NASA is turning to entrepreneurs to help catapult us to space — quite literally and figuratively.
NASA is calling all entrepreneurs through its newly-launched pilot Entrepreneurs Challenge to seek fresh ideas from new participants to bolster the agency’s science and space exploration goals with new tools and technologies, at lower costs.
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, based in Washington D.C., is seeking novel ideas from technologists and entrepreneurs in areas including machine learning, artificial intelligence, autonomy, robotics and advanced sensors.
“There’s a lot of energy and fresh thinking as a result of the entrepreneurial spirit that has emerged in our field over the past few years,” said Michael Seablom, NASA’s chief technologist for science in a statement. “We want to be sure we’re not leaving good ideas on the table or missing the contributions some of these potential partners could make to the exciting science missions coming up.”
For its inaugural round, the three focus areas earmarked by the agency are:
- Advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence for autonomous spacecraft and surface rovers, as well as for Earth observation and disaster management
- Advanced mass spectrometry for life detection and other science applications, using low-power and low-mass instrumentation.
- Quantum sensors that support high precision assessments of gravity, magnetic fields, dark energy, and other measurements to support NASA science.
The challenge works like this: NASA’s Science Mission Directorate will award $100,000 in prize funding following a three-stage process.
In round one, participants will submit white papers that a include description of the technology being offered, its relevance to a specific area and science question, and whether the idea can be scaled into a product or concept over time. A judging panel will select the best 15-20 ideas to advance to the next round of the competition.
Round two will be a live challenge event, where those short-listed will present their ideas to a panel of judges consisting of NASA program managers. As many as 10 participants will walk away with prize money of $20,000. Note: venture capital firms will be invited to attend the round.
To conclude, those 10 participants will then submit full descriptions of their technology ideas for as much as $80,000 in additional prize funding to SMD for evaluation in round three, in an event slated for fall. White paper submissions are due Friday, June 26, with the challenge event to be held July 29.
While space is not one of the most popular areas of Minnesota tech, some companies have experience in the industry. Eden Prairie-based 3D printing company Stratasys has worked with NASA in the past to create parts for its Orion spacecraft.
Srividya Kalyanaraman contributed to this report.
