NASA has announced a USD 100,000 grand prize for designing a low-cost and lightweight aerosol sensor that can monitor air quality on Earth as well as in space environments. Breathable air is necessary to sustain humans both on Earth as well as in space. Tiny airborne particles, known as aerosols, can contribute to a variety of health problems, such as asthma and respiratory tract irritation. To ensure the health of humans living on Earth as well as those traveling in spacecraft to explore the solar system, aerosol sensors needed to monitor air quality and alert engineers when action is necessary.

Earth and Space Air Prize competition

NASA is working with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to sponsor the Earth and Space Air Prize competition for a solution that could improve air quality and health in space and on Earth. The challenge is to promote development of robust, durable, inexpensive, efficient, lightweight, and easy-to-use aerosol sensors for space and Earth environments. The competition asks teams or individuals to design and develop specialised sensor technology that has the potential to useful in spaceflight as well as on Earth anywhere outdoors in a community where people may exposed to airborne particles.

“Particulate monitoring is a gap in NASA’s technology roadmap to enable future long-term missions. Current aerosol instrument technology too large,” said Paul Mudgett, from NASA’s Biomedical Research and Environment Sciences Division. “It does not offer the necessary level of sensitivity or longevity, along with the ability to operate in reduced- gravity. Using this collaboration with RWJF, we have an incredible opportunity to close this gap,” Mudgett said. The Earth and Space Air Prize is a two-phased competition. Registration for Phase 1 is open until December 13 this year and requires submission of a sensor design by January 31, 2018.

The competition will name three finalists by the end of March 2018, and each will awarded USD 50,000 to build a prototype. Finalists will have to deliver prototypes to the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, by September 30, 2018 for testing and final evaluation. The competition will announce the USD 100,000 grand prize winner in mid-October of 2018. The competition enables NASA to advance human spaceflight and RWJF to promote solutions to support communities working to improve health while both work to develop innovative technology that can improve quality of life in space and on Earth.