Hello and welcome to NASA
Science Live, I am Molly
McKinney, a cohost for today,
as we join you from the Hampton
Convention center, right here
in Hampton, Virginia,
and cover day one
of the 2021 Moon to Mars
Ice and Prospecting Challenge
brought to you by NASA.
What's going on behind me?
Why don't you take a look?
Students have gathered from ten
different universities acros
across the country to
test their original technology
to solve a
lunar and Martian exploration
dilemma, which is how to access
subsurface ice and melt it into
water.
Why is this important to NASA?
As we look forward to the
Artemis program and the moon
and even one day, crewed
missions to Mars, being able to
access resources like water will
be crucial for humans to survive
on other worlds.
So teams have been
tasked with designing an ice
and water harvesting system
for use on the Moon or Mars.
Not an easy task.
And today they test the system
out in a head to head
competition.
We are in person this year,
We have jumped through a
lot of hurdles to make that
happen and we are following very
strict COVID protocols including
everyone wearing face mask, we
are all fully vaccinated or
proof of negative COVID test in
hand.
If you have any questions
throughout the show today, send
them in with the #, #askNASA or
leave a message in the comment
box wherever you're watching
from, and we will do our best to
get answers for you today.
It is live show, one of the
many perks to
it being live.
I am sure you hear the
excitement it is a live show so
drills are happening as we talk
but before we get to the
competition let me explain a
little bit more of this process
so you understand how this
Moon and Mars Ice Prospecting
challenge works.
You will see these blue bins at
each one of the stations and
situated at the very bottom of
these bins is a block of water
ice.
The objective of the challenge
is for teams to get drilling
apparatus and systems all the
way down to the water ice and
they are supposed to extract
water from the ice and that is
these buckets come into play as
you will see water funneling
into them.
What is tricky is that if this
isn't hard enough, hidden
underneath... this word
regolith is getting
tossed around today which is
actually simulated lunar or
martian terrain
because let's face it on
the moon and Mars we may not
know what the soil is like under
the surface of the teams have to
be able as they're drilling down
collect data to put together
a digital core, so if you
think of a core sample, you see
these different layers of soil.
So teams have to digitally
gather how many layers,
how think the layers are
how hard the layers are
And they may be really soft more
like a cement consistency, so it
is a difficult challenge not to
mention keeping in mind weight
specifications and different
dimensions that they have to
focus on.
Someone that could tell us a
little bit more about why this
technology is important is the
special guest that my cohost has
over the correspondence desk and
let's take it over to you.
>> Thank you in hello, everyone
I'm Natalie Joseph
your cohost for today's moon to
Mars challenge coming to you
live from the Hampton Roads
convention Center.
In that you feel the excitement
in the air as the teams worked
diligently to extract water from
these bins, I am so excited
because I am joined by Alejandra
Pensado of the research is here.
thank you for joining us today.
>> Thank you for having me.
>> So I understand that NASA is
returning to the moon, could you
tell me more about this exciting
endeavor.
>> Yes, it is part of the
Artemis program, we are
returning to the moon after 50
years of robotic exploration.
This time with sustained
presence we are partnering up
with industries in ways we have
not before.
And setting a precedent to keep
expanding human exploration.
>> That is so exciting.
>> So how does this challenge
help us to achieve the goal of
returning to the moon?
>> So we are going to the south
pole where humans have never
been before so for example one
of the challenges we do not
really know what the service
surface is made of so one of the
challenges they have here is
being able to demonstrate the
capability of where they could
have a digital cord as they
drilling to them and that will
be of great capability to
explore the moon.
>> Why are they interested in
harvesting the water on the moon
or Mars.
>> Harvesting water goes a long
ways for human exploration.
There are multiple ways that you
could use it and it could
support the day-to-day
operations of humans in those
locations and you could use it
to fuel it so ultimately a
sustainable presence in these
locations water is going to be
essential.
>> We keep mentioning water,
what do we know so far about
water on the moon and Mars?
