NASA To Award $5 Million For Tech InnovationNASA To Award $5 Million For Tech Innovation

NASA on Tuesday unveiled three new Centennial Challenges worth $5 million overall, the first new prizes for technological achievements the agency has announced in five years.

The challenges are for innovations in low-cost launch technology, energy-storage, and robotics, NASA Centennial Challenges program manager Andy Petro said at the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist Industry Forum Tuesday, where NASA unveiled the awards.

Centennial Challenges are awards NASA has been giving since 2005 to individuals, groups, and companies working outside the aerospace contractors with which the agency usually works. They are aimed at discovering innovation in technology areas that NASA hopes to make dramatic advancements, and are awarded only after a competitor has successfully demonstrated it can meet the challenge.

The Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge, worth $2 million to the winner, is to place a small satellite into Earth orbit twice in one week. Petro said the focus for the award is more to develop low-cost launch technology than on finding new innovations in satellites. NASA also hopes to encourage the creation of commercial nano-satellite delivery services.

The Night Rover Challenge is to demonstrate a solar-powered exploration vehicle that can operate in darkness using its own stored energy. The winner will receive $1.5 million. The objective of this challenge is to encourage innovation in energy storage for space environments, as well as for electric vehicles and renewable energy systems on Earth.

The third challenge, worth $1.5 million, is called a Sample Return Robot Challenge. The aim is to develop a robot that can locate and retrieve geologic samples -- such as those found on other planets in the solar system -- without being controlled by a human. Petro said competitors should focus on creating innovations in automatic navigation and robotic manipulation, as the challenge will be to retrieve an easily identifiable object and not something a robot needs to recognize.

NASA considered feedback from across the agency to decide which technologies to focus on for the new raft of challenges, Petro said. However, beginning next year, the agency will take more feedback from the public about which technologies to focus on.

NASA also has put out a request for proposals (RFPs) for nonprofit organizations to support and manage each challenge process. The deadline for interested partners to submit an RFP is Sept. 13, and NASA will choose the organizations about a month after that, Petro said.

NASA has conducted 19 Centennial Challenges since 2005, awarding $4.5 million to 13 different teams. It also currently has three current challenges that have not yet been awarded.

The Strong Tether Challenge is to demonstrate a material at least 50% stronger than the strongest commercially available. The Power Beaming Challenge is to transmit power using laser beams to a device so it can climb a vertical cable more than half a mile high. And the Green Flight Challenge is to fly an originally designed aircraft 200 miles in less than two hours using the energy equivalent of less than one gallon of gasoline per occupant.