NASA opens second ORBIT student challenge with up to $500,000 in prizes

NASA opened registration on September 29 for the 2026–27 ORBIT student challenge in the United States, offering eligible college and university teams two ways to develop technology proposals and a chance to compete for a share of up to $500,000 in total prizes. Registration closes November 16 through the NASA STEM Gateway. For students considering an entry, the deadline is the immediate step; a later project submission deadline appears in the competition rules.

ORBIT stands for Opportunities in Research, Business, Innovation, and Technology for the Workforce, according to the official challenge rules. The second season asks teams to research a problem, develop an early concept and assess whether it could work. NASA says top-performing teams will present their proposals in person to judges, who will evaluate both the pitches and answers to questions. The program is a competition for proposed solutions, rather than a promise that any entry will become an operational technology.

Who can enter the 2026–27 NASA ORBIT challenge

The rules welcome applications from accredited U.S.-based community colleges, colleges and universities, but narrow who may lead a team. The lead institution must be an eligible Historically Black College or University, Tribal College or University, or another institution marked eligible in the U.S. Department of Education’s fiscal 2026 eligibility matrix. That distinction matters for students at other colleges: they may be able to join a qualifying team even if their own institution cannot serve as its lead.

A team can have no more than six student members and must have at least one faculty adviser employed by its lead institution. At least 60% of the students must attend that institution. Student members must be at least 18 and enrolled full- or part-time in undergraduate or graduate study at an accredited U.S.-based institution. The rules set additional citizenship and residency conditions for foreign participants, so prospective teams should check the official eligibility language before registering.

Two tracks: Earth applications and space mission concepts

ORBIT Space focuses on concepts that could support current or future NASA missions. NASA lists power, communications, navigation, living systems and astronaut health among the areas teams might tackle, including work relevant to its Artemis lunar program. The rules allow conceptual submissions but require technical feasibility and a clear connection to a mission need. Teams whose ideas combine the Earth and Space aims can also seek an Integration Bonus.

NASA says this season adds a Faculty Advisors’ Choice Award for professionalism and communication across teams, and a Next Steps Award for a strong plan to continue development after the challenge. Those recognitions sit alongside the main track awards. The rules say students retain rights to the inventions, software or other original work they create, while NASA may seek to negotiate a license to use a competition solution.

Registration deadline, project stages and prize amounts

NASA’s announcement gives November 16 as the registration deadline through its STEM Gateway. The official rules separately list December 14 at 3 p.m. Eastern as the deadline for Phase 1 submissions. Those are described as different milestones; the published material does not fully explain how the registration and submission steps connect in the application workflow. Teams should use the official rules and registration system for the requirements that apply to their entry.

The rules describe a multi-phase competition. Phase 1 ideation runs through December 14, followed by a design and development phase from January 15 to March 22, 2027. An in-person showcase is planned for summer 2027, with its submission deadline still to be determined in the rules. NASA says teams will conduct targeted research, make early models and carry out feasibility analyses before selected finalists pitch to a panel of expert judges.

The announced $500,000 is a maximum total prize pool, not an award to each entrant. The official prize table assigns up to $300,000 to Phase 2 awards, with as many as 10 teams in each track receiving up to $15,000 apiece. It sets aside up to $140,000 for Phase 3 track placements. Further maximum allocations include $10,000 each for People’s Choice and Faculty Advisors’ Choice, $20,000 for Next Steps, and $20,000 for Integration Bonuses.

What the first ORBIT season shows

One example from the inaugural competition came from New Jersey Institute of Technology. In a September 22 report, NJIT said its six-student Star Maker team was among 10 ORBIT Space finalists and 20 finalists overall, chosen from hundreds of university entries. The university reported that the team received a $15,000 prize for a proposal involving autonomous satellites that would relay solar energy to the lunar surface. It was a proposed system, not a reported operational power source.

NJIT quoted team member Tatiana Mejia saying the group intended to pursue prototyping and a startup, and was applying to the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program. Those were the team’s plans at the time of the report; the sources do not establish what happened afterward. For this season’s applicants, the first-year example illustrates the challenge’s emphasis on presenting a feasible idea and a route for further work, while the new competition’s awards and outcomes remain to be decided.