>> So for both moon and Mars, we
are studying what is there for
quite some time now for the moon
there has been formations which
have identified water on the
moon and more recently with the
impact mission it identifies
that there is water on the
shadows of the moon similarly,
they have identified water and
since the lender they have been
learning more and more about
this recent discoveries have
shown there could be what ice
deposits behind-be on the
surface which is very important.
>> Tell me more about this with
resource utilization what is it
and why is it so important.
>> So In-situ is essentially
looking at being able to use
resources on site.
So you can imagine as we will be
doing these more ambitious
missions, we need more and more
of everything with consumables
and that this is going to be
more of a challenge in terms of
if we bring everything from
Earth so the question is could
we use things on Mars and water
is a crucial thing if you could
use it then that is good as far
as operations and potentially
for refueling.
So you can imagine you lessen
the challenges of having to take
everything there and similarly
start making some design changes
based on what is already there
so ultimately it gives us a lot
of flexibility in designing
these future missions.
>> Thank you.
>> And something that is super
cool about this challenge is
that it is all about students.
So how could students, why is
important that we engage with
them and how do we use the
students ideas in the future.
>> So, going to the moon and
Mars is going to be a challenge
that we will not solve today or
tomorrow in this long endeavor
it is important to engage with
the student students early on
and ultimately having them aware
of what the challenges are in
getting their ideas on these
things will be critical as they
will be the one that answer
these challenges on the line.
>> And I have a chance to look
around and I see the cool
drilling systems and people are
already getting water and it is
super exciting, have you had a
chance to walk around and look
at the design.
There is anything stand out to
you.
>> It is very exciting to see
the designs in action.
It is very interesting to see
how they have been refining and
working off of the previous
years and you see that they have
unique design choices on how
they do the structural surfaces
and so forth and they also do
some interesting trade studies
were how do you extract the
water.
So they are testing all of these
ideas and I am excited to see
how they come out.
>> Well thank you, we actually
have some questions coming in
from our #askNASA and you could
actually submit your question.
So, Alejandra Emily on YouTube
asks, are their future plans to
launch to Mars from the moon
since the moon's gravity well,
it is much smaller than the
earth?
>> Well that is part of a study
that is being conducted,
obviously, there are benefits
into using a lower gravity
launch..
But there are so many pieces
along the way that we are still
trying to figure out the
benefits and how to go about
that.
>> And Whitney asked this
question, I love this, is it
safe to drink Martian or lunar
water.
>> So, the answer is carefully,
this will require pushing that
technology to make sure that we
could process it and there needs
to be a filtration system, so I
will go with maybe.
>> May be, okay we will see, so
we have one more hour final ask
a question for you, Scott on
YouTube wants to know more about
the new by permission which is
scouts for water on the moon and
actually Scott we just selected
the landing spot on Monday so
that is equipped great question
I love this.
So could you tell me more about
how that ties into the
competition today.
>> Yes the landing
slight-landing site was selected
it is near the South Pole so one
of the challenges is that we do
know that there is water there
but we do not know what
concentration or distribution is
there so Viper is going to
answer those very questions and
give us a better idea and a
resource mapping and based off
of that it will give us an idea
of how to extract the water from
those areas which is in turn
going to Ghitis and develop this
technology that you see today.
>> That is so exciting I am
really excited about all of
these missions which we have
going on at NASA.
So thank you for joining us
today.
>> Of course thank you for
helping me.
>> Molly has exciting things to
show you all in the pit.
But first, let's learn a little
bit more about the upcoming
rover.
>> We know from decades of study
that the moon has water but
where and how much in 2023 a
robotic rover explores the
moon's surface in search of
water and ice, the moon rover
will perform the first resource
mapping resource on a
netherworld with advanced
instruments and tools to
determine the location and
concentration of water on the
moon.
>> Touche send this to the moon
this is part of the surface.
They are to the surface of the
move.
This represents our development
we are developing each
instrument I had of it.
This is truly creative they will
launch it to the moon South Pole
which is where no human or rover
has ever been before.
>> The survey will provide
scientists with the most
detailed view of the water to
date and.to spots where water
could be harvested by future
astronauts.
