NASA's Centennial Challenges Prize Program

NASA's Centennial Challenges Prize Program

From Small Steps, Giant Leaps by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

November 19, 2025 · 21 min · Episode 163

About this episode

This episode discusses NASA's Centennial Challenges program, which incentivizes public participation in solving space exploration challenges.

There’s a program at NASA that taps into the power of the public to solve some of the toughest problems in space exploration. It’s called Centennial Challenges, a prize competition that has awarded more than $24 million to hundreds of people ranging from academics, startup founders, small business owners, and independent inventors from across the U.S. and 86 countries.

Topics covered

  • space exploration
  • prize competition
  • public engagement
  • innovation
  • problem solving

Keywords

  • NASA
  • Centennial Challenges
  • prize competition
  • space exploration
  • innovation
  • public participation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NASA, Centennial Challenges

Places: U.S., 86 countries

More episodes of Small Steps, Giant Leaps

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Small Steps, Giant Leaps podcast page.