Back to the Moon

"Back to the Moon" celebrates our return to lunar exploration. As Marshall Space Flight Center marks 65 years in 2025, we're revisiting our original mission. What began with brief Moon visits is now advancing toward a permanent human presence, fundamentally changing our relationship with space exploration.

Going back to the Moon to stay presents real challenges. We need to reduce cargo shipments, mine lunar resources, protect against radiation and extreme temperatures, prevent damage from lunar dust, and land precisely while avoiding hazards. Solving these and other problems will advance technology for sustained lunar living.

Join our "Back to the Moon" challenge by submitting your innovative ideas as Amentum helps NASA overcome these obstacles. Your contribution could play a key role in humanity's next chapter of space exploration.
 

Innovator Shares IP: Innovator will retain all intellectual property rights AND will license the intellectual property to the Sponsor for their own use.

• See the 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy for technology areas relevant to advancing the agency’s mission 
  • https://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/taxonomy/index.html
  • https://www3.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/2020_nasa_technology_taxonomy.pdf
• Lunar dust
  • Mitigating adherence to clothing and various equipment
  • Effect on surface visibility (both while inside and outside spacecraft)
  • Avoiding disturbances during landings and ascents
  • For more information on the challenges posed by lunar dust, see:  https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/dust-an-out-of-this-world-problem/
• Extreme temperatures
  • Effect on cryogenic storage
  • Maintaining livable conditions in habitats and spacecraft
  • For more information on the thermal lunar challenges, see: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20110002745/downloads/20110002745.pdf
• Lunar resource mining
  • Regolith use
  • Water extraction
  • Chemicals and minerals
  • For more information about lunar resource utilization, see:
    • https://www.nasa.gov/overview-in-situ-resource-utilization/
    • https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/live-isru-efp-new-3-21-23-tagged-1.pdf
• Resource reusability
  • Waste reutilization
  • Water recovery
    • https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/houston-we-have-a-podcast/recycling-water-and-air/
• Energy harvesting and management
  • Capturing energy
  • Storing energy
  • Energy optimization
  • For more information on energy on the moon, see:
    • https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20060026085/downloads/20060026085.pdf
    • https://www.nasa.gov/tdm/fission-surface-power/
• Surface transportation for humans and/or cargo
  • Traversing to other habitats on the moon
  • Exploring unoccupied parts of the moon
  • For more information about surface transportation, see:  https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-outlines-lunar-surface-sustainability-concept
• In-space manufacturing
  • Producing replacement parts
  • Construction of infrastructure (habitat, launch/landing site)
  • For more information about in-space manufacturing, see: 
    • https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/live-eco-envisioned-future-priorities-2023-v2-final-tagged.pdf
• General 
  • https://www.nasa.gov/moontomarsarchitecture/
  • https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/rev-a-acr23-esdmd-001-m2madd.pdf
  • https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/lunar_sourcebook/

• Interested teams will submit an Initial Proposal (up to three pages) describing their concept and projected results.
• The top several cash prize eligible proposals will present via Video Conference with the winners being chosen from these finalists.

• Cash prizes are limited to US Citizens only. However, there are no citizenship requirements for Honorable Mentions.
• Employees of Amentum, NASA, and others who work on the Amentum Space Exploration Division (ASED) Engineering and Science Services Capability Augmentation (ESSCA) contract are not eligible to participate.

• Amentum and its evaluation committee are solely responsible for the evaluation and selection of challenge winners.
• The submitted ideas shall not contain classified, International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) data. Entrants must certify that all information used is taken from the public domain, generated by the team, or that the team has rights to any data utilized to prepare the proposal.
• Entrants agree that Amentum shall have the right to publicize the award, including photographs, video, and brief summaries of the idea.

This challenge will award three cash prizes as shown below which will be paid to the designated captain of the winning teams; distribution among the team participants is the responsibility of the team captain. Taxes will not be withheld; any tax obligation will be the responsibility of the winning team members.

• First Place:  $5,000
• Second Place:  $3,000
• Third Place:  $2,000

Additional entries may be acknowledged in a non-cash Honorable Mention category. US Citizenship is not required for Honorable Mentions.

All team members for cash prize and Honorable Mention awards will receive a free Back to the Moon t-shirt if a US Mailing address can be provided.

• Open to submissions:  August 14, 2025
• Initial proposal submission deadline:  September 29, 2025 at 12 p.m. (CDT)
• Finalists notified:  October 10, 2025
• Video Conferences with finalists:  October 27 - November 7, 2025
• Winners Announced:  November 14, 2025

• Innovative (30%) - Does the idea present a unique or innovative approach to solving a problem?  The proposal should succinctly describe the uniqueness and benefits of the proposed idea relative to the current state-of-art or alternate approaches.
• Impact (20%) - Is there a likelihood of making a significant contribution toward a critical aspect of human spaceflight? The proposal should provide a description of the impact of the proposed development on NASA missions or objectives.
• Feasibility (25%) - Is there a credible plan/path for implementation into the spaceflight program?
• Technical Approach (25%) - Does the idea demonstrate a high level of technical merit and is it grounded in sound scientific or engineering principles?

The initial proposal (up to three pages) should include the following sections in the PDF document submitted:

1. Executive Summary.
2. The problem your innovation aims to solve and how it will significantly enhance at least one critical aspect of human spaceflight (safety, affordability, schedule, capability).
3. Your innovation, it's underlying principles of operation, and how it can be integrated into existing systems to significantly enhance human spaceflight. Include supporting data.
4. Next steps to advance your innovation.
5. Current level of technical readiness (TRL) and supporting explanation (https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/458490main_TRL_Definitions.pdf).

Additional information:

• Team member bios and resumes may be included and should be limited to 1 page per person.  They do not count toward the 3-page limit.
• References should be in an appendix.  They do not count toward the 3-page limit.
• Documents should be submitted in PDF format.
• Minimum font size is 12 pt.

• 10-minute presentation
• 10-minute question and answer session
• Submit the slide package for the presentation in either PowerPoint or PDF format.