Description:
The Break the Ice Lunar Challenge seeks to incentivize innovative approaches for excavating icy regolith and delivering acquired resources in extreme lunar environmental conditions. NASA has identified several technology gaps related to harvesting and moving large quantities of resources on the Moon, including hardware capable of operating in the extreme cold and permanent to near-permanent darkness. Robotic systems for excavation will need to withstand the harsh environments inside permanently shadowed regions at the lunar South Pole, the targeted landing site for crewed Artemis missions where ice has been observed. Teams must show that their solutions address reliability, durability, and traversability challenges these systems must overcome to operate for long durations.
Phase 2 of the challenge offers a total prize purse of $3M.
Phase 1 of Break the Ice Lunar opened in November 2020 and challenged teams to design a system architecture for collecting and moving large amounts of icy regolith and water from a permanently shadowed region near the Moon’s South Pole. Competitors had seven months to register and submit a detailed system architecture, an excavation plan, and an animation of the system in operation. In August 2021, 13 winners were awarded a total of $500,000.
NASA invites previous participants as well as new teams to compete in Phase 2.
Sponsoring/Partner Organizations:
Ensemble is the Allied Organization supporting the administration of this challenge.
NASA Prize Purse for U.S. Teams:
Phase 2 contains three levels, will last for 23 months, and offers a total prize purse of $3 million.
In Phase 2 competition level one, teams will develop detailed engineering designs and long-duration demonstration test plans for their prototype systems. Eligible U.S. teams that meet submission requirements for Phase 2 competition level one will be awarded an equal share of the $500,000 prize purse, up to a maximum of $75,000 per team. All teams that meet the submission requirements for Phase 2 competition level one will advance to Phase 2 competition level two.
In Phase 2 competition level two, teams will build terrestrial analog full-scale prototypes and conduct durability demonstrations. The top-scoring U.S. team will receive $300,000; the second-highest scoring U.S. team will receive $200,000; the third-highest scoring U.S. team will receive $125,000; and up to five U.S. runners-up will receive $75,000 each. Up to 15 teams – including winners and runners-up – that exceed the minimum score will advance to Phase 2 competition level three.
In Phase 2 competition level three, teams will test the prototype systems built in Phase 2 competition level two. The top-scoring U.S. team will receive $1 million, and the second-highest scoring U.S. team will receive $500,000. In addition to cash prizes, NASA will also award opportunities to test concepts in a dusty thermal vacuum chamber that will simulate the temperature and atmospheric pressure conditions at the lunar south pole.
Up to three top-scoring international teams will be recognized as winners in competition level two and competition level three. International teams are not eligible to be awarded prize money or thermal vacuum chamber testing opportunities.
Registration Open Date:
June 2, 2022; 11:00AM Eastern Time
Registration Close (U.S. and Other International Teams):
September 30, 2022; 11:59PM EasternTime
Submission Deadline:
November 4, 2022; 11:59PM Eastern Time
Frequency:
Ongoing