2026 NASA Space Apps Challenge registration open

Registration is open for the 2026 NASA Space Apps Challenge. The annual November hackathon is set for Nov. 14 and Nov. 15, 2026. Teams will build solutions using NASA's free and open data.

The event is an annual hackathon in which teams build solutions using NASA's free and open data. The problem statements are real-world challenges drawn from NASA subject matter experts. It welcomes students, scientists, engineers, designers, storytellers, technologists and space enthusiasts, and participants do not need to be programmers.

The 2026 challenge has 3 main themes: bringing people back to the Moon, getting ready for deeper solar-system missions, and broadening knowledge of the universe.

Lunar topics include surface operations at the lunar south pole, managing sunlight and communications windows, assessing long-duration lunar stays, and simulating outpost work or astronaut health and safety.

Mars is listed as a target for future human missions. Challenge topics there include concepts for Martian surface activity, combining data from multiple Mars missions, and monitoring physiological and behavioral health indicators.

The wider exploration portfolio includes robotic exploration of the outer solar system, future missions to Europa and Titan, and SPHEREx, an active mission conducting a full-sky spectral survey.

The challenge supports science aimed at helping astronauts thrive on the Moon and, later, Mars, and it seeks ideas that improve daily life on Earth and in space.

The challenge points public teams at operational problems NASA associates with a sustained lunar presence: surface operations at the lunar south pole, sunlight and communications windows, and long-duration stays.

NASA is advancing plans for a sustained human presence on the Moon, and Artemis and Moon Base both support that goal. The hackathon's tasks show the kinds of work NASA is asking public teams to address in support of that goal.

The Mars and health-monitoring topics connect lunar efforts to NASA's preparation for future human missions to Mars and deeper-space exploration.

The 2026 hackathon is set for Nov. 14 and Nov. 15, 2026.