NASA has released its 2026 Civil Space Shortfall Ranking, a comprehensive list developed from over 400 inputs by stakeholders including industry organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions. The document identifies technology areas that require further advancement to meet future exploration, science, and mission objectives. Its purpose is to prioritize the space community’s most significant technological gaps, thereby guiding NASA’s investments and development efforts in space technology.
The top-ranked shortfalls highlight industry’s keen interest in addressing challenges critical for long-term lunar missions and future human exploration on Mars. Key areas include developing infrastructure and capabilities for extended operations in the lunar environment, enabling surface mobility and logistics for crew and assets on planetary surfaces, and advancing onboard computing for space operations.
NASA received 454 external responses to its public call for feedback. Each response was treated as individual input, reflecting the diverse perspectives within the space community. This broad engagement emphasizes the crucial role of public-private partnerships in advancing U.S. leadership in space technology and stimulating the space economy.
“This feedback provides an invaluable dataset,” stated Angela Krenn, acting chief architect for NASA Technology. “As our process matures, each round of input helps target our resources, ensuring America’s space industry can tackle tomorrow’s greatest challenges. By tapping into the collective expertise of our stakeholders, we turn their insights into fuel for NASA’s next giant leap.”
The 2026 shortfalls process builds upon NASA’s inaugural ranking, which identified 187 civil space shortfalls. This year’s exercise refined the process by consolidating these into 32 broader categories, maintaining the original depth while enhancing accessibility. This streamlined approach ensures a more efficient feedback mechanism.
Based on the 2026 shortfall results, NASA Technology has identified 40 primary focus areas for its fiscal year 2026 investments. These areas integrate quantitative data from the shortfall rankings with insights from NASA’s Ignition initiatives, science and technology objectives, and collaborative pathways with industry and academia. They also leverage overlapping interests with other government agencies.
Among the 40 focus areas are critical capabilities for future lunar infrastructure, such as precision landing at lunar South Pole exploration sites under various lighting conditions, large-scale excavation and transport of lunar regolith for demonstration missions, and the development of low-power thermal management and actuation systems for distributed surface assets to ensure survival and operation in the lunar environment. The complete list of 40 focus areas can be found on page 10 of the shortfalls document.
For more information on the civil space shortfall feedback process and results, or to monitor future opportunities, visit nasa.gov/civilspaceshortfalls.
