Space Settlement Contest

Space Settlement Contest at ISDC 2026

This page is for students who have taken part in the NSS Space Settlement Contest. Selected space settlement students will be given an opportunity to present their projects during a Poster Presentation session. Selected student teams will be given a chance to compete for one of the several 10-minute slots available to give an Oral Presentation to the many scientists and commercial space conference attendees. All teams or individual entrants wishing to give an Oral Presentation about your NSS contest project to ISDC attendees must submit a video of their team (or individual) giving the presentation in the manner that they would present their project at the conference. More information below.

Note: All NSS contest students attending ISDC must register on BOTH the NSS Contest Student Registration form AND the ISDC Conference Registration System. Please follow this link to the Student Registration page where you will find registration instructions.

International Invitation Letters

Submit this form to request an Invitation Letter for students, teachers, parents and adult chaperones.

Recognition Ceremony

The NSS Space Settlement Contest Students will attend the Recognition Ceremony on Sunday, June 7, 2026. The Grand Prize Winners will have the honor of presenting at the Saturday dinner.

Oral Presentations

Due to the limited number of slots available, students wishing to give a 10-minute oral presentation will need to submit a video of their team presenting their project. Students will be pre-selected to showcase the most inspirational and creative projects.

IMPORTANT: All teams or individual entrants wishing to give an oral presentation on your NSS contest project to ISDC attendees must submit a video of their team (or individual) giving the presentation in the manner that they would present their project at the conference.

• The video submitted should be a recording of you (or team) giving your presentation along with your PowerPoint presentation with the camera on you, the presenter(s). That is all that is needed. We are not looking for creative video productions. The production quality of the video, filming technique, lighting, artistic creativity and other special effects will NOT be considered in the evaluation. We recommend that you do not add any of these in your video. Videos will be scored based on how you present, how clearly you speak and how organized the content of the presentation is. We do not want a PowerPoint or video presentation with a voice-over.
• Please post your video on YouTube. Your video must be recorded and shared through a publicly-viewable YouTube link; this is so all of our judges can access your videos without having to share and download larger files.
• Your video will be reviewed as if it were your actual presentation for ISDC. It is assumed that the submitted video is not your final presentation and that you will most likely be making improvements on it and enhancing the presentation before ISDC.

NOTE: Presentations must be submitted before May 1, 2026. 
Any questions regarding the oral presentations are to be sent to isdc.students@nss.org. 

Poster Presentations

A limited number of space settlement student teams will be assigned a poster session day and time during the conference. Confirmed teams are expected to stand beside their posters and communicate with conference attendees. Posters must have their title & email contact also labelled on the back of the poster and it must be visible when rolled-up (e.g. by sticker, marker or printed).