>> It will be the first research
mapping mission on the surface
of another body in a represents
a new kind of mission that
mission in which the objectives
will advance science in human
exploration are you closer than
ever the measurements of the
instruments will help us to
understand the source and
distribution of the water and
other volatiles giving us
insight into the evolution of
the moon and the mars system,
the water is also a precious
resource that could be extracted
to have the exploration young.
But what we learn from Viper
brings us a step closer to give
us a human presence on the moon.
Go team Viper, we are proud of
you all.
For those of you just joining as
we are in line for the coverage
of 2021 moon to Mars ice in
prospecting challenge.
As you look around the pit area
today you will notice that each
of these teams have a different
design which is unique to the
team and the University.
Each team brings a different
idea to the table in that
diversity of ideas which we get
including students in
competition like this really
really expands our understanding
not just for NASA but as a
global science community.
This is the fifth year of this
competition and every year we
learn something new, what worked
or didn't work and this
collective knowledge from
student led ideas could really
pave the way for future crude
admissions to places like Mars
in the moon.
Today is day NO. 1 of the shows
competition and that teams
operate their systems for the
first time.
I was talking to a couple of
those teams yesterday in the
systems had never traveled
before.
So, it is always a little
nerve-racking power in the zone
for the first time.
Most of the university students
today use a drill to dig through
the simulated soil to get to
that ice below it, and along the
way to the ice team is have to
collect data about the layers
they are drooling through how
many layers there are, how thick
they are and how dense they are
in the use this information to
create additional core which
they are judged on at the end of
the competition.
Then to extract the water below,
they have converged a coupon
belting a pool of ice underneath
the surface in pumping it out
rather than trying to extract
the ice from the layers up
above.
And that you all understand a
little bit about the competition
let's talk about the teams on
the floor.
Our first one up here is from
the Institute of technology now
I do not even need the cue card
for this one, Stephen it is nice
to meet you.
Tell us about your design and if
you modeled and off of anything.
>> This is in very much like a
perimeter we translate our
extract her back and forth,
forward and back and up and
down.
Our drilling is off-the-shelf
percussion drill which is half
liter long drill bit wild
drilling through these layers,
we used this to map out our
visual cord so we measure things
such as the weight, the speeds,
RPM, current voltage in all of
that which goes into our
calculations and we calculate
the hardness of the layers in
after we're done, we retract the
drill moving over in lower it
into the hole in which is
750 watts heater and a pump
which is pretty strong.
We trade this a while we are
extracting the water we also
simultaneously further melt the
ice and then once we collect
that water it goes through the
sand filter and into our
crushing container.
>> It sounds like you had
thought this through and your
team has done this before what
are the challenges and how have
you compensated for this as you
compete.
>> Well two years ago we faced
the issue of over melting the
whole, so as they melted the ice
water was leaking out the side
of it and making it un-
retrievable.
So to fix this, we installed a
sensor so that tracks the water
level of the ice as we melted so
with this rate of penetration in
the time that the pump is
running we estimate a radius of
the hole that we melted so that
we could map out the ice as well
as the overburden.
>> Having an address that how do
you feel about your odds of
winning.
>> We do feel good we have a few
more issues to work out, but
once we get going I think we
will go strong.
>> We are going to be rooting
for you I will let you get back
to it.
>> Okay let's go over here we
have warmer team to interview.
This is a and D.
Correct so tell me a little bit
about your design and how long
you have been working on it.
>> This project we have been
working on over a year and the
main attraction is it is a
consecutive structure which
consists on aluminum rods, and
polyethylene's a 18th of the
weight of a steel cable and
50 tons of strength compared to
steel cable in tension.
So, what you really want to do
is light weight.
So this is our first idea and we
went with that, so we have 3-1
system so extract and heat.
So that system was integrated
all throughout and it was a
great opportunity to do all
things without moving the drill
you just go down once and stay
down there for the entire
process and lastly we have
mountain structure which is low
friction to move that rail
around in case we needed to make
another hole as well.
>> You did this in the midst of
a global pandemic like the other
teams, how did that posed
challenges for your team.
>> The main thing was
communication in manufacturing
so communicating with our team
was slower everyone is at home,
the way we overcame this was we
pulled together knowing that if
you didn't do it yourself at
home someone else could do your
job so we all came together and
did their part knowing that we
were counting on them to do with
the stuff at home and the
machine shop was closed so we
bring into issues there to adapt
and overcome and make sure that
we tackle the task at front of
us.
>> How do you think you'd did to
be here today.
>> We did a great job in my
opinion we have diverse group of
engineers and mechanical
engineers, so everyone has
different disciplines and
backgrounds give us the edge of
covering all of our bases and
have different viewpoints and
present this here in NASA.
>> We are excited to have you
here.
Good luck.
I think you will hear that,
throughout this competition that
COVID-19 pandemic those hurdles
it is a difficult challenge to
begin with and then add in
manufacturers being closed in
restricted access a lot of those
resources they plan to use right
here the use would rather than
aluminum so we are waiting spend
spread send something to space
made of wood so now let's give
us the background on this.
>> Virtual prospect challenge is
coming up with novel solutions
to extract the moon and Mars.
They are the novel ways that
offer unique challenges.
>> The unique thing about it was
the overburden and taking out
the dirt.
>> There is a test bed and it is
circulated back down and it
heats up the rice around it.
>> It articulates out.
>> It is not like a housing
structure.
>> What we were trying to do is
to incorporate laser heating
into our system for the
extraction of water.
>> In light of the pandemic
universities restricted access
on facilities.
We were in the middle of putting
this together and everything
hit.
>> When spring break happened
everything with COVID started to
ramp up.
We thought that we would just be
able to do design work for a
couple of weeks and then get
back into our lab again but we
knew that wasn't going to happen
so then we collected all of our
supplies and threw them in the
back of one of our trucks.
>> We took all of these parts
from our machine shop.
>> We were actually a few hours
before they locked the doors for
the next three months.
>> We lost what we had.
>> When things moved online and
everyone had to go home a lot of
people gave up.
A lot of people focused on their
own things, but we tried to get
them here.
>> The only thing that they
could do was to keep it all
going.
>> For each one of these we had
a resume call.
>> Everybody got back on board.
But prove ourselves right.
>> We knew at the end that we
could still present something in
the chance of that pushed us.
>> Going into the second year
with a head start and a lot of
that would be helpful.
>> We finished up all of our
testing and we made that push
and we hand it off to the next
team that should continue to
turn it over.
>> We are born many more years
that we will refine our design
and go back.
>> They keep finishing and
tweaking this and getting the
best results.
And then with those 27 members
were brought in, we work on a
new one.
We are very appreciative of the
opportunity to work and learn to
the whole process.
If you are just now joining us
we're coming to live from moon
to Mars prospecting challenge
with a drill through simulated
lunar and soil to get to the ice
in hopes of extracting water
from down below.
And I believe my colleague over
there as one of the event
organizers so let's kick things
off with the correspondent's
desk and ask how this
competition came to be.
>> Thank you and I am here with
someone very important, I am
joined by Shelly Spears who is
in charge of bringing this
entire event together thank you
so much for joining us.
>> It is wonderful thank you.
>> We are back for another
competition so how is this
year's competition going.
>> It is fantastic they came
ready to compete this year and
right now hearing all of the
drilling in excitement in the
room we are off to a fantastic
start.
>> I know especially because I
know last year's competition was
canceled because of the
pandemic, so I know that it must
be great to see all of these
designs in person and see
everything in action today.
>> They look so hard-work so
hard on this and they have had
so many challenges putting the
system together with the hiccups
and obstacles of COVID so to it
have been physically be here to
put all the hard work to the
test and compete with their
colleagues they are excited and
we are excited and it is really
great to see people face to face
again.
>> I agree so this is the fifth
year of the challenge with new
teams competing in the new
design, what have we learned so
far over the lifetime of this
competition and why does NASA
continue to support it?
>> We have learned when we first
are the competition there were
so many different approaches to
solving this complex challenge
and over time we have seen teams
gravitate towards one or two
approaches that they have
learned through our reading
technical papers, lessons
learned in all of those that we
do because the competition is
all here together so we want to
see the best practices
everything that works and does
not work so maybe more
importantly we learned what it
does not work and we are
starting to gravitate towards a
few approaches but we do not
want to make it too easy.
>> Why do you think competition
like that prospecting challenges
are beneficial.
>> They are important for a lot
of reasons for students entering
the workforce and want to go
into aerospace and exploration
systems it gives them the
opportunity to apply their
skills in a very hands-on way
and it is a very cost-effective
way for NASA to put out these
complex challenges to academia
because it is going to take a
lot of creative input to solve
some of these complex problems.
So it takes academia, and
international space agencies are
working together it also creates
a bridge talent pool for
industry and let's face it these
students right here, when we
have longer duration present it
will happen during their career,
so they are really getting a
head start.
>> How can they get involved in
future challenges.
>> There are so many
opportunities out there so if
you are in kindergarten or all
the way through graduate school,
NASA does a great job of
creating opportunity for
students so I would say to go
online and if you search that on
the Internet, this is a
newsletter and they do a
wonderful job of letting
everyone know the opportunities
that are out there.
>> And how about getting
involved specifically in this
challenge.
>> So you could go to the
website or to the Napa-NASA
website or go to rascal in that
talk about the competition and
see all about what we are coming
up with next.
>> Well, we have so many
#askNASA questions coming in and
if you are at home and would
like your question answered
life, use the #, #askNASA and
drop your questions from
wherever you are watching us
today so, our first question
comes from twitter and they are
asking what are the colleges
participating in the challenge.
>> Okay let's see, there are ten
it is MIT, Virginia Tech, is it
okay if I do this, Auburn
University MIT San Diego State,
Stevens Institute of technology
University of Pittsburgh, Cal
poly Northeastern Texas A&M and
Virginia Tech.
>> Congratulations to all those
universities for making it out
here today.
In another question on Facebook
and she wants to know how are
these teams chosen.
>> So we put out a call for
proposals across the country it
is open to all universities that
partner with universities that
they like and we put out the
specs and requirements and may
submit our plans reviewed by the
industry experts and NASA
experts the judging panel and we
picked these teams that have
innovative ideas and they seem
more prepared and we give them
some small amount of funding to
soft with their designs and then
they are here.
>> Thank you so much for joining
us.
And Molly it is back to you.
>> And thank you for putting on
another great competition we
love to come to this one.
And I had a neat opportunity to
interview with the astronaut
Victor Glover if you have not
heard him speak and get ready
because he is well spoken and
genuinely wonderful human being.
We get to talk about this
challenge and what it means for
astronauts like him who may be
an end user of this technology
one day he also knows a thing or
two about space firsthand.
>> Thank you for joining us
we're so excited to have you on
the show.
>> Thank you, very much.
So right now in the competition,
the student teams are operating
unique technologies in
demonstrating drilling through
our simulated lunar and services
in they try to access the water
which is hidden beneath.
As you as an end unit that may
benefit like this, what value do
you see in competitions like
this?
>> Well I appreciate that
statement as a user of this
technology, it is amazing that
we are going back to the moon
with this and it is amazing that
our generation will have this
program and I am really excited
about this effort so for them to
be working on technology for us
to get access to ice which is a
valuable resource because you
need it for life and it is a
great component and record fuel.
So this technology will enable
us to find new ways and ideas
for extracting this valuable
resource in the sources that we
have recently discovered the
moon.
>> I would like to focus a
little bit on water.
When you have been in space this
is such a limited resource I
imagine you treat it with a lot
of care, what does it signify
for you I am sure this is
different than what water
signifies to me.
>> Living in space helps you to
appreciate what we take for
granted or at least just expect
to be there like water, we have
to reclaim water and we actually
take, I heard someone say one
time, we turn yesterday's coffee
into tomorrow's coffee because
we take water out of everything
if I run on the treadmill and
wipe my face with a towel I hang
the towel up in the air
conditioning system dries it out
and pulls the moisture out of
the air in the air conditioner
separates and puts it in our
water system and purifies it in
turns it into drinking water so
it is extremely valuable.
