Credits: NASA
The 2021 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage
(RASC-AL) Competition is seeking undergraduate and graduate teams to develop
innovative concepts that would allow the expansion of human space exploration
to include long-term stays and visits to distant planetary bodies including
Venus and Ceres.
Through the Artemis program, a new era
of human-robotic exploration will begin at the Moon’s South Pole. Together with
U.S. industry and international partners, NASA is working to establish
sustainable lunar exploration that will generate new markets as well as
scientific and economic opportunities.
“As we look forward to the first woman and the next man on the lunar
surface, RASC-AL provides authentic, real-world opportunities for
university-level students to explore, envision and present fresh business and
technological approaches that could enhance our human exploration
efforts," said Doug Craig, strategic analysis and planning manager in NASA's
Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) at NASA
Headquarters in Washington.
NASA is seeking proposals that demonstrate originality and creativity in
the areas of engineering and analysis and address one of the following five
themes:
• Theme 1 – Durable Low-mass Lunar Surface Habitat: Develop
a low-mass, reusable habitat that can support a crew of two astronauts for 30
days at the lunar South Pole by 2028, identifying how the habitat can support
both expanded crew capabilities on the lunar surface and preparations for
future Mars missions.
• Theme 2 – Minimum Mars Ascent Vehicle: Develop a Mars
ascent vehicle system and mission concept that can deliver a crew of two
astronauts from the surface of Mars to a low Mars orbit with a significantly
lower mass than previous concepts by the end of 2034.
• Theme 3 – Venus Flyby Mission: Develop a mission concept
supporting a crew of four astronauts for a flyby of Venus in the 2030s that
serves as a proving ground for longer-duration human missions to Mars,
addresses how emerging commercial space capabilities support the mission and
identifies what planetary science payloads could be delivered during the flyby
to explore the atmosphere and/or surface of Venus.
• Theme 4 – Human Mission to Ceres: Develop a mission
concept that supports a crew of four astronauts and identifies planetary
science payloads on a mission to Ceres, with two astronauts landing on the
dwarf planet in the 2040s.
• Theme 5 – Distributed Lunar Sample Aggregation, Analysis and Return
to the International Space Station: Design an architecture that can
return samples from multiple locations on the lunar surface to the space
station, addressing lunar science priorities, what samples can be collected,
how the samples are aggregated and analyzed on the lunar surface, and how the
samples are returned to the space station without using Artemis program
hardware.
Submissions are due by March 4, 2021, and must include a two-minute video
and a detailed seven-to-nine-page proposal that presents novel and robust
applications that address one of the five themes and supports expanding
humanity’s ability to live and explore far from Earth.
NASA and industry experts will select up to 15 teams to continue developing
their proposed concepts, and finalist teams will be announced in March.
Selected teams will receive a $6,000 stipend to participate in the RASC-AL
Forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida, scheduled for June 2021. The top two teams will
also receive a travel stipend to present their projects to a wider audience at
a major aerospace conference.
“What we learn when women and men explore the Moon will pave the way for
humanity’s next giant leap—sending astronauts to Mars, and ultimately to other
distant worlds,” said Patrick Troutman, human exploration strategic assessments
lead, NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “Students competing
in RASC-AL pave the way to their own future as well, through a
once-in-a-lifetime collaborative experience they will take with them into their
careers.”
RASC-AL is sponsored by NASA’s Advanced Exploration
Systems division within the HEOMD and the Space Mission
Analysis Branch at NASA Langley and is managed by the National Institute of
Aerospace.
For more information about the challenge, visit the RASC-AL website:
For more information about NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration plans, visit:
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