NASA’S Prize Competition Solicits Ideas and Partners

To cast a wide net for supporting future prize
competitions, NASA’s Centennial Challenges program today
issued two Requests for Information (RFI) and one
Announcement of Partnership Opportunity (APO).

Centennial Challenges seeks novel solutions to NASA’s mission
challenges from non-traditional sources of innovation in
academia, industry and the public. The RFIs are soliciting
information on potential support contracts for future
challenges the program may conduct.

The APO document is looking for organizations wishing to
contribute to Centennial Challenges activities. The APO has
two distinct goals: to identify potential co-sponsor
organizations interested in contributing cash toward one or
more prize competitions, and to identify potential allied
organizations interested in making in-kind service
contributions toward the administration of one or more prize
competitions.

“For more than 200 years, prizes have played a key role in
spurring new achievements in science, technology, engineering
and exploration,” said Craig Steidle, NASA’s Associate
Administrator for Exploration Systems. “Centennial Challenges
will use prizes to help make the nation’s Vision for Space
Exploration a reality,” he added.

“We hope to receive ideas from potential support contractors
and identify prospective partners who will make this program
as successful as possible. We look forward to the inputs
we’ll receive in response to these RFIs and APO,” said
Centennial Challenges manager Brant Sponberg.

A Centennial Challenges Day will be held from 10 a.m. to
noon, Monday, Nov. 15, in the NASA Headquarters auditorium,
300 E St. SW, Washington, to describe and answer questions
about the overall program and the released RFIs and APO. All
presentations will be open to the public, unclassified and
restricted to the Centennial Challenges program, and the
released RFIs and APO. For more information on the program
and the RFIs, visit: http://centennialchallenges.nasa.gov/