NASA's ORBIT challenge — Opportunities in Research, Business, Innovation, and Technology — is back for a second season, open to university and college student teams through November 16, 2026, via the NASA STEM Gateway. The prize pool has been expanded to up to $500,000 in total funding, a meaningful increase from the inaugural year, though still modest relative to the research output NASA stands to receive. The structure is straightforward: student teams conduct targeted research, build early-stage concepts, and perform feasibility analyses across two tracks. The Earth track requires teams to take a NASA-owned patent and develop novel commercial or nonprofit applications — drones for reduced noise pollution, improved medical technology, and the like. The Space track targets next-generation exploration technology supporting the Artemis program: power systems, communications, navigation, habitation, and astronaut health solutions for sustained human presence on the Moon and Mars. Top teams earn an in-person Pitch Showcase before expert judges, who select award recipients based on presentations and Q&A. This season adds two new recognitions: a Faculty Advisors' Choice Award for professionalism and cross-team communication, and a Next Steps Award for teams with the strongest roadmaps for continuing development after the challenge ends. Projects that span both Earth and Space tracks can qualify for an Integration Bonus. The talent pipeline mechanics here are the real story. Students get immersive experience in NASA's core missions, direct access to agency mentors, and industry-ready skills that bridge academia and aerospace careers. NASA gets early-stage R&D, fresh eyes on its patent portfolio, and a pre-screened recruiting funnel — all for a fraction of what equivalent contracted research would cost. The patent commercialization angle on the Earth track is particularly notable. NASA holds thousands of patents that generate minimal licensing revenue. Asking students to find viable commercial applications is a low-cost strategy for unlocking latent intellectual property value while simultaneously training the next generation to think in terms of technology transfer. The expansion from season one to season two — bigger prize pool, new award categories, continued dual-track structure — suggests NASA found the first year's return on investment compelling enough to scale. The Next Steps Award in particular signals the agency wants projects to survive past the competition, nudging student work toward actual deployment rather than one-off showcases. Whether $500,000 split across multiple teams and tracks is sufficient to produce genuinely viable technologies remains an open question. But as a workforce development and IP activation program, ORBIT is an efficient use of public funds — the agency gets R&D optionality and a talent pipeline, students get mentorship and credentialing, and the public gets a shot at seeing dormant NASA patents find terrestrial use.