That is the most exciting part
the ability to get access to
that resource which is already
up there on the moon is a
critical capability.
Very need to thing to be able to
do in the technology the
students are working on the new
ideas, they will not all take
the same approach in the debt is
one thing that is really
exciting about this type of
competition.
>> How do you think as an
astronaut the moon to Mars
prospecting challenge, could
directly impact you and other
future astronauts as you explore
the moon and Mars?
>> Knowing that these students
are creating something that
might be a tool that we use in
space one day is actually quite
motivating and inspiring them to
see the ideas that they come up
with but more importantly the
ideas they come up with are
great but then to see the
physical competition where they
show the hardware, they have a
design and some of the code
hardware and software in the put
it out there and then they run
it in the have to come up with
procedures and communicate and
work together as a team and the
move this material from one
place to another.
It is amazing to actually see
this idea become a reality.
So this type of competition is
so important to inspire those
students to dream and create and
also for us to learn about what
ideas are out there because NASA
has very good things that we
have done for a long time that
are working and they work well
but that may not be the best or
most efficient way to do things
right now.
>> Thank you very much for your
time we are very appreciative.
>> Thank you it has been great
talking to you and
congratulations to all the
students and advisers at the
event.
Best good luck to you.
>> If you're like me and could
listen to Victor Glover talk all
day things are grim for our part
two of the interview, we are
going to hear from him firsthand
and what it would be like to use
this technology on the moon
Monday.
So stick with us you do not want
to miss that and if you're just
not joining us, we are coming
you live with from the moon to
Mars ice in prospecting
challenge.
Right now we are trying to
attempt to extract water from
the ice below.
One-day systems like this could
be used to extracted from the
Moon or Mars in for future
explorers, accessing resources
like water will be crucial for
creating a sustained-in
sustaining human presence beyond
earth.
So now that you get some context
about the challenge itself I am
joined with the team so that we
see how it is going in the pit
area.
So you guys are both from MIT,
give me a rundown of your design
and your system.
>> Right, so first of all I
would like to say that we have
an amazing team of seven people
and we have complementary like
skills and it is amazing what we
have actually come up with.
>> So we have this able spot
right here at which we focus on
we have a parallel drill trail
and heater as well, so we drill
a hole about an inch in diameter
and we use this motor which is
very accurate and on the Y axis
we move the heater into place
right above the drilled hole.
And then we drop this heater
down and use radiative heating
to melt the ice and basically go
into Mars melting the ice and we
use this to pump the water out.
So that is basically the
hardware this can be controlled
by a team of I guess astronauts
where we do not actually have to
touch the instrument and we are
just looking at controlling it
from a distance and I have been
very lucky and I have gotten to
be one of those astronauts for
our system so that is exactly
how are our hardware works.
>> Right now it is hands off, so
now walk through this software
and unique tools to get your
data especially with the digital
core.
>> Cool, so first off we have a
microphone.
And getting water is nice, we
have been a fantastic job about
doing this, one thing that we
really want for the moon and
Mars is to show what are the
layers that make up what we are
digging.
So the things that we have are a
microphone and this is the
different sounds when you drill
into different material, we also
have sensors so more forces
being applied, then we have more
current to the drill in the
motor moving the drill
downwards.
And you have to be current of
the drill bit as well as, that
is pretty much it.
And then we map it into a neural
net, with heavy statistics and
then you figure out that you are
drilling and concrete right now,
I'm drilling into ice and that
is how you know that you want to
turn right here, and put the
heater down and get the water
out.
>> I have covered this
competition for a year and never
saw a microphone I would never
have thought about utilizing it
like that.
>> At the very end we realize
what sounds it is in there we
go.
>> How confident are you in your
ability to capture a clean water
facility from this week you
drink the water that your system
produces over here.
>> Yes, I have drink dirtier
water in my life before.
>> All in the name of science,
right.
>> Yes.
>> We will take it, it is a live
show.
>> Thank you, very much I
appreciate your time.
