The 2021 Finalists have already been selected.
To compete in the 2022 Challenge, visit the Extreme Terrain Mobility Challenge Details page.
2021 NASA Feature Story 2021 Finalists
BIG Idea program staff will respond to questions presented by eligible students and faculty from accredited colleges and universities in the United States
A Q&A Session was held for the 2021 BIG Idea Challenge on October 14th, 2020. Please click on the buttons below to review files from the 2021 BIG Idea Q&A Session.
(Slides do not include questions asked on call. For questions asked on call, please view the Summary Document below.)
2021 BIG Idea Q&A Session Recording:
Click the button below to submit questions for the 2021 BIG Idea Challenge Q&A Session.
No, faculty advisor does not count toward the team limit.
Yes, a single faculty member may advise multiple teams, though advise from diverse faculty may be beneficial to students.
Civil Servants are not permitted. The team's primary advisor must be from a space grant affiliated school (the lead institution). Any additional advisors can be from academia or industry.
The 2021 Challenge is judged by a subset of the Steering Committee, comprised of NASA and industry experts who will evaluate and score the competition between participating teams. You can view this year's challenge judges here.
We understand that NOI’s are due early in the development process and teams will still be in the process of fleshing out many of the details of their concepts. We fully expect that teams’ concepts will change and evolve between the NOI and Proposal submissions, as in-depth research and analysis is conducted. Teams have the flexibility to change ideas as they work over the course of the semester, and the idea submitted in the NOI does not need to match the proposal submission.
NOIs are non-binding. If a team submits an NOI and then later decides not to participate in the competition, no further action is required.
Yes, multiple teams from the same university can submit separate proposals, and multiple teams from the same university may move on to the next round of the competition if their proposals merit selection.
Yes, you can form multi-university teams for the BIG Idea Challenge! There are a few important factors regarding faculty advisers:
- One space grant-affiliated university will need to be the "lead" university on your project, and provide a faculty adviser for the team
- If your team is one of the finalists chosen to attend the forum, the faculty adviser from the lead institution would be responsible for handling the financial piece; we would send the development stipend to the “lead” university, and the faculty adviser would be in charge of distributing it and ensuring as many team members as possible could participate.
- A faculty adviser from one of the universities would also need to go to the forum with the team. However, the multi-university team would only require one adviser, not one for each university.
Yes, absolutely. We understand that sometimes things change between the time proposals were submitted and the time the written report is due. We just ask that you list every person who contributed to your project in the technical paper.
Yes, industry collaboration is certainly acceptable! We encourage your team to utilize all of the resources you have at your disposal to submit a top-notch concept.
Because this is a NASA-sponsored competition, eligibility is limited to students from universities in the United States. Please see the Eligibility Requirements.
Foreign universities are not eligible to participate in the BIG Idea Challenge. However, up to 5 foreign students who are attending a U.S.-based university are eligible to participate with their team. It is important to note that BIG Idea Challenge Funding cannot be used to directly support any non-U.S. citizen.
Please note that due to prohibitive restrictions and ever-changing NASA security regulations, foreign nationals will not be able to attend the BIG Idea Forum if it is held onsite at a NASA Center. There will be no exceptions to this policy.
High school students are allowed to participate in the challenge as EXTRA members of the team (they do not count towards the minimum university team members), but students currently in high school at the time of the Forum will be unable to attend the on-site Forum at NASA if your team is selected as a finalist. They can and should be listed as extra team members on your proposal submission.
If a high school team member graduates and is attending college in the at the time of the forum, they may be able to join your team at the Forum. The lead institution would be responsible for determining their travel plans.
We cannot support students under the age of 18 years old.
Because this is a NASA-sponsored competition, eligibility is limited to students from universities in the United States. Please see the Eligibility Requirements.
Foreign universities are not eligible to participate in the BIG Idea Challenge.
Yes. For the purposes of the BIG Idea Challenge, legal permanent residents ("Green Card" holders) count as U.S. citizens.
Please see the Forum Information and Dates webpages for the most up-to-date information on Forum dates and location.
Each of the finalist teams will receive a monetary award to facilitate full participation in the Forum. Teams are responsible for making their own plans, including travel and lodging. Some meals may be included in the BIG Idea Challenge Forum registration fee. Visit the Forum Information webpage for more information.
One Faculty Advisor is required to attend the Forum with each team, and is a condition for acceptance into the BIG Idea competition. Advisors can provide guidance and insight into the team's decisions, as well as acting as a primary contact point between the BIG Idea coordinators and the universities.
Teams who do not have a faculty advisor present at the BIG Idea Forum will be disqualified from competing and participation awards will be subject to return to NIA.
The production value of the video does not affect your score/evaluation at all. The video is simply a tool you can take advantage of to help augment or further explain your concepts to the judges. There are a wide variety of video examples under the Resources tab on the Competition Basics page from past finalists.
A table of contents is not needed, but if you choose to include one, it will not count towards the total page count.
No, there are no conflicts with submitting your concept and any analysis work to any conference.
It is the responsibility of each team to appropriately handle copyright issues related to anything you choose to use in your presentation (including, but not limited to: music, images, graphics, and photos). Neither NASA nor NIA can grant permission for you to use copyrighted material.
The required forms for the BIG Idea Challenge Proposal Package should only be filled out by and submitted from the Lead Institution.
Partnering universities are not required to fill out the W9 or have a letter from their Space Grant. However, you will need to include a Letter of Support from the partnering university, indicating they are aware of and support the partnership.
The BIG Idea Letter of Support and the W9 are both due on the proposal due date. There will be a place to upload those documents on the proposal submission form. (Template letter of support and W9 forms can be found on the Resources section here)
You can proceed with the procurement as long as it is NOT communications equipment. There is a policy that prohibits the purchase of communication equipment from Chinese sources with government funds. For this policy, and for information on purchasing from other foreign entities, please read the Grant Information Circular.
The university must fill out the W9, as we are only able to issue stipend checks directly to universities (not to individual student organizations).
However, if you are selected as a finalist, we can mail the check to any specific mailing address at the university, including a student club address (eg. SEDS).
There is a section on the bottom of the online proposal submission form that allows you to enter in a specific mailing address of your choosing, to ensure the stipend check reaches the correct point of contact that can deposit the stipend into the correct university account.
At the moment, much of the information about the xEMU suit is either proprietary or too early in development to share. We suggest that you source info about previous EVA suits and make similar assumptions. An excellent resource for you is our NASA SuitUp page which contains publicly released information, including info on previous EVA suits. There are also ongoing studies to determine which fabrics work best to repel moondust.
For abrasion resistance on gloves, materials such as Twaron, Teflon coated Vectran, and Silver coated Nylon have been used. This helps prevent the dust from working its way into the fibers and getting to the restraint layer and bladder layer. It is likely that NASA will reuse the current EMU gloves design with a few layers removed for greater mobility.
You are free to suggest possible materials for the exterior of the hab. Make an informed assumption and provide your rationale.
- A specific lunar habitat has not yet been developed. See the following publication for an example: Lunar Base Habitat Designs: Characterizing the Environment, and Selecting Habitat Designs for Future Trade-offs (http://spacearchitect.org/pubs/NASA-CR-195687.pdf) One of the existing candidates is an inflatable habitat.
- For internal pressurized volumes, flammability should be taken into account when selecting materials. More information can be found here: