WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA has awarded nearly $1.2 million to seven university teams through the 2022 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge to design, develop, and demonstrate innovative and cost-effective robotic systems that go beyond traditional wheeled rovers and move in different ways – including rovers that hop, slither, and roll.

As NASA expands its space exploration to more extreme terrain on the Moon, solutions to moving in harsh environments are integral. The BIG Idea Challenge spurs development of innovative technologies to meet the agency’s Artemis program goals to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before and use what we learn on the Moon to send humans to Mars.

The ability to move in different ways, or adaptive locomotive modality, is vital to enabling extreme terrain exploration. The capability to explore areas that are currently inaccessible will open new opportunities for science and in-situ resource utilization operations. The selected teams will develop integrated robotic solutions, with prototypes incorporating a minimal level of sensing, autonomy, and other necessary elements needed for a relevant test.

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — Dust on Earth creates a nuisance in our homes and causes a few allergic sneezes. It might seem benign, but mitigating Earth’s dust has been the focus of extensive terrestrial engineering with applications from mining to food to cosmetics. On the Moon, dust creates a unique set of challenges – which will require new technology to overcome and ensure space exploration system reliability and astronaut safety. While Earth-based mitigation strategies could be foundational for lunar dust solutions, extraterrestrial dust has unique attributes that require innovative solutions.

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — “The dark side of the Moon” is sometimes used to describe mysterious things. Though the far side of the Moon isn’t actually dark, there are some areas on the Moon that haven’t seen the Sun in billions of years. Those are the unexplored areas university students aimed to help NASA reach.

WASHINGTON, DC (NASA PR) — University students from across the United States will present their innovative concepts for lunar payloads that could be used to help NASA explore previously uncharted areas on the Moon.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will kick off the Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge virtual forum Jan. 6 at 10:30 a.m. EST. NASA will announce the team awards Jan. 11.

Presentations by the finalist teams will be livestreamed Jan. 6-7 and available to view after the event.

HAMPTON, Va. (NASA PR) — Almost a quarter of a million miles away from home, the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions are the closest extraterrestrial water source. These craters have remained dark for billions of years, but student-developed technologies can help shine light on all they have to offer.

Through the competitive Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge and the Space Grant project, NASA has awarded nearly $1 million to eight university teams to build sample lunar payloads and demonstrate innovative ways to study the Moon’s darkest areas.

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA plans to land humans on the Moon by 2024 with the Artemis program. Before astronauts step on the lunar surface again, new technology instruments will study the surface.

NASA is engaging the university community for ideas to help achieve some of these activities through its annual Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge, which is asking university teams to submit robust proposals for sample lunar payloads that can demonstrate technology systems needed to explore areas of the Moon that never see the light of day. The 2020 BIG Idea Challenge is scaling up this year, with larger team sizes and more funding that will allow for high fidelity concept development.

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — It’s a complex and daunting thing, dreaming up ways to assemble spacecraft in space.

But don’t tell that to a few whip-smart college students — they’re up for the challenge.

In fact, five university teams will soon get the chance to make the case for their in-space spacecraft assembly concepts as part of the 2017 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge.

This year’s challenge asked teams to propose innovative concepts for in-space assembly of spacecraft – particularly tugs – propelled by solar electric propulsion that transfer payloads from low-Earth orbit, to an orbit around the moon, or to a lunar distant retrograde orbit.

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NASA’s Game Changing Development Program, managed by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, and the National Institute of Aerospace are seeking novel and robust concepts for in-space assembly of spacecraft – particularly tugs, propelled by solar electric propulsion, that transfer payloads from low earth orbit to a lunar distant retrograde orbit. (Credit: Analytical Mechanics Associates)

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — In the 2017 Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge, NASA is engaging university-level students in its quest to reduce the cost of deep space exploration.

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WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — The Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea challenge is an initiative supporting NASA’s Game Changing Development Program (GCD) efforts to rapidly mature innovative/high impact capabilities and technologies for infusion in a broad array of future NASA missions. This year’s GCD-sponsored engineering design competition seeks innovative ideas from the academic community for in-space assembly of spacecraft – particularly tugs, propelled by solar electric propulsion (SEP), that transfer payloads for low earth orbit (LEO) to a lunar distant retrograde orbit (LDRO). Reuse of the SEP tug provides a cost-efficient method of transferring payloads between LEO-to-LDRO, LDRO-to-LEO, and for transit to deep-space locations such as Mars.

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