STEM OPPORTUNITIES & COMPETITIONS
| Title | Category | Who's It For? | Description | Status | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathways to Space | Course | Anyone | Free online course that explores our place in the cosmos | OPEN | Ongoing |
| International Space Station Rideshare | Project | College Students K-12 Students | MaxIQ Space will be launching and hosting sixteen student-developed xChip payloads on the ISS for 4 to 6 weeks | OPEN | Ongoing |
| Space for Teachers Embedded Teacher Program | Training | K-12 Educators | A year-long immersive space science project opportunity for K-12 teachers that culminates in a parabolic flight | OPEN | 2025-09-12 |
| Build the Moon Challenge | Challenge | K-12 Students (Grades 6–12) | Teams of students explore ways to develop new infrastructure, habitats, and systems that will be needed to conduct future lunar missions. | OPEN | 2025-09-14 |
| Amentum Space Tech Challenge | Challenge | Anyone | Contestants submit a proposal describing their concept for addressing the challenges of long-term lunar habitation and their projected results | OPEN | 2025-09-29 |
| High Altitude Student Platform (HASP) | Project | College Students K-12 Students | This high-altitude flight platform carries student payloads to an altitude of about 36 kilometers using a zero pressure balloon, with flight durations of 15–20 hours | OPEN | 2025-10-06 |
| COSMIC Capstone Challenge | Challenge | College Students K-12 Students | Participants design a payload that demonstrates an on-orbit, autonomous in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) capability | OPEN | 2025-10-13 |
| Brooke Owens Fellowship | Fellowship | College Students (Undergraduate) | A 12-week summer fellowship with an aerospace organization for students of underrepresented genders | OPEN | 2025-10-13 |
| NASA Human Lander Challenge | Challenge | College Students | Teams of students and their faculty advisors are asked to design innovative solutions addressing the mitigation of lunar Plume-Surface Interaction (PSI) | OPEN | 2025-10-20 |
| NASA Hubble Fellowship Program | Fellowship | Graduate Students Post-Graduates | This program provides an opportunity for recent postdoctoral scientists to conduct independent research which contributes to any area of NASA Astrophysics | OPEN | 2025-10-29 |
| NASA TechRise Student Challenge | Challenge | K-12 Students (Grades 6–12) | Develop a science or technology experiment idea to fly on a NASA-sponsored high-altitude balloon or rocket flight | OPEN | 2025-11-03 |
| Churchill Scholarship | Scholarship | College Students | A prestigious award for graduating or recently graduated students that supports one year of master's level independent research at Cambridge University's Churchill College | OPEN | 2025-11-03 |
| Student CanSat Competition | Competition | College Students | Annual event hosted by the American Astronautical Society where college and university student teams compete to design, build, and launch a payload system | OPEN | 2025-11-03 |
| NASA Gateway to Blue Skies Competition | Competition | College Students | Multi-disciplinary teams of students from all academic levels tackle significant challenges and opportunities for the aviation industry through a new project theme each year | OPEN | 2025-11-04 |
| NASA LunaRecycle Challenge | Challenge | Anyone | Teams design recycling solutions that can reduce solid waste and improve the sustainability of longer-term lunar missions | OPEN | 2026-01-22 |
| RASC-AL Competition | Competition | College Students | Teams of students design innovative solutions with supporting original engineering and analysis in response to several aerospace-related themes | OPEN | 2026-02-23 |
| Genes In Space | Competition | K-12 Students | Students in grades 7–12 design original experiments that use biotechnology to explore the real-life challenges and opportunities of space exploration. | OPENS JAN 2026 | TBD |
| SPACE 2025 | Conference | K-12 Educators College Faculty | An immersive and enriching summer experience at Kennedy Space Center, offering educator-led workshops, education and SME presentations, and hands-on activities that align with STEM curriculum objectives | CLOSED | Passed |
| GeneLab for High Schools | Program | K-12 Students (Grades 11–12) | Rising high school juniors and seniors immerse themselves in space life sciences with a specific focus on omics-based bioinformatics research, the science of collecting and analyzing complex biological data | CLOSED | Passed |
| Moon to Mars Exploration Challenge | Challenge | College Faculty | University teams engage in the design, research, development, and manufacturing of functional prototypical subsystems that enable functionality for space habitats and deep space exploration missions | CLOSED | Passed |
| RockOn! Workshop | Workshop | College Students College Faculty | A hands-on workshop at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility that teaches participants how to create a sounding rocket experiment from scratch and then launch it into space | CLOSED | Passed |
| Student Airborne Research Program | Internship | College Students | Rising-senior undergraduates gain hands-on research experience in all aspects of a scientific campaign by engaging in field research and data analysis, with access to NASA Airborne Science Program flying science laboratories | CLOSED | Passed |
| Plant the Moon Challenge | Challenge | College Students K-12 Students | Participants will join a global science experiment and research challenge to examine how vegetable crops can grow in lunar or Martian soil | CLOSED | Passed |
| LiftOff Summer Institute | Training | K-12 Educators | An aerospace workshop run by the Texas Space Grant Consortium that provides a week of professional development training for teachers | CLOSED | Passed |
| Lunar Autonomy Challenge | Challenge | College Students | Teams of college students develop autonomous that controls a virtual lunar robot to map the surface of the moon surrounding a lunar landing module | CLOSED | Passed |
| Your Place in Space Challenge | Challenge | K-12 Students (High School) | High school student groups submit designs that demonstrate a product or service that will contribute to space missions and exploration | CLOSED | Passed |
| ACRP University Design Competition | Competition | College Students | FAA-sponsored competition that challenges teams of college students to design solutions for real-world issues addressing our nation’s airports and the National Air System | CLOSED | Passed |
| NASA Big Idea Challenge | Challenge | College Students | This challenge provides college students up to $150,000 to design, develop, and demonstrate novel uses of low Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) inflatable technologies, structures, and systems for lunar operations | CLOSED FOR 2025 | Passed |
| Lunar Living Space Tech Challenge | Challenge | Anyone | Individuals or teams submit a proposal describing their concept for addressing the challenges of long-term lunar habitation and their projected results | CLOSED | Passed |
| Soffen Memorial Fund Travel Grants | Travel Grant | College Students | These travel grants enable undergraduate and graduate student recipients to attend professional conferences to present their research | CLOSED | Passed |
| Psyche Inspired | Internship | College Students (Undergraduate) | Internship program for undergraduates to share the excitement, innovation, and scientific and engineering content of NASA’s Psyche mission with the public through artistic and creative works | CLOSED | Passed |