Middle and High School students nationwide can submit individual projects or in small teams with classmates. The main requirement is using satellite imagery and data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument flying on the Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 polar orbiting satellites, the first two spacecraft in the JPSS series of satellites. Students from the winning teams will receive $25 gift cards, plus valuable research experience for college or future careers.

The JPSS VIIRS Satellites Virtual Science Fair (VSF) is now accepting student research projects for the 2025-2026 school year. Submissions can be made between December 17th, 2025 and June 20th, 2026.

How to Enter the Virtual Science Fair

1. Watch the Weather Satellites video on YouTube (7 minutes).
2. Complete the JPSS Series Learning Module (about 1 hour).
3. Choose a research topic.
   • Some options are provided in this document, but you are free to come up with your own idea as well.
   • Places to access VIIRS imagery are included in the learning module, as well as in the right sidebar.
4. Create a poster.
   • You may use this template or create your own.
   • Examples can be found in the past projects accessible from the right sidebar.
   • Every poster must include at least two examples of VIIRS imagery used in your project.
   • Posters must be uploaded as either PowerPoint (.ppt/.pptx) or PDF files.
5. Check your work using the scoring rubric.
6. Submit your project.
   • Although optional, we appreciate having a high-resolution image of the student(s) included.
   • Submit here for high schoolers.
     • For high schoolers only, please also provide a link to an uploaded video (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) or share a narrated PowerPoint in a Google folder. In the video, students should describe the poster in about 3-5 minutes.
   • Submit here for middle schoolers.

Frequently Asked Questions

• I am a teacher. Can I assign this project to my class?
  • While we encourage teachers to assign this activity to their entire classroom, please conduct an in-house review and only submit the top three projects to the science fair. This keeps our number of submissions manageable.
• I am a student. Do I need to have this assigned to me in class to submit a project?
  • No, feel free to enter whether this is an assignment or not! Any adult can serve as a coach – if you know a meteorologist, consider asking them to help with your project.
• Do I need to submit a team project, or can I work on my own?
  • You may work alone or in a group!