NASA Announces $1 Million CO2 Conversion Challenge

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced a $1 million “CO2 Conversion Challenge” calling out for ideas from the public on how to make Mars’ abundant carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere useful for the astronauts. The announcement comes as NASA is moving forward with its plans of setting up a colony on Mars.

Notably, human being’s survival on Mars is next to impossible considering the fact that the Red Planet’s air is made up of 96 percent carbon dioxide and almost next to no oxygen. As NASA wants that Mars astronauts should produce their materials on the planet itself, it’s CO2 Conversion Challenge will help come up with ideas on how to turn CO2 into molecules that can be used to produce all manner of things.

“Enabling sustained human life on another planet will require a great deal of resources and we cannot possibly bring everything we will need. We have to get creative,” said Monsi Roman, program manager of NASA’s Centennial Challenges program. “If we can transform an existing and plentiful resource like carbon dioxide into a variety of useful products, the space – and terrestrial – applications are endless.”

The NASA competition has been divided into two phases. During the first phase, which is the concept challenge, individuals or teams would submit a design and description of their proposal. The top five selected teams will be awarded $50,000 each. In the second phase, the finalists would build and present a demonstration of their proposals, with the winning individual or team earning $750,000.

According to the space agency, developing efficient technology to produce glucose from carbon dioxide will also lead to biomanufacturing technology advancement on Earth.

The last date to sign up for the CO2 Conversion Challenge is Jan. 24, 2019, and to submit the entry is Feb. 28, 2019. The judging will run between March 8th and April 10th.