Student Challenges & Opportunities
Spring L'SPACE Academies
Applications for NASA’s L’SPACE program are open! L’SPACE is a free, online interactive experience for undergraduate STEM students who are interested in pursuing a career at NASA or other space organizations. Students learn about NASA mission procedures and protocols from industry professionals while collaborating with a team to complete mission-related projects.
- Eligibility: Undergraduate STEM students
- Application deadline: Jan. 10, 2025
NASA Lucy Mission Internship
The NASA Lucy Mission Internship is a 10–12 week program offering hands-on experience in the aerospace industry. Sponsored by Lucy Mission, participating students work on a variety of space and engineering projects while contributing to NASA goals. Interns work with mentors on site at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Southwest Research Institute, Lockheed Martin, or KinetX.
- Eligibility: U.S. college or university students who have completed at least one L’SPACE Academy program
- Application deadline: Feb. 9, 2025
Student Suborbital Flight Opportunity: RockOn! 2025 Workshop
RockOn! is a hands-on workshop teaching participants how to create a sounding rocket experiment from scratch over a five-day period and then launching it into space. This team experience takes place at Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. There are no prerequisites for participants, but interested groups must apply as a team. The workshop is scheduled from June 20–25, 2025 with launch expected on June 26, 2025.
- Eligibility: University and community college undergraduate students and faculty
- Registration deadline: Friday, Feb. 14, 2025
2025 Gateways to Blue Skies Competition: Aviation Solutions for Agriculture
The Blue Skies Competition is seeking undergrad and graduate student teams to create aviation solutions that address the agriculture industry’s growing challenges. These include increased demand for food, extreme weather conditions, and pressure to reduce environmental impacts. Teams of two to six students are invited to submit novel aviation system concepts focused on solving these agriculture challenges. Finalist teams will receive an $8,000 stipend to participate in the competition and to attend the 2025 Blue Skies Forum in Edwards, California in May 2025. Winners will receive NASA Aeronautics internships in the academic year following the competition.
- Eligibility: Part-time/full-time U.S. undergrad and graduate students
- Notice of intent deadline: Oct. 22, 2024
- Submission deadline: Feb. 17, 2025
NASA Summer Internships
Good news! If you’re interested in an unforgettable STEM internship, NASA has extended the application deadline for its summer internship and fellowships program. NASA interns get authentic STEM career experience and hands-on skills while contributing to the agencyʻs space exploration goals. With a wide variety of positions spanning various disciplines, you can find an opportunity that suits your needs, interests, and goals.
- Eligibility: U.S. high school and higher education students
- Extended application deadline: Feb. 28, 2025
NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge
As NASA prepares for future human space missions, solutions need to be developed for minimizing waste streams, including solid waste. Developing ways to store, process, and recycle waste in a space environment will be crucial.
NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge offers up to $3 million in prizes to design and develop recycling solutions that can reduce solid waste and improve the sustainability of longer-term lunar missions.
- Eligibility: Innovators, ages 18 and up
- Phase 1 registration deadline: March 31, 2025