NASA is Upping the Power on its Lunar Wattage Challenge!

NASA has been preparing for a return to the Moon for a long time. The first woman and first person of color will be sent to the Moon in the year 2025. NASA plans to establish the necessary infrastructure to allow for a sustained program of lunar exploration, such as the Lunar Gateway and the Artemis Base Camp.

A long-term human presence on the Moon requires several elements beyond these facilities. Shelter from the elements, food, air, water, and power are included. The NASA Watts on the Moon Challenge will be launched with the help of HeroX. The competition will award an additional $4.5 million for innovative concepts that supply power to future lunar missions.

NASA is not seeking proposals for power generation, but innovative engineering approaches for integrating power transmission and energy storage into lunar missions. These solutions will need to support astronauts, hardware, and systems in the South-Pole Aitken Basin. There are large deposits of ice water in this permanently shadowed, cratered region.

The European Space Agency, the China National Space Agency, and Roscosmos are all interested in establishing bases here. The craters have many advantages, such as the availability of ice water. The environments are not subject to the extreme variations that occur around the equator.

On the other hand, polar craters are permanently shadowed, and temperatures are perennially freezing. Current proposals for lunar bases include placing solar panels around the crater's rim, but these are limited by the extended periods of darkness and light around the poles. NASA and other space agencies are looking for ways to provide power during periods of darkness.

The first phase of the competition focused on theoretical approaches to energy management, distribution, and storage solutions. Seven competitors were awarded $500,000 in prize money for their approaches, which showed promise. NASA and HeroX have launched Phase 2 to allow the winners to demonstrate their proposals in lunar conditions.

Up to 17 prizes will be awarded in this phase of the competition. In Phase I, teams chose one or more activities and offered solutions for energy distribution, management, and/or storage. NASA has identified two areas that need to be improved.

1. Power Transmission: that can deliver power from a remote generation source to critical mission operation loads where (1) power loads are frequently or permanently immersed in extreme cold and (2) there are large variations in average power loads versus peak power loads. NASA has significant interest in both wired and wireless transmission, and the Challenge seeks to incentivize and demonstrate both types of solutions.
2. Energy Storage: that can (1) power mission operation loads when intermittent power generation is not available and (2) survive and operate in extreme cold environments.

NASA is looking for solutions that can be designed, built, and tested in a lunar environment with conditions similar to the real thing. After the challenge is over, NASA seeks solutions that will allow for flight readiness and future operation on the surface. It is important that the proposals work with the ideas for power generation that NASA is pursuing.

The Fission Surface Power system is a lightweight ten kilowatt nuclear reactor that emerged from the Kilopower project. There is a novel system that would use solar collectors and telescopes to capture and distribute sunlight in shadowed craters on the Moon.

The challenge is expected to advance similar technologies and have public and commercial applications on Earth. It is hoped that the proposals for this competition could be adapted for power distribution and storage here at home. The competition is open to all residents of the U.S. who are 18 years of age or older. Some restrictions apply, but organizations must be incorporated in the U.S. to maintain a primary place of business.

To enroll in the challenge, visit HeroX.

Further reading is HeroX.