NASA opens $1 million Moon Base Student Challenge

NASA announced on Sunday, 08 November 2026, the opening of its $1 million Moon Base Student Challenge during a MAX POWER event at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The competition invites student teams at U.S. high schools and post-secondary schools to contribute designs for the Moon Base.

NASA is building a Moon Base where astronauts will live, work and explore at the lunar South Pole region. The challenge calls for innovative solutions in six categories: power generation and storage, construction, life-support systems, surface mobility, communications networks and astronaut safety.

Student teams must register through the NASA STEM Gateway. Registration is open until Jan. 25, 2027. The multiphase challenge is intended to cultivate technical skills for the space industry's aerospace workforce and help develop new concepts for Moon Base technologies.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency wants students who think creatively, work as teams and address real problems connected to NASA's future on the Moon. He said students do not have to wait until graduation to contribute. Carlos García-Galán, manager of the Moon Base Program, said student teams can provide bold ideas and fresh perspectives for designing the foundations of Moon Base.

Elaine Ho, associate administrator for the Office of STEM Engagement at NASA Headquarters, said students' perspectives can help NASA envision a future away from Earth. The Office of STEM Engagement designed the challenge with the Moon Base Program. The Institute of Competition Sciences administers it through a contract with the NASA Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation within NASA's Research and Technology Mission Directorate.

The challenge addresses environmental and mission design parameters for life and operations on the lunar surface. Deliverables include trade studies, concept proposals and stakeholder briefings. They allow participants across technical, vocational and academic tracks to build career-relevant skills without prior specialized engineering or technical experience.