>> Thank you for having us.
>> Yes thank you so much.
Let's go over here, this is
called coiling with the
University of Pittsburgh, so
tell me about your machine and
your design.
>> Sure.
So, our system is pretty unique
when you compare it to the rest
of the systems around here, we
are the only ones who are
extracting water instead of the
liquid.
>> Are we doing the right thing
if no one else is choosing that
approach why did you choose that
approach.
>> We really fell in love with
the theme of this competition
which is to build a robot which
extracts water on the moon in
the condition on Mars and moon
suggest that you could actually
have ice sublimate into a gas
form when you add heat.
>> Easier than on Earth.
>> Yes.
So actually we have the hardest
time competing on earth and.
>> Let's talk to the event
organizer about doing it out
there next time.
Now I think they told us that
they are going to ship it up
there next week.
>> Seriously.
>> No.
>> No one told me.
Have you burned through any
heating apparatuses to get to
this point.
>> We have gone through one
heating element but I have one
piece of great news we extracted
some water.
That is good, congratulations.
>> It is amazing.
And special thank you to my
entire team we have put in a ton
of work more than we all
expected.
But we have rose to the
challenge and I am super proud
of all of the guys that we have
with us today.
>> That is awesome
congratulations I am excited for
you guys.
It is not an easy challenge in
one of the things, one of the
things I think that is important
is the judges here so a special
guest that knows the in and outs
and I may even official that
talk about the official in and
outs let's push it over to the
correspondence desk.
>> I have an important person
with me I am joined by Chris
Jones who is the judge of
today's competition I'm so happy
you could join us.
>> So, Chris you have been so
instrumental in the creation of
this challenge, so you are
probably the best person to ask,
how does this challenge work and
how do they need to accomplish
this.
>> We have two big challenges
that we are asking the students
to do here in that is why we
call it the prospecting
challenge.
Part of it is the prospect
inside of it and what we are
looking for here is for teams to
give us what we call a digital
core.
We have gave them test back with
multiple layers but they don't
know what the layers are so they
get there so they have to use
the sensors and instruments
aboard their systems to
determine what they are how hard
they are and how many there are
in give us some information back
as a demonstration of the kind
of thing that we could do as we
explore the moon.
>> And then once they find that,
they need to find and collect
water also?
How does that work.
>> The other half is getting to
the ice at the bottom of the
cooler in processing that into
some fashion into water that
they could bring to a so they
know that there is ice they have
designed these systems for that
but they also do design them so
that they have forward
application to missions we would
have to do on the moon and Mars
so that we could use this
someday in a real mission.
>> After all of that, how does a
team when this challenge.
>> A big part of it is how much
water could you deliver you get
a lot of points for producing a
lot of water in the quality of
that digital core.
Did you understand the layers we
give you points for that and
they have written technical
papers that explain not just how
it works for the demonstration
but also how it would be
adjusted to work on the moon and
Mars.
How could we take advantage of
this and all of the points for
that come together to determine
who is the winning team.
>> Speaking of taking advantage
of it what is on the line and
what could students went.
>> Among the things on the line
is, the glory of doing it.
But more realistically and may
be more interest to the students
here we have 10,000-dollar prize
pool that the judges will
determine how to distribute
among the teams.
In the past we use that as a
trifles site and but also for a
number of other opportunities
for the students to present
their ideas to a broader
audience and in addition, they
get the opportunity to provide
these really cool ideas to us
here at NASA for us to build and
fly.
>> So we have questions coming
in for you from #askNASA so our
first question is from YouTube
user asking what are a few
things that may differ
experimenting on them Uzi-moon
and Mars.
>> Their different environments
in both of them are much lower
gravity than what we have on
earth so teams have to
understand how to deal with that
in on the moon there is a vacuum
which means there is no air
surrounding them at all which
impacts the ability for a system
to use certain kinds of pressure
to acquire the resources.
In both locations they have to
deal with dust but the way that
the dust behaves differs from
the moon and Mars.
In addition the ways which we
may find ice are varying between
those two.
