Highlighted Opportunities
Recorded Informational Webinars
Looking for advice on your ISGC proposal, internship application, or fellowship application? Check out our recorded informational webinars linked below! Get advice on how to complete applications, learn what ISGC is expecting in submitted proposals, and more! Have specific questions? Email us at and we will answer it!
Internship and Fellowship Webinar (passcode AGAJPP=6)
ISGC Grants Pre-Proposal Webinar (passcode Nf6!oiH#)
Watts on the Moon Challenge
As NASA works to extend human exploration of the solar system, unprecedented capacity for energy distribution, management, and storage will be needed to support a sustained human presence and the beginning of industrial activity. NASA's Watts on the Moon Challenge seeks solutions for energy distribution, management, and/or storage that address NASA technology gaps and can be further developed for space flight and future operation on the lunar surface. Not only could novel solutions make a difference in lunar and space exploration, but technologies discovered during this Centennial Challenge could help facilitate new power options on Earth.
Award: Up to $500,000 in prizes for Phase 1
Open Date: September 25, 2020
Close Date: March 25, 2021
Frequency: Potential for two phases
For more information, visit here
Interested in a career at NASA? Check out the NASA Careers website to search current job openings, learn about careers at NASA, and more!
NASA's Break the Ice Lunar Challenge
From garage inventors to university students and entrepreneurs, NASA is looking for ideas on how to excavate the Moon’s icy regolith, or dirt, and deliver it to a hypothetical processing plant at the lunar South Pole. The NASA Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, a NASA Centennial Challenge, is now open for registration. The competition will take place over two phases and will reward new ideas and approaches for a system architecture capable of excavating and moving icy regolith and water on the lunar surface. The mission architectures developed in the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge aim to help guide machine design and operation concepts for future terrestrial and lunar mining and excavation operations and equipment for decades to come.
Open Date: November 18, 2020
Close Date: June 18, 2021
Awards: Up to $500K for Phase 1
Frequency: Potential for two phases
For more information, visit here
NASA's Lunar Delivery Challenge
The goal of NASA’s Artemis program is to land the first woman and the next man on the surface of the moon in 2024. By the end of the decade, NASA wishes to create a sustainable base camp on the lunar surface which will serve as a hub for scientific research and can also be a base for future exploration of Mars. A critical component of this program's success is the delivery of supplies and systems to the lunar surface and eventually Mars. Payloads of varying mass and volume will be sent to the moon in one of several commercial landers and once they arrive at the lunar South Pole, they need to be unloaded. These landers will range in size depending on the program requirements, so ideally the solution should be flexible enough to handle a variety of payloads being off-loaded from a range of different vehicles. Current Earth-based logistics systems are too massive to easily be packaged and deployed on the lunar surface. This is why we are asking for your help! We are looking for practical and cost-effective solutions to unload payloads to the lunar surface.
Awards: $25,000 in total prizes
Open Date: October 29, 2020
Close Date: January 19, 2021
For more information, click here
Deep Space Food Challenge
In coordination with the Canadian Space Agency, NASA has opened the Deep Space Food Challenge. The goal is to generate novel food production technologies or systems that require minimal resources and produce minimal waste, while providing safe, nutritious, and tasty food for long-duration human exploration missions.
Astronauts need hearty nutrients to maintain a healthy diet in space, but like any of us, they want their food to taste good, too! As NASA develops concepts for longer crewed missions to Mars and beyond, the agency will need innovative and sustainable food systems that check all the boxes. Additionally, advanced food systems will have benefits here on Earth, too. Solutions from this challenge could enable new avenues for food production around the world, especially in extreme environments, resource-scarce regions, and in new places like urban areas and in locations where disasters disrupt critical infrastructure.
Open Date: January 12, 2021
Registration Close Date: May 28, 2021
Submission Deadline: July 30, 2021
Awards: Up to $500K for Phase 1
Frequency: Potential for two phases
For more information, visit here
Airport Cooperative Research Program University Design Competition for Addressing Airport Needs
The Competition challenges both individuals and teams of undergraduate and graduate students working under the guidance of a faculty advisor to address issues currently facing airports and the National Airspace System. The Competition offers open-ended, real-world issues in four broad challenge areas: Airport Operation and Maintenance; Runway Safety, Runway Incursions and Runway Excursions; Airport Environmental Interactions, and Airport Management and Planning. The challenges can be tackled by students from many STEM disciplines; business, computer science and psychology among others.
Students win cash prizes and the university receives special recognition. First place will receive $3000, second place will receive $2000, and third place will receive $1000. First place winners present their designs at a special ceremony at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in Washington, DC and at a relevant national conference with travel expenses covered.
Additional information regarding the ACRP University Design Competition can be found at the Competition web site. The updated guidelines for submission can be found here.