NASA has launched a summer contest for students to design the best inflatable loft for life in space or on another world. A cash reward and a field test of the winning design are up for grabs.
Three awards of up to $48,000 each will be granted to the university student teams that produce the best loft-like inflatable space habitats that can be attached to a hard-shell NASA structure. The winner of a head-to-head competition of the modules' performance in the Arizona desert will earn another $10,000, NASA officials said in an announcement.
The X-Hab contest, short for "eXploration Habitat," follows in the tradition of NASA's Lunabotics program and the space-related X Prize awards offered by the non-profit X Prize Foundation to spur interest in aerospace fields.
"The idea is that the students will be able to learn and learn about teamship, systems engineering, and also learn about the future of design for habitats but also innovative technology like inflatable structures," said NASA space architect and Habitat Demonstration Unit project manager Kriss Kennedy. "We're basically growing our next generation of engineers and architects. They're actually taking what they're learning in school and applying it."
The contest is sponsored by NASA's Exploration Mission Directorate in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Technologist's Innovative Partnerships Program.
Building a better space house
Though NASA has produced prototypes of inflatable habitats in the past, the space agency now wants to engage and encourage students.
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