10 Days Left To Apply: Vast x Explorers Club Grant
There are ten days left to apply for the Vast x Explorers Club Grant, a new opportunity made possible through our partnership with Vast, the leader in developing next-generation space stations.
Applications are open now through February 15, and full criteria and submission materials are available on our website.
Humanity is on the edge of a new era in space. This grant program is designed to support the bold thinkers, curious builders, and determined explorers working to advance our understanding of space environments and human adaptation beyond Earth. Whether your work focuses on low Earth orbit, the Moon, or Mars, we invite you to apply.
What We’re Looking For
We welcome proposals that help advance safe, sustainable human life in space. Priority research areas include:
- Human habitability and life-support systems
- Closed-loop ecological or biological systems
- Materials and technologies for space habitats
- Space medicine and human performance
- Radiation protection
- Psychological or sociocultural dimensions of isolation and long-duration missions
Eligibility
The program is open to early-career and established researchers, technologists, and explorers. Projects must have clear objectives, deliverables, and measurable outcomes. Both laboratory-based and field-based work are eligible.
Note: This grant does not include flights to space for people or hardware.
Grant Details
- Award Amount: $20,000 – $25,000
- Application Deadline: February 15, 2026
- Announcement of Recipients: Mid-April
- Apply now
About Vast
Vast is developing next-generation space stations to ensure continuous human presence in space for America and its allies, enabling advanced microgravity research and manufacturing, and unlocking a new space economy for government, corporate, and private customers. Using an incremental, hardware-rich and low-cost approach, Vast is rapidly developing its multi-module Haven Station. Haven Demo’s 2025 success made Vast the only operational commercial space station company to fly and operate its own spacecraft. Next, Haven-1 is expected to become the world’s first commercial space station when it launches in 2026, followed by additional Haven modules to enable permanent human presence by 2030.
With more than 1,000 employees at its Long Beach, California headquarters and over a billion dollars in private capital invested, Vast has built the facilities required to manufacture and operate America’s next space station. The company plans to develop future habitats for the Moon and Mars, dedicated space stations for government partners, and other crewed systems that will unlock the expanding long-term space economy.
Apply now and help shape a spacefaring future.
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