Just launched: a new NASA TechLeap Prize to advance in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing.

The space economy is booming. Analysts expect the $613 billion industry will grow to $1.8 trillion by 2035. Lower-cost launches, smaller spacecraft, and rideshare missions have helped drive expansion. But it’s still expensive and difficult to put new technologies into orbit, and launching remains a major throttle for industry growth. New approaches to modular construction and in-space manufacturing could leapfrog this bottleneck: Instead of launching large spacecraft and infrastructure, use smaller components to assemble them in space.

Enabling in-space infrastructure that can be built, maintained, and upgraded over time will help facilitate a space economy that is more resilient and sustainable. Realizing this vision requires persistent, modular, and reconfigurable systems that can be adapted and serviced in space. To get there, it is crucial to develop and prove those systems through missions that test real hardware in orbit.

To achieve its ambitious $1.8 trillion goals, the space industry will need equally ambitious experiments that advance the state of the art and show what’s possible. A new open innovation challenge offers a chance to imagine what the next decade of in-space assembly and manufacturing could look like.

This spring, NASA Flight Opportunities launched the Robotically Manipulated Payload Challenge — the fifth in the NASA TechLeap Prize series — to advance persistent infrastructure for in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM). The challenge, designed and produced by Luminary Labs through a contract with the NASA Tournament Lab, invites applicants to propose payloads that can be manipulated by a robotic arm in low Earth orbit.

Following the late 2027 launch of NASA’s Fly Foundational Robots (FFR) spacecraft, a delivery vehicle carrying the selected payloads will rendezvous with FFR in orbit. The robotic arm will transfer each payload from the delivery vehicle, install it onto the FFR platform, and then interact with, manipulate, or reconfigure it. This challenge serves as a building block for capabilities such as swapping out a failed component on an orbiting satellite, assembling a structure too large for any single rocket, or fabricating new parts in orbit from raw materials.

Phase 1 of the Robotically Manipulated Payload Challenge is open to all eligible applicants. Over a 12-week period, applicants are invited to complete submissions proposing payloads that can be manipulated by a robotic arm in low Earth orbit. Up to three Phase 1 winners will receive $200,000 each and an invitation to Phase 2, during which teams will finalize their payload designs with technical support from NASA.

Up to three Phase 2 winners will have the opportunity to win a second award of $200,000 each and advance to Phase 3 to build their flight-ready payloads. At the end of Phase 3, up to three winners can win an additional $100,000 each. NASA intends to offer an opportunity for a flight test aboard a hosted orbital vehicle at no additional cost to the Phase 3 winner(s).

Applicants planning to enter the challenge must register by July 29. Phase 1 submissions are due by August 12, 2026. To learn more, visit the Robotically Manipulated Payload Challenge website and sign up to attend the virtual information session on June 18.