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Cube Quest Challenge

The Cube Quest competition, sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate Centennial Challenge Program, offers a total prize purse of $5 million to teams that meet the challenge objectives of designing, building and delivering flight-qualified, small satellites capable of advanced operations near and beyond the Moon.

Houston We Have a Podcast Ep 228 Deep Space Biology

Cube Quest teams will have the opportunity to compete for a secondary payload spot on the first mission of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will launch atop the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

The competition includes three stages: Ground Tournaments, Deep Space Derby, and Lunar Derby. All teams may compete in any one of the four Ground Tournaments. Teams that rate high on mission safety and probability of success will receive incremental awards. The Ground Tournaments will be held every four to six months, leading to an opportunity to earn a spot on the first integrated flight of Orion and SLS.

The Deep Space Derby will focus on finding innovative solutions to deep space communications using small spacecraft, and the Lunar Derby will focus primarily on propulsion for small spacecraft and near-Earth communications. Together, these challenges are expected to contribute to opening deep space exploration to non-government spacecraft for the first time.

Advancements in small spacecraft capabilities may not only provide benefits to future missions, but also may enable entirely new mission scenarios. The Cube Quest Challenge seeks to establish precedence for all subsystems necessary to perform deep-space exploration using small spacecraft.

CubeQuest Graphic

Cube Quest News

Cube Quest Concludes: Wins, Lessons Learned from Centennial Challenge

The Cube Quest Challenge, a NASA-led prize competition that was created in 2015, has concluded one year after the launch of one of the finalists aboard the SLS rocket for the Artemis I mission.

Learn More about Cube Quest Concludes: Wins, Lessons Learned from Centennial Challenge
The Orion Stage Adapter for Artemis I sits below as a large circle that has CubeSats secured along the inside yellow part of it.
Small satellites, called CubeSats, are shown secured inside NASA’s Orion stage adapter at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 5, 2021. Technicians from Exploration Ground Systems and Jacobs teams are working with developers of the shoebox-sized secondary payloads as they undergo final processing. The ring-shaped stage adapter will be connected to the Space Launch System’s Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, and the Orion spacecraft will be secured on top. The CubeSats will conduct a variety of science experiments and technology demonstrations that will expand our knowledge of the lunar surface during the Artemis I mission.

Cube Quest Guide

The Cube Quest competition offers a total of $5 million to teams that meet the challenge objectives of designing, building and delivering flight-qualified, small satellites capable of advanced operations near and beyond the moon.

How to Enter

Team Miles Rendering of CubSat on Artemis 1

Status of the Challenge

Two men stand in a room with spikes on the walls. They are each holding up a cell phone to take photos of a satellite antenna, which is above them in the top-right corner of the frame. One man is wearing a red button-down shirt and is smiling. The other, in a dark t-shirt, has a badge on his lapel.

Reference Materials

Contact

Challenge
Denise Morris
Program Manager
denise.morris@nasa.gov

Media Inquiries
Jonathan Deal

Public Relations Officer
jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov

Cube Quest Challenge Deputy Administrators

Arwen DaveEllaine Talle
NASA’s Ames Research Center
Silicon Valley, California

Cube Quest Challenge Administrator
Philip Shih
Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, California

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft launches on the Artemis I flight test, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Team Miles spacecraft is launched on the SLS Rocket for Artemis I mission on November 16, 2022.
NASA/Joel Kowsky

Rules and Regulations

The Cube Quest competition, sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate Centennial Challenge Program, offers a total prize purse of $5 million to teams that meet the challenge objectives of designing, building and delivering flight-qualified, small satellites capable of advanced operations near and beyond the moon.

Learn More about Rules and Regulations
Icecube Cubesat
A graphic of how people