← Pathways ForwardCompetitions
Build something real, put it in front of expert judges, and find out what you can do.
A good competition is one of the cheapest ways to test an interest. It gives a student a real problem, a deadline, a team and outside judges who know the field. None of that needs a campus or a move away from home. This page lists competitions that homeschool students can enter from home, and it will grow as we add more.
The Conrad Challenge
Run by Space Center Houston, the Conrad Challenge is a STEM innovation contest. From August through April, teams pick an important problem, design a product or service that solves it, and take it through the same steps as a startup. Coaches, judges and industry experts support the teams along the way.
- Who can enter Students aged 13 to 18, from anywhere in the world. Siblings, classmates and students from different schools can form a team. Past competitors may enter again if they still meet the age limit and other rules.
- How it runs Three phases. Only finalists from Phase 2 go on to the Innovation Summit.
- Cost Phase 2 has a fee, and financial aid is available. Check the official rules and calendar for current amounts.
- Prizes College scholarships and international trips, among others.
| 2026–27 phase | Dates |
|---|---|
| 1 · Activation Stage | Aug. 27 – Oct. 29, 2026 |
| 2 · Innovation Stage | Oct. 30, 2026 – Jan. 7, 2027 (fee due Jan. 7; financial aid applications Nov. 2 – Dec. 3) |
| 3 · Innovation Summit, Houston | Apr. 21–24, 2027 (finalists only) |
Phase 1 of the 2026–27 season closes at the end of October 2026. A team that can't get started by then should plan for the 2027–28 season, which is expected to open in late August 2027. That leaves the year to build background in the matching curriculum below.
Matching the categories to our curricula
Energy and Environment
Energy Storage and Climate & Atmospheric Modeling specializations.
Aerospace and Aviation
Water Rocket Physics to start, then the Robotics specialization.
Cyber Technology and Security
The Verification Track and the Chip Design specialization.
Health and Nutrition
The Computational Biology specialization.
The Water Challenge
The Agriculture & Precision Farming and Climate & Atmospheric Modeling specializations.
Open to any age
These have no college requirement. Younger students can take part from home.
- Earth Science Week 2026 contests Video, photography, visual arts and essay contests from the American Geosciences Institute. Entries are due Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. Each contest has its own age rules, so check the contest page first.
- Artifact InSPECtor A NASA citizen-science project, not a contest. Volunteers help train AI to spot errors and glitches in space-telescope data, which feeds research on dark energy. It runs on a phone, tablet or computer. It pairs well with the Verification Track.
- World Space Week Oct. 4–10, 2026. Not a contest, but a week of space events worldwide that can be used to kick off a Conrad team or a water rocket unit.
For students already in college
NASA runs team challenges each academic year. The four below need a student to be enrolled at a college, university or community college. An older student taking dual-credit or community-college classes may qualify, so check each program's eligibility rules. Selected teams in SUITS and Micro-g NExT travel to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to test their work.
| Program | What teams do | Key date |
|---|---|---|
| NCAS · Community College Aerospace Scholars | Community-college students. Two phases of live webinars with NASA experts, career exploration and a STEM portfolio. | Register by Mon., Sept. 28, 2026 |
| NASA SUITS · Spacesuit User Interface Technologies | Design software and displays for spacesuits that help astronauts working on the lunar surface. | Info session Tue., Oct. 6; proposals due Thu., Oct. 22, 2026 |
| Micro-g NExT | Undergraduates. Design and build a tool for lunar operations. Professional divers test it in NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. | Info session Tue., Sept. 29; proposals due Tue., Oct. 27, 2026 |
| NASA ORBIT | Two tracks. Earth: turn NASA patents into commercial products. Space: design next-generation space technology. | Register by Mon., Nov. 16, 2026 |
These dates come from NASA's weekly NASA EXPRESS newsletter, which lists new challenges each Thursday. The full list of student challenges is on NASA's STEM opportunities page.