The NASAย Centennial Challenges Program is the agency’sย flagship program ofย technology prize competitionsโfrom lunar landers,ย toย astronaut gloves, to airships. Back inย 2011 we even partnered with NASA to develop inexpensive science kits forย suborbital flights forย the MAKE Space Challenge.
Amongst theย latest challenge announcements from the agency is theย Cube Quest Challengeย which offers a total of $5 million to teams that can design, build, and deliver small spacecraftย capable of operatingย near and beyond the moon.ย The Challenge is designed to encourage development of technology to allow deep space exploration using small spacecraftโlike CubeSats.
I think this challenge willย be won by someone reading this post, by a maker. Now, this isn’t as crazy as it sounds, itย wouldn’t be the first time a maker has entered, and won, a NASA challengeโback in 2007 Peter Homer, a maker from Maine,ย claimed the first payoutย of NASA’s astronaut glove challenge.
The Cube Quest Challenge will begin next year with a series of qualifying ground tournaments andย prizes worth $500k. Successful teams will beย offered a secondary payload slot on NASA’s EM-1 missionโthe first planned launch of their new SLS launcher, and the second uncrewed test of the Orion crew vehicleโcurrently planned for 2018.
For those teams that make it on to the next stage of the challengeโand if you don’t get a free ride there’s a mechanism in place to fund your own launch on a commercial providerโthe competing CubeSats will be insertedย into a trans-lunar trajectoryย ready for a lunar derby. A furtherย $3 million in prizes is up for grabs in this stage of the challenge for teams that can demonstrate the ability to place their CubeSat in a stable lunar orbit.
The final stage of the challenge is a deep space derby, taking place out around 2.5 million milesโthat’s tenย times the distance from the Earth to the Moonโwith a furtherย $1.5 million in prize money for teams that can manoeuvreย and communicate with their spacecraft out in deep space.
If you’re interested in the Challenge your journey into lunar orbit beginsย at Moffett Field in Januaryย with a summit at NASA Amesย to introduce the challenge, and encourageย prospective competitors toย self-organise into teams.
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