designed the challenge with the Moon Base Program. The Institute of Competition Sciences administers it under a contract with NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation.
The published schedule includes an opening symposium on December 3, 2026. Registration through NASA STEM Gateway closes January 25, 2027, and project papers are due February 22.
Finalists are scheduled to be announced March 11, followed by a final-phase kickoff on March 15. Recorded pitches and slide decks are due April 19. The closing symposium and announcement of grand-prize and runner-up winners are scheduled for May 6, 2027.
