Gateways to Blue Skies Competition
Pays U.S. student teams $9,000 plus NASA internships for aviation innovation ideas.
Every team pairs one faculty advisor from the lead U.S. institution with two to six student members, each 18 or older by the time of submission. Projects are expected to be student-led, with the proposed solution originating from the student team itself rather than an outside individual or entity, and faculty acting only as mentors. Phase 1 asks for a five-to-seven-page proposal plus a two-minute …
The competition is for teams of 2-6 postsecondary students, from freshmen through graduate level, at accredited U.S.-based academic institutions. NASA sets a new aviation-industry theme each year; the 2027 theme is InfraAir, aviation for infrastructure inspection.
Sign up free to see the funding breakdown
Sign up free to see the industries in scope
Sign up free to see the full eligibility
Sign up free to see how to apply
Sign up free to see what you submit
Sign up free to see where teams trip up
Guides for this application
All guides →Grant Work Plan Template: Work Packages, Gantt, Milestones, and Risks
Use this grant work plan template to structure work packages, tasks, owners, deliverables, Gantt timing, dependencies, and risk registers.
DocumentsGrant Pitch Deck Example: Slides, Storyline, and Video Script
See a grant pitch deck example with slide outline, EIC-style pitch logic, demo-video script, and grant-vs-investor deck differences.
Submit & reportSAM.gov Registration and UEI Guide for Federal Grant Applicants
Learn how SAM.gov registration, UEI numbers, Grants.gov accounts, organization profiles, workspace roles, and renewal timing fit together.
BudgetIndirect Costs in Grants: Rates, MTDC, and Examples
Understand indirect costs in grants, including direct vs indirect costs, negotiated rates, de minimis rates, MTDC, funder caps, and budget narrative implications.
More from NASA
All grants from this funder →ROSES25: B.2 Heliophysics Foundational Research
🇺🇸NASA · United States
Funds heliophysics research, though this round now accepts only teams already invited past a closed first-stage proposal.
ROSES25: A.13 Accelerating Earth Solutions
🇺🇸NASA · United States
Funds Earth-science research that ties agriculture, disaster response, water, wildfire, energy and infrastructure work to real decisions.
ROSES25: A.14 Atmosphere
🇺🇸NASA · United States
Funds atmosphere-focused research inside NASA's Earth Science division, gated by a notice of intent due before the full proposal.
ROSES25: D.8 Habitable Worlds Observatory Precursor Science Investigation
🇺🇸NASA · United States
Funds early science work preparing for NASA's proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, gated by a mandatory notice of intent.
ROSES25: A.15 Biosphere
🇺🇸NASA · United States
Funds biosphere research submitted to NASA in two stages, with the second stage open only to teams whose first stage qualified.
ROSES25: C.4 Planetary Science Enabling Facilities
🇺🇸NASA · United States
Funds the shared facilities and instruments planetary-science research depends on, reopened this year after a year off.
Similar grants
Browse the directory →Global Quantum + AI Challenge 2026
Resonance Alliance · Canada
Offers $200,000 in prizes across five enterprise challenge streams for teams building quantum, AI and HPC solutions to real industrial problems.
Space Florida Capital Accelerator — Pitch
🇺🇸Space Florida · United States
Offers Florida aerospace and deep-tech startups mentoring and pitching opportunities through the Space Florida Capital Accelerator.
GENIUS NY 2024 Competition
GENIUS NY · United States
Invests up to $1 million in seed-stage uncrewed-systems and air-mobility startups.
Start Up Energy Transition Award
dena · Germany
Awards €10,000 per category to energy-transition startups founded within the last 10 years.
Start Up Energy Transition Award 2027
dena · Germany
Awards €10,000 to the winning start-up in each of five energy-transition categories.
Make It in Brooklyn Climate Tech Pitch Contest
🇺🇸DBP · United States
Pays NYC climate startups up to $10,000 in cash and commercialization support.