Follow-Up: NASA Opens $1 Million Moon Base Student Challenge, Inviting U.S. Student Teams to Design for the Lunar South Pole Base
On Sunday, November 8, NASA announced the opening of its $1 million Moon Base Student Challenge during a MAX POWER event at the 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 at the lunar South Pole region. Participants register through the NASA STEM Gateway, with registration open until January 25, 2027.
"We're looking for students ready to think creatively, work as a team, and take on real problems connected to NASA's future on the Moon," said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. "You do not have to wait until graduation to contribute. Curiosity, creativity, and the willingness to tackle hard problems without obvious answers are exactly the qualities we need as we build what comes next."
Student teams will design innovative solutions across six categories: power generation and storage, construction, life-support systems, surface mobility, communications networks, and astronaut safety. "As we build and design the foundations of Moon Base, we want to leverage all the ingenuity and innovation to think of every consideration our explorers might need to live and work there," said Carlos García-Galán, manager of the Moon Base Program. "Students bring exactly the bold ideas that we're looking for. Ultimately, Moon Base is for them, people who will experience a world where humans are on the Moon to stay."
"Students are the next generation of explorers and innovators. Their unique perspectives are key to helping us envision a future away from Earth," said Elaine Ho, associate administrator for the Office of STEM Engagement at NASA Headquarters. The multiphase challenge's deliverables reflect industry skills, such as trade studies, concept proposals, and stakeholder briefings, allowing participants across technical, vocational, and various academic tracks to build career-relevant skills without requiring prior specialized engineering experience.
The Office of STEM Engagement designed the challenge in collaboration with the Moon Base Program. The Institute of Competition Sciences administers the challenge through a contract with the NASA Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation within the agency's Research and Technology Mission Directorate. Complete competition details, eligibility requirements, and official rules are at moonbasechallenge.org. NASA is building a Moon Base where astronauts will live, work, and explore at the lunar South Pole region, and a permanent human presence on the Moon paves the way for future crewed missions to Mars. (Source: NASA)
Source: NASA
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：NASA工程师在Kennedy航天中心向参访的STEM学生讲解航天部件（资料图，2025年）。美国国家航空航天局 NASA 官方照片，公共领域。 / Photo: A NASA engineer explains a spacecraft component to STEM students visiting Kennedy Space Center (file photo, 2025). Official NASA photograph, public domain.
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