Centennial Challenges

The Centennial Challenges are NASA inducement prize contests for non-government-funded technological achievements by American teams.

Challenges

The Challenges have not been finalized. Candidates include:

• Very Low Cost Spacecraft Missions
  • Micro reentry vehicles
  • Lunar robotic landings
  • Mars and asteroid microspacecraft missions
  • Solar sail missions.
• Breakthrough Robotic capability competitions
  • Robotic triathlon.
  • Telerobotic construction race.
  • Robotic insects.
  • Rover survivor.
  • Antarctic rover traverse.
• Revolutionary Technology demonstrations
  • Lunar resource utilization
  • Long-term propellant storage
  • Improved astronaut gloves
  • Precision landers
  • Autonomous drills
  • Battery breakthrough
  • In situ life detector
  • Extreme environment computer
  • Nanotube based materials
  • Tether propulsion
  • Very low cost suborbital launch.

Challenges will be organized into one of four categories: [1]

• Flagship Challenges: "To encourage major private space missions," these are expected to be multi-million dollar prizes for more major goals, such as robotic lunar landers or human orbital spaceflight.
• Keystone Challenges: "To address technology priorities"
• Alliance Challenges: "To leverage partnerships," contests organized in collaboration with non-government partners
• Quest Challenges: "To promote science, technology, engineering and math outreach"

On March 23, 2005, NASA announced its first challenges, which are Alliance Challenges in collaboration with the Spaceward Foundation. One contest is the Tether Challenge, for building the sort of super-strong tether needed to make a space elevator feasible. The other is the Beam Power Challenge, for creating a wirelessly-powered ribbon-climbing robot capable of lifting as large a payload as possible within a limited timeframe. The initial set of challenges in 2005 will award $50K to the winners of each contest. A second set of challenges in 2006 will award first, second, and third place prizes worth $100K, $40K, and $10K.

It is anticipated that NASA will be announcing further challenges.

Origin

The Centennial Challenges are based on a long history of technology prize contests, including the Longitude prize (won by John Harrison), the Orteig Prize (won by Charles Lindbergh), the Ansari X Prize (won by Scaled Composites), and the DARPA Grand Challenge. A key advantage of prizes over traditional grants is that money is only paid when the goal is achieved. A 1999 National Academy of Engineering committee report[2] recommended that "Congress encourage federal agencies to experiment more extensively with inducement prize contests in science and technology". A 2003 NASA Space Architect study, assisted by the X PRIZE Foundation, led to the establishment of the Centennial Challenges. The prize contests were named "Centennial" in honor of the 100 years since the Wright brothers' first flight in 1903.

Budget

For Financial Year 2004, each prize will be $250,000 or less.

The Financial Year 2005 budget includes $20 million for Centennial Challenges. Prizes larger than $250,000 will be offered if legislation (2005 NASA Authorization Act ) allows them.

See also

• list of prizes, medals, and awards

External links

Official (NASA)

• Centennial Challenges Home page of official web site.
• NASA Budget
• Centennial Challenges overview presentation
• 2004 Centennial Challenges Workshop Report
• Elevator 2010 (partner for Tether Challenge and Beam Power Challenge)

News

• NASA Announces First Centennial Challenges' Prizes - NASA press release (Match 23, 2005)
• NASA Schedules Centennial Challenges Workshop - NASA press release
• NASA Announces Centennial Challenges Workshop Agenda - NASA press release
• Centennial Challenges Workshop 2004 June 15-16. Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC.
• Centennial Challenges Workshop Registration Ends 2004 June 4.

Unofficial (non-NASA)

News

• NASA Will Offer Cash Prizes for Technological Innovations (New York Times, March 27, 2005)
• [http://planetary.org/news/2005/nasa_announces-centennial-challenges_0324.html NASA and Spaceward Foundation Announce

First Centennial Challenges Prizes] (Planetary Society, March 24, 2005)

• NASA Details Cash Prizes for Space Privatization (Space.com, March 23, 2005)
• NASA plans contests for space feats - MSNBC By Alan Boyle .
• NASA's Centennial Challenges Program To Offer Cash Prizes - Space News
• NASA exploration office charts new procurement territory - GovExec.com

Opinion

• Concerning Federally Sponsored Inducement Prizes in Engineering and Science Report of the Steering Committee for the Workshop to Assess the Potential for Promoting Technological Advance through Government-Sponsored Prizes and Contests, National Academy of Engineering.
• The Testimony of Mr. Elon Musk - U.S. Senate Committee Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX: "If I can emphasize, underscore and highlight one strategy for Congress, it is to offer prizes of meaningful scale and scope."
• And the Winner Is ... - FORTUNE Magazine By Brian O'Reilly . "Inducement prizes are a 'fantastic, low-risk, high-return mechanism,' says Diamandis. If no one succeeds, he notes, you don't have to shell out any money. 'And if someone does, you've automatically backed the winner.'"
• Grand challenges (Editorial) - The Washington Times
• NASA Needs Prize Contest Ideas - Slashdot