MarsDrive has launched a Mars Sample Return and In-situ Propellant Production Design Competition, a year-long contest to stimulate innovative alternatives to current Mars support mission concepts.
The goal of the competition is "to produce a workable mission outline and increase public interest and support for space exploration initiatives," the group said in a statement.
Competition entries must include both a detailed plan for the return of a Mars regolith sample to Earth for study, and methods for the automated production of propellant on the Martian surface. Further details for entry requirements are available at the group's Web site: marsdrive.com.
A panel of judges will review each entry. Those judges include, to date:
Robert Zubrin, president of The Mars Society;
Louis Friedman, executive director of The Planetary Society;
Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center, and
Grant Bonin, an aerospace engineer and the author of "Mars for Less."
In addition to a cash award, first prize will include an all-expenses-paid trip to the 26th Annual International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles, where the author may present the winning design. The first prize entry also will be submitted to the 2007 Mars Society Conference, and to NASA and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
"We at MarsDrive view the space community and the general public at large as a tremendous source of knowledge and ingenuity," the group said. "Through this competition we seek to harness those traits for the advancement of not only MarsDrive, but of all individuals and groups who believe there is great benefit for mankind in the exploration and colonization of Mars."
