The winners for the JPL-led “Honey, I Shrunk the NASA Payload” challenge have been announced, and the miniature robotic designs could help the agency explore the Moon.
NASA’s next giant leap
may be aided by tiny lunar robots. These miniature robots would help scout the lunar
surface, collecting key information about the Moon, its resources, and the
environment. Such data would be helpful for the agency’s future lunar endeavors
and NASA’s Artemis program.
In April, NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California ran a public prize
competition
for miniature payload designs for future Moon missions. The “Honey, I Shrunk the NASA Payload” challenge garnered the
interest of hundreds of innovators. Now, the winners have been announced.
“The ideas
generated by the community were outstanding,” said Sabah Bux, a technologist
at JPL. “These designs could help NASA sustain a human presence on the
Moon and enable new science.”
Existing payloads are
often big, heavy, and require a lot of power. Tiny payloads allow for the
development of technologies that can do more prospecting and science on
smaller, more mobile platforms. This challenge sought designs for payloads not
much larger than a bar of soap – 3.9 inches by 3.9 inches by 1.9 inches (10
centimeters by 10 centimeters by 5 centimeters) – and weighing no more than 0.8
pounds (0.4 kilograms).
Submissions were
divided among two categories: lunar resource potential and lunar environment. A
total of $160,000 in prizes was awarded.
Category 1: Lunar Resource Potential
First Prize: $30,000
- Puli
Lunar Water Snooper by Puli Space Technologies
Team
Second Prize: $15,000
- Permittivity Analysis
of Regolith Using SansEC by Nova Rover Payload Team - KSat Stuttgart e.V.
MICU 3D Mineral Seeker by KSat Team - M-EL VIS, Locating and
Mapping Lunar Volatiles by Curtis Purrington
Third Prize: $5,000
- Adaptable Science Box:
Magnetometer+Rad Detector by Space Initiatives Inc - LAMPER by Amin Aminiaei
- Moon Soil Resources From
Seismic Waves by Drive Me Through the
Moon Team - Raman-based Mineral
Classification Payload (RMCP) by Top Raman NASA Payload
Team - M.E.G.A.M.A.N. by Big Brain, Little
Payload Team
Honorable Mentions
- Miniaturized Payload
for Regolith Characterization by Padua Team - Lunar Vision. Coloring
the Moon! by Team Stardust - RICO by RICO Team
Category 2: Lunar Environment
First Prize: $30,000
- Sun
Slicer – Miniaturized XRAY Spectrometer by Team Sun Slicer
Second Prize: $15,000
- LEA
(Lunar surface Energetic neutrals Analyzer) by Bhardwaj Shastri
Third Prize: $5,000
- Novel Fibber Bragg
Grating Seismometer by John Draganov’s team - Lunar Radiation
Characterization by Christian Haughwout - Laser Based Dust Detector
for the Lunar Surface by Ryan Smith
For more information
about the winners of this challenge, visit:
www.herox.com/NASApayload/131-meet-the-winners
You can also
participate in a moderated discussion with the NASA challenge team, hosted by
HeroX, on Aug. 6 at 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT). Register here.
The challenge is
expected to be followed by new competitions to prototype, test, and deliver the
winning ideas. It is also intended to generate a maturation pipeline of
next-generation instruments, sensors, technologies, and experiments for near-term
lunar exploration.
The challenge was
funded by NASA’s Lunar Surface
Innovation Initiative
within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). The initiative
champions technologies needed to live on and explore the Moon. The NASA Tournament Lab, part of STMD’s Prizes and Challenges program,
managed the challenge. The program supports the use of public competitions and
crowdsourcing as tools to advance NASA R&D and other mission needs.
Learn more about
opportunities to participate in your space program via NASA prizes and
challenges:
Artemis includes
sending a suite of new science instruments and technology demonstrations to
study the Moon, landing the first woman and next man on the lunar surface by
2024, and establishing a sustained presence by 2028. The agency will leverage
its Artemis experience and technologies to prepare for the next giant leap –
sending astronauts to Mars.
News Media Contact
Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov
Sarah Schlieder
NASA Johnson Space Center
281-244-2999
sarah.e.schlieder@nasa.gov
Clare Skelly
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-4273
clare.a.skelly@nasa.gov
Written by Sarah Schlieder
2020-136
Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory