Space Prizes and Contests

Raj,

Perhaps I should have proposed:
"What project would you like to see funded if someone would sponsor it with $X million?"(you name the amount).

CELSS (Closed Ecological Life Support System) would be a good candidate for funding. There is a lot that we could do here on earth. It could have benefits for space, underwater or artic habitats. Within that category could be research for optimal LEDs for plants (red - flowering / fruit, and blue - vegetative growth) or getting some algae (spirulina) to taste better. Also we need more effective treatment of waste water.

Since you mentioned a biosphere: With a biosphere where people can't leave, there might be some small additional funding from book / movie / documentary rights. Of course, you might need the right personnel to make for interesting viewing. (Maybe two teams of untrained people and see which can keep their econosystem stable the longest.)

As for pure prizes here are some:

America's Space Prize (Bigelow, $50,000,000 which I doubt anyone will win due to rules)

Xprize (xprizefoundation.com/index.asp)
Raising funds for contests in:
DNA - rapid genome sequencing ($500,000)
Automotive X-Prize - details out soon

DARPA
Urban Challange - automous vehicle driving 60 miles in an urban setting while avoiding obstacles such as pedestrians and obeying traffic rules.
Many other technology contests from DARPA

Xprize cup (rocket racing)
http://www.xprizecup.com/

Nasa's Centenial Challenges:
There are to be a total of seven of these to promote technical innovation:
http://exploration.nasa.gov/centennialchallenge/cc_index.html
http://exploration.nasa.gov/centennialchallenge/cc_challenges.html#telerobotic

From: sraj
To: spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2006 3:32:29 PM
Subject: Re: [spacesettlers] Space Prizes and Contests

Have we given up on the biosphere experiments? I think this will be a good idea to award a prize to. Any individual or group of individuals who can survive in a fully recycled environment for one year. The clock must start from when all the startup ration has been used up.

The reward? They will have to prove that they can survive for 5 years : - )

Selvaraj

From: Matt Gallimore

Contests sometimes lead to innovative solutions to engineering challenges. There are many engineering hurdles before space habitats are a reality.

What do you guys think would be some good contests?

They could be along the lines of the X-Prize or the technical contests that NASA has now. You could probably think of several areas that could be worked on now, whether it be basic research or pilot scale.

Also, what would be the appropriate reward?