NASA's Micro-G NEXT is an annual competition where teams design, build, and test a tool or device that addresses an authentic, current space exploration challenge. Select teams will get to go to NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and test their designs in the simulated microgravity environment! 

This year's challenges are:

1. Contact Sampling Device - Design a device allowing a suited astronaut to collect a contact sample of regolith on the lunar surface and capture the grain orientation of the surface particles. 

2. Softgoods Attachment Device - Design an EVA tool, or tools, that you can use to attach two overlapping pieces of softgoods together while accessing only one side of the material.

3. Scan, Acquire, Filter, Extract, & Track Orion Capsule Search & Rescue Signals (SAFE-T) - Design an autonomous system that you can use to validate the Orion spacecraft’s radio frequency configuration when out of communications range of the larger recovery force.