Students Can Win Share of $1 Million for Designing NASA's Moon Base

NASA has opened a $1 million competition that asks U.S. students to help design the future Moon Base. Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the Moon Base Student Challenge on Sunday, Nov. 8, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, and registration runs until Jan. 25, 2027, according to NASA.

The contest is open to teams from high schools and post-secondary schools in the United States. NASA says the planned base at the lunar South Pole region is meant to be a place where astronauts live, work and explore, and that building it will take talent from many industries and backgrounds.

What students are asked to design

Teams choose one problem from six categories, NASA said: power generation and storage, construction, life-support systems, surface mobility, communications networks and astronaut safety. Space.com, which covered the announcement at the event, described the topics as power systems, habitats, communications, mobility, life support and astronaut safety.

Isaacman gave examples of the obstacles. According to Space.com, he said a base needs ways to generate power through the long lunar night, to protect astronauts from a harsh surface environment, and to move people and equipment around while supporting human life three days away from Earth.

The challenge is set up in several phases that Isaacman said mirror how ideas are developed in the aerospace industry. Teams first submit concepts and then refine them. Finalists get the chance to present their solutions directly to NASA leaders and stakeholders.

Why it matters for students and the space workforce

NASA describes the challenge as a way to build the technical skills of tomorrow's aerospace workforce. The work products mirror real industry tasks, such as trade studies, concept proposals and stakeholder briefings. According to NASA, that lets students on technical, vocational and other academic tracks build career-relevant skills without prior specialized engineering experience.

For students, that means the entry bar is lower than the topic suggests. Isaacman told the audience that students “do not have to wait until graduation to contribute”, and he said the real opportunity is working on problems NASA is actively trying to solve now, in addition to the prize money.

The prizes are also a signal about priorities. Isaacman said the $1 million is meant to support the best ideas and recognize the teams behind them. NASA did not say in its announcement how the money will be divided among winners.

Carlos García-Galán, manager of the Moon Base Program, said students bring the bold ideas the agency is looking for. He added that the Moon Base is ultimately for them, as the people who will experience a world where humans are on the Moon to stay.

How the challenge is run

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 the NASA Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation, which is part of the agency's Research and Technology Mission Directorate. Students register through the NASA STEM Gateway, and full rules and eligibility requirements are listed on NASA's website.

What happens next

Registration closes Jan. 25, 2027, after which teams move through the concept and refinement stages. NASA has not disclosed a schedule for finalists.

The student contest comes well before any base exists. Space.com reported that NASA plans to launch its Artemis III mission in mid-2027, with a crew of four astronauts practicing rendezvous maneuvers with two different lunar landers. If all goes to plan, Artemis IV would follow and land humans on the lunar surface for the first time since the final Apollo mission in 1972.

Isaacman said the Moon Base would allow groundbreaking science, testing of new technologies and preparation for what he called the next destination, the red planet. NASA also says a permanent human presence on the Moon paves the way for future crewed missions to Mars.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by NASA, Space.com