Student Teams Invited to Design Next-Generation Moon Communications Systems

NASA is launching a competition for U.S. college and university students to develop innovative communications solutions for sustained lunar exploration under the Artemis and Moon Base programs. Teams can propose advances in three categories—hardware, software, and architecture—with finalists receiving $9,000 and advancing to a design review phase. The challenge recognizes that dependable communications across the lunar surface will be critical for astronaut safety, mission coordination, and decision-making in the remote lunar environment.

NASA's competition targets a fundamental engineering challenge for future Moon missions: establishing communication networks that function reliably across the lunar surface where environmental conditions differ drastically from Earth. The agency has identified three broad solution categories to guide student submissions, ranging from physical components like antennas to software algorithms for managing data flow, to overall system designs that integrate both ground-based and orbital elements. Teams selected as finalists will present their work at Marshall Space Flight Center during a design review, where judges can evaluate feasibility and innovation alongside academic merit.