NASA I-Corps: Small Satellite Conference Course 

@ Small Sat (Salt Lake City, UT) 

August 3 - September 2


Information Session on May 5, 1-2 pm ET: Register Here


About I-Corps


I-Corps training helps scientists assess the commercial viability of a technology innovation through customer discovery, minimizing the risk of pursuing a lab-to-market path without a validated industry need.

Selected teams will learn how to “get out of their comfort zone” and talk to customers in order to explore their technology’s product-market fit.

Course Overview


The four-week NASA I-Corps Small Satellite Conference course has a unique focus on innovative technologies for Small Spacecraft; it begins with two weeks of online training and culminates with a funded cohort experience to SmallSat in Salt Lake City. Up to $5,000 in travel reimbursement funding will be available for accepted teams*.    

NASA is interested in innovations and technologies for the improvement of small spacecraft for science and commercial applications. For this NASA I-Corps course, “small spacecraft” includes mobility systems and platforms to be operated on the lunar surface as well as orbiting spacecraft.

This is an open topic call for scientists with innovations of relevance to the SmallSat 2026 Conference and NASA priorities in this field.

Among other topics, NASA has a strong interest in applications that offer innovative solutions for:

  • Autonomy and the use of AI for onboard operations;
  • AI-designed spacecraft components and systems (using, for example, Agentic Engineering approaches);
  • Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-independent position, navigation, and timing for small spacecraft, in Earth, Cislunar, or Deep Space;
  • Cost-effective Earth orbiting and Cislunar operations, including on the surface of the moon

You may apply with a team of 1-3 people. Teams may not split attendance between members. Please only include the members of your team that will be fully participating in the course. All team members are required to attend and participate fully in every course session and complete all coursework. 

This is important for two reasons: 


1) Course learning is cumulative 

2) Team members who personally complete the full course can be considered for a Hub recommendation to the NSF National I-Corps Teams Program ($50,000 award) 


Application Closes: Monday, June 15

Course Dates


Course opens for pre-course work:                   Monday, July 21


Virtual

Session 1:           Monday, August 10                       12:00 - 2:00 PM

Session 2a:        Wednesday, August 12                TBD** 

Session 2b:        Friday, August 14                          12:00 - 2:00 PM

Session 3:          Monday, August 17                       12:00 - 2:00 PM

Session 4:          Wednesday, August 19                TBD**


In-person in Salt Lake City, UT (local times - Mountain Time zone)  

Interview Prep:    Monday, August 24                  8:00 - 10:00 AM

Office hours:        Monday, August 24                   4:00 - 7:00 PM **

Session 5a:         Tuesday, August 25                     8:00 - 10:00 AM

Office hours:        Tuesday, August 25                  4:00 - 7:00 PM **

Session 5b:          Wednesday, August 26             8:00 - 10:00 AM 


Virtual 

Session 6:            Wednesday, September 2         12:00 - 2:00 PM

 

*International travel is prohibited. Travel reimbursement only available for domestic travel. The NSF I-Corps program is intended for individuals within the US.

**There will be scheduled virtual office hours meetings for sessions 2a and 4 as well as two in-person office hours at the conference. Meeting times will depend on the availability of the teams and instructors.


Application Questions



Please address the following: What does your technology do? How does it work? Why do you believe it is innovative? What have you built so far? 

Describe the customer need that you believe will be met by the proposed innovation.



A few important SMD and STMD’s resources and documents that are strongly encouraged to be referenced in the innovator’s relevance statement, include: the Civil Space Shortfalls and Shortfall Descriptions; NASA’s Moon to Mars Strategy and Objectives; science priorities identified in the Decadal Surveys; lunar priorities expressed by the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) and the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG).




Who needs your solution and is willing to pay for it?




Entrepreneurial Lead Information
The Entrepreneurial Lead could be a Post-Doctoral scholar, graduate or other student, or other personnel with relevant knowledge of the technology, who might like to lead the team in the I-Corps Teams national program. See here for more information.





N/A if no members of your team are students, faculty, staff, or researchers at a university.


N/A if your team is not affiliated with an incubator/accelerator.
Team Member Information
Please only include the members of your team that will be fully participating in the course in this section. 










Advisors and Other Colleagues






By selecting "Yes," you are agreeing to provide the National Science Foundation (NSF) and IN I-Corps Hub with data about your team, business activities, and agreeing to meet all regional course requirements below. We promise to use this data to fulfill our reporting requirements to our funders; any public reporting will be at an aggregated level that does not identify individual companies’ data or information. 1. All team members listed above will attend and participate fully in every course session. 2. All team members will complete the required coursework.                3. All team members can expect to spend ~30 hours on the course, including course sessions, assignments, and customer discovery interviews. 4. All team members acknowledge that international travel is prohibited, any travel conducted for the I-Corps course will be domestic and that all team members are located within the US. 5. All team members will complete pre and post surveys from the Hub and NSF related to course assessment, demographic information and economic impact. While each team member is required to complete these surveys, there is always an option to answer with “I prefer not to answer”. 

Contact Information