Centennial Challenges

NASA's Centennial Challenges are designed to promote technical innovation through a novel program of prize competitions. The program is designed to tap the nation's and world's ingenuity to make revolutionary advances to support the NASA Vision for Space Exploration.

First Centennial Challenge

On March 23, 2005 NASA announced the first Centennial Challenge. This challenge is mananged by the Spaceward Foundation with prizes totaling $400,000 for two categories of competitions:

• The Tether Challenge centers on the creation of a material that combines light weight and incredible strength. Under this challenge, teams will develop high strength materials that will be stretched in a head-to-head competition to see which tether is strongest.

• The Beam Power Challenge focuses on the development of wireless power technologies for a wide range of exploration purposes, such as human lunar exploration and long-duration Mars reconnaissance. In this challenge, teams will develop wireless power transmission systems, including transmitters and receivers, to power robotic climbers to lift the greatest weight possible to the top of a 50-meter cable in under three minutes.

Current Centennial Challenges

The current (as of April 2007) NASA Centennial Challenges are:

Challenge Date	Challenge Name	Purse	Allied Organization
May 2-3, 2007	2007 Astronaut Glove Challenge	$250K	Volanz Aerospace Inc./Spaceflight America
May 11-12, 2007	2007 Regolith Excavation Challenge	$250K	California Space Education & Workforce Institute (CSEWI)
Aug 4-12, 2007	Personal Air Venicle Challenge	$250K	CAFE Foundation
Oct 2007	2007 Beam Power Challenge	$500K	The Spaceward Foundation
Oct 2007	2007 Tether Challenge	$500K	The Spaceward Foundation
Oct 2007	Lunar Lander Challenge	$2M	The X PRIZE Foundation
Expires Jun 1, 2008	Moon Regolith Oxygen (MoonROx) Challenge	$250K	California Space Education & Workforce Institute (CSEWI)

Past Challenges

The current (as of April 2007) NASA Centennial Challenges are:

Challenge Date	Challenge Name	WinmerPurse	Allied Organization
Oct 21-23, 2005	2005 Beam Power Challenge	None/$50K purse combined with 2006	The Spaceward Foundation
Oct 21-23, 2005	2005 Tether Challenge	None/$50K purse combined with 2006	The Spaceward Foundation
Oct 20-21, 2006	2006 Beam Power Challenge	None/$200K	The Spaceward Foundation
Oct 20-21, 2006	2006 Tether Challenge	None/$200K	The Spaceward Foundation
Oct 20-21, 2006	Lunar Lander Challenge	None/$2M	The X PRIZE Foundation

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