When homo go to Mars , it will be imperative that they are capable to apply as much of the resources available to them as possible – admit flatulency in the atmospheric state and perhaps the soil itself . NASA is all too cognizant of this , and is now seeking ideas for how this could be achieved from the public .
The agency isrunning a competitioncalled the In Situ ( in place ) Resource Utilization Challenge , which permit anyone to suggest an idea for making use of Martian resources . “ One could use surface - based stuff such as regolith or basalt to bring about morphologic element that can be interconnected to create launching / landing pads , ” the challenge website suggests .
Other thought include using the Martian soil for radiation shielding , grammatical construction origination , and more . The agency forecast that proper resource use could relieve the authority more than $ 100,000 ( £ 66,000 ) per one kg ( 2.2 British pound ) in cargo costs when they finally start sending man to the Red Planet , which they expect to do some time in the 2030s .
First place in the challenge will receive $ 10,000 ( £ 6,600 ) , with two second place prizes of $ 2,500 ( £ 1,600 ) up for grabs . Of course , pull ahead the competitor also grants NASA full license to use your estimation how they please – although you could also seduce some more work with NASA out of it .
“ NASA ’s newest challenge is yet another stellar example of the agency ’s commitment to draw rein the ingenuity of citizens as we seek to inflate the frontiers of cognition , capableness and opportunity in space , ” say NASA ’s Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan in astatement , who launched the challenge last week . “ Exploring Mars and other humans is a herculean endeavor . Like other agency across the federal government , NASA agnize that our success will be enhance greatly by affect people with all kind of cognition , science sets and ideas in our work . ”
The competition shut on December 3 , with winners expected to be announce in previous January 2016 . A full list of rules and constraint for submissions isavailable online .
