Robotically Manipulated Payload Challenge
Offers up to $500,000 across three phases for payloads a robotic arm can manipulate in orbit.
Prize money comes with real flexibility on how it's spent: NASA says funds are distributed directly to winners to use as they see fit, covering any cost category that supports payload development, including risk-mitigation contingencies, as long as the recipient keeps meeting eligibility rules through every phase. The one exception is flight-test costs, which budgets should leave out entirely sinc…
NASA's Flight Opportunities program wants payloads that can be manipulated, installed, reconfigured or activated by a robotic arm in low Earth orbit, advancing in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM). Example areas include robotic inspection, structural assembly, sensor deployment, material processing and modular systems that can be swapped or reconfigured in orbit.
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