NSS contests
Join in one of many exciting NSS or NSS-sponsored contests! You can sign up to participate in a currently active contest below.
NSS Gerard K. O’Neill Space Settlement Contest
This annual contest is for all students at up to 12th grade (Ages 11-18) from anywhere in the world. The contest goal is to design a free-orbiting space settlement anywhere in our solar system. Individuals, small teams of two to five, and large teams of six to twelve are judged separately. The contest was originally run by NASA Ames Research Center from 1994-2018, jointly sponsored by NSS for several years, and is now run exclusively by NSS. Several thousand students take part each year.
Martine Rothblatt Space Settlement in Our Lifetime Prize Business Plan Competition
The Rothblatt competition challenges entrants to create a business plan that advances space settlement in our lifetime. This competition is not for merely an idea or a proposal, but for a complete preliminary business plan that outlines your vision and demonstrates its potential as a prosperous business endeavor. Prizes are: $16,000 for first place, $10,000 for second place, and $6,000 for third place. Three winning teams will be invited to the NSS’s International Space Development Conference ®(ISDC) (isdc.nss.org). The Rothblatt Competition will pay the travel and hotel expenses for one person representing each of the three winning teams to attend ISDC to give a presentation and judges attending the presentations will then decide the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams.
Goddard 100 Contest
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first liquid-fuel rocket launch, students (ages 11-19) create an art product and a narrative for this contest nodding to the innovation of rocket development from Robert H. Goddard (the Father of Modern Rocketry) to the possibilities of the future. Students compete in three different divisions. Winning awardees will have an opportunity to have their artwork flown into space with ispace-U.S. as well as access to other fantastic prizes.
“Live in a Healthy Space” Design Competition
The National Space Society’s Live in a Healthy Space Design Competition challenges middle and high school students (ages 12-18) to design one specific component of a space settlement – an Agricultural Module (or area).– that can support the inhabitants. The design should include infrastructure, types of food generation, and a nutritional diet plan.
Roadmap to Space Art Contest
This art contest challenges students to use traditional methods of creating art to explore various space themes associated with humanity living and working in space-faring communities. While the theme changes every year, student artists are asked to create REALISTIC and ORIGINAL illustrations to share their vision of a future in space. Open to full-time students between the ages of 10-25. Winning artwork will be sent into space and perhaps even to the Moon. The National Space Society has collaborated with the SmallSat Education Conference, Blue Origin’s Club for the Future, and ispace-U.S. to provide this unique opportunity for students around the world.
spUN Student Debates at ISDC
The National Space Society’s SpacEdge Education hosts virtual student debate tournaments to be held in late May/early June. These spUN (Space Policy and UNiversalization) Debates will be offered at the middle school/high school level. The spUN Debates offer people around the globe an opportunity to contemplate the policies that will make their mark in space settlement. The development of space policy, the players, the representation of an inclusion of people, the military aspect, and the implications of space policy and development on the governance of Earth are topics that are under consideration for the spUN Debates.
International Space Settlement Design Competition
This annual contest puts high school students in the shoes of aerospace industry engineers designing a city in space that will house over 10,000 people. Student engineers demonstrate creativity, technical competence, management skills, environmental knowledge, space, teamwork, and presentation techniques to conquer the problems inherent in siting and designing a Space Settlement (Space Colony).
Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest
The Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest has been co-sponsored by NSS and Baen Books since 2007. Science fiction writers who create positive stories about humanity’s future in space are rewarded with professional publication, NSS membership, and an award presented each year at the NSS’s International Space Development Conference. Winning entries aren’t pulp tales about galactic empires or alien abductions, but serious near future stories about the sacrifice, heroics, adventure and discovery with our expansion into the solar system. Note that the contest opens on October 1st of each year, and is closed for submissions on February 1st of the following year.
Space Elevator Academic Challenge
The International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) and the National Space Society (NSS) want to challenge high school and university students to explore how space elevator systems can enhance space exploration, development, and settlement. Unique challenges are offered each year and winners will receive up to $2,000 USD along with an invitation to present at the NSS International Space Development Conference.
Reach for the Stars National Rocket Competition
This competition engages students in the basics of rocketry, asking them to build and launch small rockets at a target. Local competitions send their results to the national office and winners are selected from all over the U.S. and invited to celebrate at the National RFTS launch celebration. It is an easy, fun, safe and affordable way to get students excited about STEAM subjects and careers. The RFTS competition is open to youth ages 10 to 18. Educators and youth organizers can create their own local competition or join one hosted by schools, Scouts, YMCAs, 4-H, Boys & Girls Clubs, and other youth groups. The competitions are held locally so there is no travel hassle or expense to compete.
