Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways

What Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways does

Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways (NESSP) is a NASA-funded non-profit educational program hosted at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington, operating as the designated 'virtual NASA center' for Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. The organization was established in 2016 under NASA Science Mission Directorate award NNX16AB86A to deliver NASA-aligned STEM education, educator professional development, and access to NASA educational materials in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

NESSP's core offering is the ROADS (Rover Observation And Discoveries in Space) student challenge program, which has run annually since 2020 with a new mission theme each year, including ROADS on Asteroids (2020-2021), ROADS on Icy Worlds (2021-2022), Artemis ROADS I-III (2022-2025), and the current ROADS From Earth to Venus (2025-2026). Each challenge is paired with a Companion Course of NGSS-aligned curriculum, organized around guiding questions and Mission Objectives, differentiated for grades 3-12, and totaling roughly 46.5-47.5 instructional hours. The technical backbone is a WordPress-hosted content repository of lesson guides, tables of contents, and external Google Docs resources, with no proprietary software platform.

NESSP operates as a grant-funded non-commercial entity; programs are provided free of charge to students and educators, and revenue is derived entirely from its NASA cooperative agreement. Distribution occurs through regional hub events across the U.S., culminating in recognition ceremonies and NASA center visits for top teams. The organization runs with 1-10 employees and a small leadership footprint, with no disclosed management team, partnerships beyond NASA, or external investors.

Name

Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways

Legal name

Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways

Website

https://nwessp.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

NESSP is a NASA-funded non-profit educational program hosted at Central Washington University that operates as the 'virtual NASA center' for the Pacific Northwest, delivering annual ROADS STEM challenges and NGSS-aligned companion courses to K-12 students and educators across the U.S.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

STEM Education Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Space & Astronomy Programs (EDAMABAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Earth Science & Geoscience Programs (EDAMABAI)

Keywords

• STEM education
• K-12 curriculum
• Educator professional development
• NASA outreach programs
• Space science challenges

Headquarters

HQ city

Ellensburg

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. NASA Grant Funding: Primary funding from NASA Science Mission Directorate, specifically NASA award NNX16AB86A. NESSP serves as a 'virtual NASA center' providing professional development for educators and access to NASA educational materials.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

NESSP operates as a 'virtual NASA center' for the U.S. Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana), delivering NASA-aligned K-12 STEM challenges and companion curricula for students in grades 3-12, along with professional development for educators. The organization runs an annual series of ROADS (Rover Observation And Discoveries in Space) student challenges tied to current NASA missions, paired with free, downloadable companion courses used by teachers in classrooms.

Product overview

Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways (NESSP) operates as a virtual NASA center serving the Pacific Northwest, providing STEM education programs for students and professional development for educators. The organization offers a portfolio of ROADS (Rover Observation And Discoveries in Space) student challenges that align with NASA missions and themes — including ROADS on Asteroids, ROADS on Icy Worlds, Artemis ROADS I-III, and the current ROADS from Earth to Venus challenge. Each challenge is accompanied by Companion Courses (educational curricula with lesson plans, guiding questions, and mission objectives) that educators can use to supplement student participation. The programs target students in grades 3-12 and culminate in regional hub events with top teams visiting NASA centers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ROADS: Rover Observation And Discoveries in Space - a student STEM challenge program
• ROADS From Earth to Venus
• Artemis ROADS III
• Artemis ROADS II
• Artemis ROADS
• ROADS on Icy Worlds
• ROADS on Asteroids
• ROADS on Mars – Freestyle!

Products and services

• ROADS From Earth to Venus Companion Course An educational curriculum course focused on Venus exploration, organized around the guiding question of using experiments, models, and NASA data to understand Earth and Venus and plan a Venus mission. The course has three units with eight lessons totaling 46.5 instructional hours, with differentiation for grades 3-12. Designed for K-12 educators and students.
• Artemis ROADS III Companion Course An educational course exploring how experiments, models, and rehearsals on Earth can help understand other solar system objects and plan successful lunar missions. Contains three units with an estimated 47.5 instructional hours, differentiated for grades 3-12.
• ROADS on Mars – Freestyle! Student Challenge (2020) A national student challenge inviting teams in grades 3-12 to tackle a mission to Mars following the Mars 2020 rover. Teams explored landscape morphology, searched for signs of life, and carried out robotic exploration using rovers and drones.
• ROADS on Asteroids Student Challenge (2020-2021) A student challenge giving teams in grades 3-12 the opportunity to tackle a mission to the asteroids, specifically the 'snowman' feature on asteroid Vesta, including impactor experiments, drone landing, and robotic navigation.
• ROADS on Icy Worlds Student Challenge (2021-2022) A student challenge framework exploring STEM concepts through mission-based activities focused on icy worlds in the solar system.
• Artemis ROADS Student Challenge (2022-2023) A student challenge framework where students explored STEM concepts through hands-on activities and mission-based learning, taking inspiration from NASA's Artemis project to return humans to the Moon.
• Artemis ROADS II Student Challenge (2023-2024) A student challenge inspired by NASA's Artemis Mission where students in grades 3-12 modeled a NASA mission, surveyed landscapes via robot, prepared to launch rockets, and simulated living and working on the Moon.
• Artemis ROADS III Student Challenge (2024-2025) A NASA national student challenge for 2024-2025 where students documented work in Science and Engineering Notebooks, explored challenges of living on the Moon by modeling the water cycle, building water purification systems, planning food production, and designing rocket landing systems.

Quantifiable outcome

• Top challenge teams earn visits to NASA centers including Johnson Space Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Kennedy Space Center, Ames Research Center, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• NASA Science Mission DirectoratecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary funding source through NASA award NNX16AB86A. NESSP serves as a 'virtual NASA center' aligned with NASA missions and receives access to NASA mission data, educational resources, and scientific expertise for curriculum development.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Cosmosphere: Space science education center and museum offering K-12 STEM programs and camps tied to space exploration; overlaps with NESSP's mission-based learning approach.
• Challenger Center: Nonprofit STEM education organization that delivers mission-based, hands-on STEM experiences for K-12 students, very similar in model to NESSP's ROADS challenges.
• The Planetary Society: Nonprofit space science advocacy and education organization producing mission-aligned educational content for general and student audiences; thematic overlap with NESSP's Earth/space science curriculum.
• U.S. Space & Rocket Center (Space Camp): NASA-affiliated space education facility offering hands-on STEM programs and challenges for K-12 students; directly comparable experiential, mission-driven learning model.
• Space Center Houston: Official visitor center of NASA Johnson Space Center delivering space-themed STEM education programs for students and educators; comparable NASA-aligned educational mission.

Emerging players

• SETI Institute: Space science research nonprofit with education and public outreach programs targeting students and educators in astrobiology and space science; thematic peer in mission-aligned STEM education.

Others

• National Science Teaching Association (NSTA): National professional organization supporting science educators with curriculum resources and PD; comparable educator-PD distribution channel if not direct competitor.
• Society for Science: Nonprofit that runs national STEM competitions (Regeneron ISEF, Science Olympiad) with mission-aligned K-12 engagement; comparable competition/recognition model to NESSP's NASA center rewards.

Broad incumbents

• Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: Larger Smithsonian institution offering K-12 STEM/space educational programming; broader portfolio and national reach but overlapping audience and content themes.
• NASA Office of STEM Engagement: NASA's central STEM engagement program that funds and operates many of the same kinds of student challenges and educator PD that NESSP delivers; funder and partial operator overlap.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nwessp
• Facebookfacebook.com/nwessp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/northwest-earth-and-space-sciences-pathways

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways