NASA Kids
NASA Kids
Explore amazing space challenges and help NASA solve them!
As the commercialization of space rapidly accelerates, the future of business in low Earth orbit (LEO) holds incredible potential, but also presents significant operational, regulatory, and environmental challenges.
Objective: Design a sustainable and scalable business model in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Details: The model must explore the unique opportunities of LEO while addressing operational, regulatory, and environmental challenges.
A modular space station dedicated to pharmaceutical research and special alloy manufacturing that can only be produced in microgravity. The station would be funded through research contracts with private companies and government agencies.
A sustainable space hotel with educational programs for students and researchers. The facility would include virtual reality experiences of space phenomena and host scientific experiments that benefit from the microgravity environment.
A facility that captures space debris and repurposes the materials for construction in orbit, reducing the cost of launching materials from Earth while cleaning up the orbital environment.
Climate change brings new complexities to consider for maintaining the well-being of society and the environment in cities. Natural resources, ecosystems, and existing infrastructure all must be monitored to ensure high human quality of life.
Objective: Use NASA Earth observation data to develop smart strategies for city growth.
Details: Strategies must focus on maintaining the well-being of people and the environment in the face of climate change.
A decision-support tool that uses NASA's Landsat and MODIS data to identify urban heat islands and recommends optimal locations for green spaces, reflective surfaces, and cooling infrastructure to reduce temperatures in vulnerable neighborhoods.
An interactive platform combining NASA's satellite elevation data with sea level rise projections to help coastal cities plan infrastructure development, identify flood risks, and implement nature-based solutions like wetland restoration.
Using NASA's TEMPO instrument data to map pollution patterns and identify optimal routes for green transportation corridors, pedestrian pathways, and cycling infrastructure that minimize exposure to poor air quality.
Enable a new era of human space exploration! NASA has been conducting biology experiments in space for decades, generating a tremendous amount of information that will need to be considered as humans prepare to revisit the Moon and explore Mars.
Objective: Build a dynamic dashboard to summarize NASA bioscience publications and enable users to explore the impacts and results of experiments.
Details: The dashboard must leverage AI, knowledge graphs, and/or other tools to analyze and categorize bioscience publications.
An interactive knowledge graph visualization tool that connects NASA's biology experiments by organism type, space mission, research findings, and potential applications. Users can explore connections between different studies and filter by specific biological systems or spaceflight effects.
A natural language processing interface that allows researchers to ask questions about space biology findings and receive summarized answers with relevant citations. The system uses machine learning to identify patterns across thousands of publications and experimental datasets.
A dashboard that tracks how space biology research has influenced Earth-based medicine, biotechnology, and our understanding of fundamental biological processes, highlighting the practical benefits of space exploration for healthcare on Earth.
NASA's Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) mission is revolutionizing air quality monitoring across North America by enabling better forecasts and reducing pollutant exposure.
Objective: Develop a web-based app that forecasts air quality.
Details: The app must integrate real-time TEMPO data with ground-based air quality measurements and weather data.
A mobile and web application that provides personalized air quality forecasts using NASA TEMPO data combined with local weather conditions and user location. The app sends alerts when air quality is expected to deteriorate and suggests less polluted routes for outdoor activities.
A community-focused platform that combines TEMPO satellite data with low-cost sensor networks in neighborhoods, allowing residents to track local air pollution sources, understand forecasted air quality, and advocate for cleaner air policies.
An application specifically designed for healthcare providers and patients with respiratory conditions, providing detailed air quality forecasts with health recommendations and medication guidance based on predicted pollution levels from TEMPO and other data sources.
The agriculture community faces the challenge of integrating technology and data to enhance sustainable farming practices. Simulating key farming activities using real-world NASA satellite imagery and climate data can enable better understanding of the impacts of these variables on crop production.
Objective: Create an engaging educational game that simulates farming scenarios using NASA data.
Details: The game must utilize NASA's open data sets to simulate key farming activities and enable players to learn about sustainable agricultural methods.
An interactive game where players manage a virtual farm using real NASA climate and soil moisture data. Players make decisions about planting, irrigation, and harvesting while learning how satellite data can help optimize yields and reduce environmental impact.
A game that challenges players to solve real-world farming problems using NASA Earth observation data. Players analyze satellite imagery to detect crop stress, predict yields, and implement sustainable practices while competing with friends to achieve the most productive and environmentally friendly farm.
A virtual reality experience that places players in different global farming scenarios where they must use NASA data on precipitation, temperature, and vegetation health to make decisions about crop selection, water management, and sustainable practices in various climate conditions.
Earth's ocean is one of the most powerful habitats in our universe, supporting a range of life that sustains ecosystems and habitability across the globe. While it is common to measure photosynthetic activity in the ocean from space, tracking top predators is far more challenging.
Objective: Create a mathematical framework for identifying sharks and predicting their foraging habitats using NASA satellite data.
Details: The mathematical framework must utilize NASA satellite data to track sharks and predict their foraging habitats.
A machine learning algorithm that combines NASA's ocean color data, sea surface temperature, and chlorophyll concentration with known shark tagging data to identify ocean conditions favorable to different shark species and predict their movement patterns and foraging areas.
A mathematical model that uses NASA satellite data to track the abundance of prey species (identified through ocean color and temperature data) and correlates these with historical shark sighting data to forecast shark foraging hotspots with high accuracy.
A conceptual shark tag that uses biosensors to detect chemical signatures of recent feeding activity and transmits this data along with location information. The tag would use NASA's communication satellite networks for real-time data transmission to researchers.
This challenge focused on solving one of the biggest obstacles for future lunar missions: lunar dust. Lunar dust is sharp, sticky, and harmful it can damage equipment, contaminate habitats, and even pose health risks to astronauts. The competition invited university teams to design and demonstrate innovative technologies that could prevent, remove, or mitigate lunar dust on surfaces, suits, and systems to enable safe and sustainable exploration of the Moon.
Objective: Develop practical solutions to reduce the harmful effects of lunar dust on equipment, spacesuits, optical systems, and future lunar infrastructure.
Details: The challenge required creating lightweight, low-power, and effective technologies that can function in the harsh lunar environment.
uses cryogenic liquid droplets with the "Leiden frost effect" to lift dust particles off surfaces like spacesuits or solar panels.
Technology that generates oscillating electric fields to repel dust from lenses and transparent surfaces.
Smart fabrics coated with special materials to reduce dust adhesion and allow easier cleaning of spacesuits.
Long-duration space missions, such as a journey to Mars, require reliable food systems that cannot depend on constant resupply from Earth. The Deep Space Food Challenge was launched to inspire the development of novel, sustainable, and compact food production technologies. These systems must provide astronauts with nutritious, safe, and enjoyable meals while using minimal resources. The challenge also aims to create solutions with benefits for Earth, especially in regions where access to fresh food is limited.
Objective: Design innovative food systems that can provide nutritious, diverse, and palatable meals for long-duration space missions, while consuming minimal resources (water, energy, raw materials).
Details: • Mars missions may last years, making continuous resupply from Earth impossible. • Food systems must be sustainable, lightweight, and operable in isolated environments. • The challenge also has applications on Earth, especially in remote regions or areas affected by climate change
A closed-loop ecosystem producing vegetables, fungi, and insect protein inside modular, transportable units to secure diverse food in space.
A system that transforms carbon dioxide and water into proteins and nutrients through advanced chemistry, providing a sustainable food source.
A compact bioreactor that uses bacteria and fungi to generate edible proteins and fats with minimal space and cost.