NASA Announces Prize of Lunar O2

[Sam_Stone]

This is an interesting new development from NASA:

NASA Unveils Lunar O2 Challenge

The first team of scientists to invent a way to extract breathable oxygen from lunar soil will be awarded $250,000, NASA announced on Thursday.

The technology could be used by astronauts during a long-term stay on the moon or modified to support a trip to Mars. The Bush administration has made both missions a priority for NASA in a road map called the Vision for Space Exploration.

The use of resources on other worlds is a key element of the Vision for Space Exploration," said NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Craig Steidle in a statement. “This challenge will reach out to inventors who can help us achieve the vision sooner.”

Inventors who attempt the Moon Regolith Oxygen (or MoonROx) challenge will have just eight hours to extract at least 11 pounds of breathable oxygen from a simulated form of lunar soil.

Two other prizes have been announced by NASA - one for the first team to build a climber that can climb a tether using beam power, and another for building a tether material of a certain strength and length.

I think these challenges are a great idea, and my only criticism would be that the prizes should be larger.

[Sam_Stone]

Gah. Screwed the title up. I meant FOR Lunar )2.

Settle down, people. No one’s being awarded Lunar O2.

[Elysian]

Interesting. I’m beginning to think that most of the new innovations in science are going to come from entrepreneurs, and prizes are good motivators. I would agree that the prize stated doesn’t seem that high, though. If the prize was in the millions I’ll bet tons of research groups would be all over it.

Thanks for providing the link. It’s really interesting.