NASA Planning Six More Centennial Challenges

FleaPlus writes "NASA has announced plans for six more Centennial Challenges for space-related technological achievements. The X Prize-inspired competitions will have cash prizes of up to $5 million. The challenges are for an orbital fuel depot, a lunar-capable all-terrain vehicle, a pressure suit, a long-term rechargeable power system, a micro reentry vehicle, and a maneuverable solar sail. NASA is currently requesting feedback comments on its current draft of the contest rules."

Comments

Wish List

[quokkapox]

I long for a method of joining objects using fabric hook-and-loop fasteners. I'd even settle for some delicious nutrient-rich orange drink. Where are our priorities?

5 million doesn't seem like alot.

[masterpenguin]

In the grand scheme of things, a 5 million dollar prize doesn't seem like alot of money. With trillion dollar budgets, and billions going to nasa, 5 million is a drop in the bucket.

Is this the future of space research ?

[Gopal.V]

There was a time when the military invested heavily into the space research program. These days with the cost cutting and budget crunches forced upon Nasa - they seem to have outsourced their research to private enterprenuer and pioneers with such challenges.

Maybe it is a better way to utilize government money - but the research might end up being owned by a commercial entity rather than just being merely used by such an entity. Lockheed and Boeing have been workhorses for such research in the past (think about how the Jeep evolved).

Does the future of space research lie with private efforts ?
Or is it headed eastwards (or further westwards) towards China ?

Difficult at best

[db32]

I think some of these projects are an order of magnatude easier to accomplish. Pressure suit, moon vehicle, rechargable power source (someone should really just send them a pack of duracells and claim the 5 mil)...all of these seem like they would be pretty simple to research, build, and prove here on earth. Orbiting fuel depot? I think the ammount of time, energy, and money involved in making that one work isn't anywhere near the same challenge level. How do you prove that one? You would have to spend an enormous ammount just getting the thing up there to see if it will work, and god help you if you have to make any changes to your design.

Good Science is what you make of it.

[Shivetya]

The advancements generated to put men on Mars are not all known to us at this time. Just as we did not know the effects of going to the moon in the 60s.

Is it a boondoggle to set hard goals? If man is going to have a presence in space then we need to start the work now. Sure we've been to the moon before but staying there is a whole new ballgame. Orbit? Been there, done that, hell we are practically trapped in it.

Robots to the stars? Sure, but until we start pushing ourselves out there all we are going to have is the naysayers holding us back forever. Get there and then the naysayers can off to their next project.

I suggest to quite a few /. readers that if any other leader had proposed going to Mars and the Moon again it would have been received a whole lot differently. NASA is finally again moving forward, we finally have someone who killed that damn shuttle program. Can you imagine being saddled with that damn system for another 20 years? The rest of the world would have been watching us from up there instead of looking to the stars to find us.

Sometimes good science requires setting and then obtaining goals that others find silly or wasteful. Go look in history back at many of the major discoveries. You will find quite a few many labeled as folly until it was done