Calling all leaf peepers! GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) invites you to help PACE scientists better map leaf color from space by participating in the North American Phenology Campaign. Data Collection Dates: Now Through December

Student teams are invited to design and build small devices that utilize wetting properties to create a fluid shift in microgravity. Each test object will be placed with water (and a little liquid soap) in a plastic vessel and tested in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The goal of the challenge is for the device to suck in as much water as possible during free fall. Proposal Deadline: Oct. 26

A collaborative effort between NASA's Heliophysics Division, Flight Opportunities program, and Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation, this challenge seeks ideas to advance orbital drag measurements for safer, more predictable satellite flight paths. NASA invites applicants to propose low-cost, scalable approaches that enable proliferated measurements of density, pressure, or drag in low-Earth orbit. Registration Deadline: Oct. 28

Join NASA Johnson Space Center for a look at the skilled technical careers in robotics, rovers & space Exploration! Students will dive into the world of rovers, robots, and real space missions through a structured experience that connects technology, engineering, and space exploration. Students will engage and learn from real-world technicians. A virtual panel featuring NASA subject matter experts and industry partners will provide practical insights into careers and real-world applications. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions following their presentations. Registration Deadline: Oct. 22 Event Date: Oct. 29

The NASA TechRise Student Challenge invites student teams in grades 6-12 to submit science and technology experiment ideas to fly on a suborbital flight vehicle. Students attending U.S. public, private, or charter schools – including those in U.S. territories – are challenged to team up to design an experiment under the guidance of an educator. Entry Deadline: Nov. 2

Join NASA's Glenn Research Center (GRC) to discover hands-on technical careers that support NASA's mission to the Moon and beyond! From advanced materials and precision fabrication to specialized processes that ensure mission success, students will discover how careers in the technical trades shape the future of space exploration. Registration Deadline: Nov. 6 Event Date: Nov. 13

The 2026 NASA Space Apps Challenge theme, the Next Frontier, is live! This year, Space Apps participants will develop tools that benefit humanity and contribute to the science and technology propelling us to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Registration opens on Aug. 26! Thank you for helping us amplify our theme and registration campaign. Event Dates: Nov. 14-15

Get an exciting inside look at the development of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope with a mechanical engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Discover the essential roles that engineers and tradespeople play in constructing massive space observatories, learn why cleanroom protocols matter, and get expert tips for launching your own career in aerospace! Registration Deadline: Nov. 12 Event Date: Nov. 19

Join NASA for a Surprisingly STEM Virtual Live Session! Get an exciting inside look at how electricians and electrical technicians keep the lights on and the power flowing for rocket launches, scientific research, and human spaceflight. Discover how these skilled experts help bring big ideas to life by wiring control systems, connecting tiny sensors, and testing instruments for the extreme conditions of space. Learn about the incredible precision required to send hardware to low-Earth orbit, the Moon, or Mars, and get expert tips for launching your own career in aerospace! Registration Deadline: Nov. 25 Event Date: Dec. 3

This year, the NASA Aeronautics "Dream With Us!" design challenge invites middle school and high school student teams to envision ways to incorporate an emerging aircraft fuel source, liquified natural gas, into the aviation environment. Registration Deadline: Dec. 8

Join NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to hear directly from Goddard subject matter experts about their paths to NASA, what a typical day of crafting space-flight hardware looks like, and the diverse pathways available for students pursuing technical roles. This experience will showcase how NASA leverages its technical workforce in electronics, optics, and machining to successfully develop and assemble critical space hardware. During this virtual interactive experience, students will have the opportunity to engage with NASA employees who will answer their questions about technical careers at the agency. Registration Deadline: Dec. 2 Event Date: Dec. 9

Join NASA Kennedy Space Center to explore how rapid prototyping and problem-solving are critical to achieving complex NASA missions and advancing space exploration. Students will hear directly from Kennedy Space Center subject matter experts about their career journeys to NASA, what a typical day in their role looks like, and the diverse pathways available for students pursuing technical careers at the agency. Registration Deadline: Jan. 14 Event Date: Jan. 21

NASA has developed two freely accessible open science training courses designed for learners who are seeking to enhance their knowledge of open science concepts. Our Open Science Essentials and Open Science 101 courses are the perfect starting point for researchers and managers of all disciplines!

Where is NASA in your life? Everywhere! In your car, in your home, in your school, and in the world around you. This year, the NASA Spinoff publication is celebrating 50 years of spotlighting the NASA technologies that improve everyday life on Earth. Check out the latest spinoff technology innovations in the Spinoff 2026 publication.

When one galaxy overlaps and backlights another, the dust in the foreground galaxy creates dark silhouettes that reveal how dust is distributed and how it affects starlight – information that can even improve distance estimates to faraway objects. The Overlap Zoo project lets you help scientists identify and classify these rare overlapping galaxy pairs.

Some stars have planets. Others are orbited by brown dwarfs, balls of gas too massive to be planets, but too low-mass to be stars. Astronomers love these brown dwarf-star pairs because being paired with a star helps reveal a brown dwarf’s age. The new Backyard Worlds: Binaries project lets you help scientists discover these rare and interesting pairs.

Galaxies often contain “clumps,” bright spots where stars are forming fastest. Observatories like the European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope are capturing ever-more detailed images of galaxies and these areas of interest. The Galaxy Zoo: Clump Scout II project lets you help scientists train a machine learning model to better identify and mark these clumps.

Earth is constantly immersed in a stream of charged particles flowing outward from the Sun: the solar wind. As this fast-moving solar wind encounters Earth’s magnetic field, it creates a massive shock wave in space – stretching hundreds of thousands of miles beyond our planet. Volunteers are needed to help scientists examine NASA data about this “bow shock” as part of a new research project: Shock Detectives. You can help by identifying patterns in data from NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. What we learn here may help us better understand how other stars affect their orbiting planets.

Spark curiosity and creativity with the new “Journey Through the Heliosphere” coloring book. Designed for adults and students in grades 6-12, the downloadable resource includes science facts and coloring pages for ten themes, including the Sun’s magnetic field, solar wind, aurora, eclipses, and how the Sun influences Earth.

When charged particles in the solar wind reach our planet, Earth’s magnetic field acts as a giant umbrella to shield us. NASA’s Magnetosphere Multiscale mission has been collecting data in this dynamic region of space since 2015. And now, the Space Umbrella project lets you help scientists examine mission data to better understand solar storms.