Just announced at MAX POWER: a $1 million Moon Base Student Challenge! go.nasa.gov/3UBpcCs The competition tasks U.S. high school and post-secondary student teams to develop solutions to real-world engineering constraints for establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon.
Artist’s concept depicting astronauts, habitats, rovers, power systems, and cargo operations supporting sustained human activities at the Moon Base near the lunar South Pole. Credit: NASA

ALT Artist’s concept depicting astronauts, habitats, rovers, power systems, and cargo operations supporting sustained human activities at the Moon Base near the lunar South Pole. Credit: NASA

Nov 8, 2026 · 4:30 PM UTC

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A $1 million challenge for students to design a Moon base? I would love to see what the winning team comes up with.
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Seriously? HS "students" can't even make change!
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Adults can't figure it out so they are turning it over to kids.
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A million bucks for students to design the Moon base. My kids would add a snack bar and a gaming room by lunch. #NASA #Moon #STEM
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open it up to everyone! homeschoolers, hobbyists, seniors, don’t limit it to formal students in a specific bracket
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Use Thorium-232 for long term lunar operations..
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If aware civilized animals plan to live on planets other than Earth they need to event gravity and harness anti-gravity. There are two things we've invented,. Air n, water. In other words we've invented machines that can manufacture both. Gravity is the next frontier.
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Don’t smart people get paid to do this? Is this a Tom Sawyer like scheme?
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A $1 million challenge to design life on the Moon, and somewhere a 17-year-old is about to solve it with duct tape and a spreadsheet. Love this.
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wait high schoolers get to design a moon base, i'd have entered this in a heartbeat
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Only high school and post-secondary student teams? They're missing out of a lot of smart, older people. But we're too old to know everything. Young people (think they) know everything.
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If people can live in Canada, I don't see why the moon would be a challenge. They are essentially the same temperature.
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This needs to go out en masse in announcement to the estimated 54.4 million K through 12 students in school today, in the United States of America. You may be flooded with replies, however, you WILL have solid solutions and several future grants to pitch from their process. 👍
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Is it for anyone or just selected
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You guys really didn’t think this through did you? But then again, with this Adminstration, I’m not surprised.
Image from Kevin (@oriolesfan833)
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A million-dollar prize for students to design a moon base is wild. Some teenager out there is going to sketch the thing astronauts actually live in.
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Good design target: permanently shadowed craters near the lunar south pole stay colder than −170 °C and hold water ice, while nearby sunlit ridges get near-constant solar power. Location is everything.
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Give the kids a shot. They'll have a moon base designed before Congress passes a budget.
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us high schools . why do i ahve to be born in fucking shit hole of india . i fucking sitting in 3000 aqi my head and lungs are hurting . fuck this shit . suicide is the only option.
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Everyone crying about 1 million possibly going to broke students who have dreams and aspirations🤣🤣 get your Unc arses out of here and get a grip!!!
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Look i to connective tissue disorders like EDS as astronauts coming back have similar issues with their bodies with gravity changes.
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@nasa well good for them I guess … some people didn’t get to go to high school but have brains and a will to contribute too though 🤷🏻‍♂️, @grok Go through my timeline and grab all of my moon base ideas the lava tube with the second skin for retaining moisture and the pressurized entrance to keep out moon dust should be especially detailed, Also the moon based Skyhook except that should have a drone in orbit around the moon in case of emergency it’s ready to grab the team or the team member in an instant(although I suppose in most cases that still wouldn’t be quick enough) Also we should be leaving humanoid and tracked robotics up there soon and aiming to have them coordinate on a surface outpost, That would be a good opportunity to use my idea for using some type of bag with a medium amount of heat generation for a short period of time this would Be for using lunar surface preferably in a area with a decent ice content the robots get the bags filled and laid out like they make those cheap houses out of dirt with here on earth and either a chemical reaction or electric heater heats up the contents so that the contents become a little moist and loose and can be vibrated and compacted down, I have other ideas on here try to find them all and list the ones that may actually be helpful.
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The next Loonies are in high school right now. Give them the tools to design a lunar outpost, then the chance to go build it. Some will get to call it home.
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@NASA @LearnWithNASA @NASAAdmin
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The kids who fix bikes with borrowed tools should be all over this.
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group project except the classroom is the moon 🌕
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A $1 million Moon base prize for students, where do I sign up.
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@NASA @LearnWithNASA @NASAAdmin
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wild that the longest anyone has stayed on the Moon is still about 3 days. that was the last Apollo crew
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Maybe the kids can answer why 3d printed structures are required on the moon?
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The real problems are radiation exposure and regolith. You’d likely have to build a long-term habitat into a crater wall for proper shelter This poses additional problems of suitable landing sites, maneuvering to and in and around craters, excavation, and site safety
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The six categories make sense, but the power one is going to trip people up at the South Pole. A habitat still needs power when the sun is gone for days. Curious what continuous power level they’re actually expecting teams to design for, and whether they have to show the battery or nuclear mass for that gap.
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Putting it in charge of high school kids —Hide the tide pods Make it a real challenge — high school kids versus Optimus bots
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Use Tesla robots they already fit in the falcon storage bay TED TALK
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Telp them; Nuclear pellets... Optimus bots growing plants, water should be easy since space is cold as fuck... So let something freeze and have the pellets melt the cunt... You ever play 'Heavenly Bodies'... 🤔🤔🤔 youtu.be/m8ogIEQGvH0?si=2FuQ…
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NASA, why not 3D-print a railroad around the Moon? One lap is about 6,783 miles. Picture taking a train from the Atlantic to the Pacific across the southern U.S., then coming back across the northern U.S. That’s the scale. I already made the mission patch. 🌕🚂
Image from FREEDICKBRAND.COM (@FREERICHARD7)
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