NASA Seeks Partners To Manage Night Rover, Nano-Sat Launcher Challenges

"We're looking for allied organizations that recognize the tremendous
value these citizen-inventor, entrepreneur, small business and
university teams bring to the innovation engine in America," said
Bobby Braun, NASA chief technologist at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. "Centennial Challenges is another catalyst for the United
States to out-innovate the rest of the world in a new, technology-based economy."

Teams competing in the Night Rover Challenge will need to demonstrate
a solar-powered exploration vehicle that can operate in darkness,
using its own stored energy. NASA is offering a prize purse is $1.5
million for the rover challenge. The Nano-Satellite Launcher
Challenge is to place a small satellite into Earth orbit, twice in
one week, with a prize purse of $2 million.

The objective of the Night Rover Challenge is to stimulate innovations
in energy storage technologies of value in extreme space
environments, such as the surface of the moon, or for electric
vehicles and renewable energy systems on Earth. Currently, the
solar-powered Mars rovers "go to sleep" during the Martian night.
NASA hopes the Night Rover Challenge will generate new ideas that
will allow planetary rovers the ability to take on a night shift, and
possibly create new energy storage technologies for applications on
our home planet.

The Nano-Satellite Launcher Challenge goal is to stimulate innovations
in low-cost launch technology for frequent access to Earth orbit
while encouraging creation of commercial nano-satellite delivery
services. Decreasing the cost of reliably sending small payloads to
Earth orbit in a timely manner could create entire new markets for
U.S. businesses and provide opportunities for students and
researchers to harness the environment of space for technology
development and innovative problem solving.

Centennial Challenge events typically include media and public
audiences, and may be televised on NASA Television or streamed
online. NASA's agency website also covers the competitions. The
competitions provide high-visibility opportunities to partner
organizations and sponsors for public outreach.

NASA will choose U.S. non-profit organizations to manage the contests
from proposals in response to agency opportunity notices available at:

http://go.usa.gov/40P and http://go.usa.gov/49N

The organizations that will manage the challenges also will seek
sponsors and teams, and conduct publicity and administration of the
actual contests. Once selected, the allied organizations will
collaborate with NASA to announce challenge rules and details on how
teams may enter.

Allied organizations generally seek sponsorships of all monetary sizes
and in-kind contributions while providing public recognition to
competition sponsors. Arrangements for competition sponsorships will
be negotiated directly between the allied organizations and the
sponsors and may include competition naming rights for significant contributors.

NASA also is seeking private and corporate sponsors for the Strong
Tether, Power Beaming, Green Flight and Sample Return Robot
Challenges. NASA is looking for companies, organizations or
individuals interested in sponsoring the non-profit allied
organizations that manage the prize competitions.

Potential sponsors include for-profit companies and corporations,
universities and other non-profit or educational organizations,
professional or public organizations, and individuals. Those
interested in discussing sponsorship opportunities should respond to
a Request for Information at:

http://go.usa.gov/459

For more information about NASA's Centennial Challenges Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/challenges

For more information about NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/oct

Source: NASA

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