NASA TechRise Student Challenge 2025-2026: Sky is Not the Limit for Young Innovators

NASA TechRise is a hands-on challenge for students in Grades 6 to 12 (middle and high school) across the United States (including territories). It is organized by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program and administered by Future Engineers.

The goal is to give young learners an opportunity to design scientific or technological experiments to be tested under real flight conditions—either on a high-altitude balloon or suborbital spaceship. No prior experience is needed.

Key Dates & Deadlines

• Entries due by: November 3, 2025 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time
• Winners announced: January 20, 2026
• Experiment build & flight window: From January 2026 through Summer 2026

Who Can Participate

• Students in Grades 6-12 attending U.S. public, private, or charter schools (including territories)
• Teams must have at least 4 student members and a teacher or school employee as team lead
• Homeschool teams may have restrictions unless affiliated with a school meeting certain criteria

What You’ll Do

1. Form a team of students + teacher lead.
2. Pick a flight platform: high-altitude balloon or suborbital spaceship.
3. Use the provided proposal template & guidelines to design an experiment idea.
4. Submit the proposal by the deadline through the Future Engineers platform.

Prizes & Support

• 60 winning teams will be selected
• Each winning team receives:
  • US$1,500 to build the experiment
  • A starter kit including a flight box to build the experiment in
  • Spot for their experiment to fly on a NASA-sponsored flight (balloon or spaceship)
• Technical support / mentorship during the build phase from Future Engineers advisors

Why This Challenge Matters

• Helps students build real engineering, electronics, and scientific thinking skills.
• Connects classroom learning to real flight experiments—which is both inspiring and rigorous.
• Encourages teamwork, problem solving, creativity, and STEM exposure.

Tips for a Strong Application

• Start early: Form your team and familiarize yourselves with the rules + guides.
• Make your experiment proposal as clear as possible—define hypothesis, variables, what you’ll measure.
• Use the provided templates and educator guides.
• Even without experience, try to show curiosity, creativity, and a sense of how you will test your idea.
• Make sure your teacher / school lead is ready to submit and support the team.