NASA has opened a competition offering up to $1 million in total awards for eligible U.S. student teams whose designs could help solve practical challenges of a future lunar outpost.
The agency introduced the Moon Base Student Challenge during MAX POWER, an event held Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Applications through NASA STEM Gateway are due Jan. 25, 2027.
The contest is open to eligible students at U.S. high schools and postsecondary schools. Its rules set age, enrollment and citizenship or residency requirements. Each team must have two to five enrolled students, an adult coach and an affiliation with an eligible U.S.-based organization.
Proposals can address power generation and storage, construction, life-support systems, surface mobility, communications networks or astronaut safety. Designs are expected to account for vacuum, radiation, abrasive lunar dust, micrometeorite exposure and temperatures that can range from 120°C to minus 170°C.
The challenge has a project phase followed by a final phase. The official schedule allows up to 100 top teams to advance as finalists and receive monetary awards. NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement developed the program with its Moon Base Program; the Institute of Competition Sciences administers it under contract with NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation.
The $1 million is the maximum total prize pool, not a stated per-team award. The rules say NASA and the Challenge Administrator are not required to distribute the full amount if too few entries meet the technical and quality evaluation thresholds. Prize payments also depend on federal funds being available and NASA’s approval.
NASA’s planned base is focused on the lunar South Pole region, where crews would live and work. The agency connects a sustained human presence on the Moon with future crewed missions to Mars. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said students can contribute before completing their studies: “You do not have to wait until graduation to contribute.”
The rules list May 6, 2027, for the award announcement and note that the schedule can change.
