[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 154 (Friday, August 9, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39376-39377]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-17061]


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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[Notice: (19-043)]


Centennial Challenges Space Robotics Challenge Phase 2

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Phase 2 of the Space Robotics Challenge is open, and teams 
that wish to compete may now register. Centennial Challenges is a 
program of prize competitions to stimulate innovation in technologies 
of interest and value to NASA and the nation. Phase 2 of the Space 
Robotics Challenge is a prize competition with a $1,000,000 USD total 
prize purse available for development of software to enable long-term 
autonomous robotic surface mobility for a notional lunar In-Situ 
Resource Utilization (ISRU) mission. NASA is providing the prize purse, 
and the Manned Space Flight Education Foundation, Inc. (i.e., Space 
Center Houston) will be conducting the Challenge on behalf of NASA.

DATES: Challenge registration for Phase 2 opens August 12, 2019, and 
will remain open until 5:00PM Central Time on December 20, 2019. No 
further requests for registration will be accepted after this date.
    Other important dates:

January 15, 2020 Packet of Robot Information Delivered to Competitors
March 16, 2020 Qualifying Round opens
August 19, 2020 Qualification Round closes
November 9, 2020 Finalists Announced
December 7, 2020 Final Competition Begins
June 30, 2021 Competition Round Closes
September 2021 Winner(s) Announced

ADDRESSES: The Space Robotics Challenge is a virtual competition. The 
Challenge competitors will complete their development and practice 
rounds at their own labs. Final software solutions will be submitted to 
Space Center Houston for evaluation and testing.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To register for or get additional 
information regarding the Space Robotics Challenge, please visit: 
www.spaceroboticschallenge.com.
    For general information on the NASA Centennial Challenges Program 
please visit: http://www.nasa.gov/challenges. General questions and 
comments regarding the program should be addressed to Monsi Roman, 
Centennial Challenges Program, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, 
Huntsville, AL 35812. Email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Summary

    Phase 2 of the Space Robotics Challenge seeks to foster the 
creation of new or advance existing autonomous capabilities of lunar 
surface robots. Future ISRU missions may occur on

[[Page 39377]]

surfaces such as Earth's moon and Mars, and will likely need to operate 
autonomously for long periods of time before, during, and after the 
presence of astronauts. Robots that can successfully perform ISRU tasks 
with little to no human intervention are valuable due to both the 
communication latencies and limited bandwidth between these 
destinations and Earth. Additionally, NASA has unique constraints for 
robotic systems in space compared to terrestrial applications, namely 
the radiation and thermal environments encountered, which affect the 
processing and sensing capabilities available for robotic systems. It 
is also recognized that many of the robotic capabilities needed for 
future exploration missions could translate into highly valuable 
functionality for terrestrial robotic applications, such as disaster 
relief, exploration of difficult and/or dangerous terrains, and 
industrial plant maintenance and servicing.
    The challenge will consist of a qualification round and a 
competition round. Both rounds will require fully autonomous 
operations, such that competitors will not be able to interact with 
their virtual robotic teams during a challenge run. The qualification 
round will consist of three tasks, each to be completed individually, 
and the virtual robotic systems needed to complete these tasks will be 
provided to competitors. Successful completion of these tasks will 
provide confidence that competitors can attempt, or possibly complete, 
the competition round. The tasks will consist of autonomously locating 
resources in a lunar simulation world, extracting these resources, and 
navigating about the lunar simulation surface. The top 25 scoring teams 
will move on to the competition round. For the competition round, 
competitors will select their own robotic team from a compiled list of 
different robot archetypes, while meeting a specified mass constraint 
for the overall team. During this round, competitors' virtual robot 
teams will locate various resources within the lunar regolith, excavate 
and collect resources, transport them and deposit them into a 
processing plant. Constraints will be introduced randomly, including 
maintenance issues, degradation of systems and recharging needs. The 
top 10 scoring teams will win prizes.

I. Prize Amounts

    The Space Robotics Challenge total prize purse is up to $1,000,000 
USD (one million dollars) to be awarded across two (2) rounds of 
competition. The top 25 scoring competitors in the Qualification Round 
that meet or exceed a given threshold score, will be awarded prizes 
from a prize purse of $375,000 USD. Competitors will be able to win a 
maximum of $15,000 USD. Should a competitor not complete all required 
tasks, but still be in the Top 25 scoring competitors, a percentage of 
the $15,000 will be awarded based on the percentage of the trial that 
was completed. Only the top 25 scoring competitors will be invited to 
compete in the Competition Round.
    The top ten (10) scoring competitors in the Competition Round that 
meet or exceed a given threshold will be awarded prizes from a purse of 
$625,000 USD.

First Place: $185,000 USD
Second Place: $125,000 USD
Third Place: $75,000 USD
Fourth Place: $50,000 USD
Fifth Place: $40,000 USD
Sixth through Tenth Place: $30,000 USD

II. Eligibility To Participate and Win Prize Money

    To be eligible to win a prize, competitors must:
    (1) Register and comply with all requirements in the Official Rules 
and Team Agreement;
    (2) In the case of a private entity, be incorporated in and 
maintain a primary place of business in the United States, and in the 
case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, be a 
citizen or permanent resident of the United States; and
    (3) Not be a U.S. Government entity or U.S. Government employee 
acting within the scope of their employment.
    The eligibility requirements (including requirements for foreign 
participation) can be found on the official challenge site: 
www.spaceroboticschallenge.com.

III. Official Rules

    The complete official rules for the Space Robotics Challenge can be 
found at: www.spaceroboticschallenge.com.

Cheryl Parker,
NASA Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2019-17061 Filed 8-8-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7510-13-P