// SPACE.COM — SPAZIO & SCIENZA
NASA just launched a $1 million Moon Base Student Challenge to award cash prizes to students that solve lunar base problems
"We have an awful lot of problems that need to be solved."
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has officially launched the Moon Base Student Challenge, asking students to help build humanity's future on the moon. And there's $1 million in prizes up for grabs for the winners.
To build and sustain a base on the moon, NASA will have to solve a myriad of problems. And they're looking to the next generation for help, the space agency's chief Jared Isaacman said Sunday (Nov. 8).
"We are inviting students from across the country to help solve some of the problems that stand between humanity and a permanent presence on another world," Isaacman said. "We're putting 1 million in prizes together to support the best ideas and recognize the teams behind them."
Isaacman made this announcement wearing his blue flight suit from the rocket garden at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center amidst the agency's MAX POWER air show event. Just the day before, he flew fighter jets in that suit and even jumped out of a plane, skydiving into the event. Soon after this announcement, he was flying another fighter plane above the crowd.
The audience for this announcement was filled with students of all ages. Some young children wearing costume spacesuits squeezed as close as they could to the front of the room while teenagers considering their futures listened intently. It was clear that Isaacman's presence and words were landing with this group.
But what moon base challenges does NASA want to see these students tackle? In short, all of them.
"The moon base will allow us to conduct groundbreaking science, test new technologies, and prepare again for where we inevitably go next, which is the red planet," he said. "But before any of that can happen, we have an awful lot of problems that need to be solved."
"We need ways to generate power through the long lunar night. We need to protect our astronauts from that incredibly harsh and dangerous and demanding environment on the surface. We need to move people and equipment around on the surface and support human life three days away from Earth," Isaacman said, illustrating just a few of the big issues that present with the concept of a moon base.