On the moon we find that in a
shadowed region which means we
are in cold and darkness and on
Mars we hope to find it in much
more accessible locations.
>> So, on Twitter, excuse me on
YouTube asks what is the soul
purpose of extracting water from
the moon.
>> On the moon.
So one of the biggest reasons to
extract water on the moon is
that it is a chance to make up
not just just the life-support
goods that astronauts would need
things like water or breathable
oxygen but also a way to get the
propellent that they would
leaving that lunar surface and
going back to Earth's orbit one
of the things I have done and
worked with books on is when and
where is the best location to
use this and where is the best
to use that lunar water to
explore exploration and the
answer is there are a lot of
different ways.
>> Now from twitter Amber wants
to know due to the freezing
temperatures on Mars, how do you
keep the water from re- present
after it has been extracted.
>> It is interesting it is not
the only challenge with managing
the water but because of the low
pressure water is at risk of
turning directly from ice into a
gas which means we cannot even
capture it as a liquid.
Some teams here are looking
about taking advantage of it but
often it is a balance of keeping
it warm enough and pressurized
enough with additional systems
to make sure that we could keep
it in a usable state for the
next missions.
>> If you find it launching from
the moon to Mars as viable
options have what would you have
to first transport to ready a
launch.
>> In order to take advantage of
this we have to find this ice
than the systems that could be
mine in and process it and turn
it into something useful and it
is going and demonstrating all
of these in doing the science to
find where it is in order to
turn it into something that we
could use like what we're doing
here.
This is our first step.
>> It has been a pleasure and I
know you do not only put this
together but you are also a
judgment so I will let you get
back to that.
Now Molly, back to you.
>> Thank you.
And some of you may be sought or
earlier on the show that I had
the amazing opportunity to sit
said them with Victor cleverish
and how it affects astronauts
like him who could be end-users
of this technology and get the
opportunity to walk right here.
So let's take a look at what
Victor had to say.
>> As we prepare to send humans
to the moon, what is this and is
it the next Apollo.
>> That is an easy way to
describe it but, it is not.
It is our generations moon
program it is Artemis but if you
are familiar with Apollo yes, we
are building a rocket which is
the space launch system which is
going to be very powerful and a
big rocket capable of getting a
spacecraft, Orion into lunar
orbit which enables us to get
humans they there and to a
gateway which would be like a
space station orbiting around
the moon we would get humans to
the gateway or human lander
system which would then get
human beings to the surface of
the moon and one other exciting
components is the astronauts.
So we identify folks who would
like to be a part of it and so
we are going to start to
hopefully in the near future
actually naming these folks and
that the greater international
partners to these missions
specifically in those will be
the actual Artemis lunar
astronauts it is very exciting.
>> How would it feel to be the
first person to walk on the moon
what would that mean to you.
>> I really, I have no idea I
thought going into space and
living on the space station
would feel a certain way but so
much more than that it takes
that it blew away my expectation
so I can only imagine that
anything going to the surface of
the moon but being in orbit
around the moon before you go
down to the surface or reading
the moon and being able to look
at the window and see earth
rise.
I mean think about that, that
picture that Bill Anders took
changes the way that they saw
themselves when they see our
planet so to witness that with
my own eyes or even to be in
Mission Control is the
communicator, speaking to
crewmembers and my colleagues
and friends while they
experienced that, that would be
unreal.
So I cannot tell you how that
would feel but I would love to
have that experience and come
back and describe it to you.
>> One thing I love about being
part of competitions like this
is that you see people coming
together as the human race and
if you see of these different
walks of rice with different
backgrounds and speak different
languages and to really get to
see that beautiful picture of
our world and of our planet,
having a view of our planet like
that you have been able to have,
does that change your
perspective on what life is like
here?
>> I believe it would do this
for all people is make you
appreciate life or on the
surface, you do not get to see,
you see the entire ocean in
countries without Borders in the
entire continent it is amazing
doing any of these amazing
science and technology things
like living in space putting
humans in space requires us to
do our best and just about every
science and technology endeavor
we have had life-support,
medical health, radiation
protection, waste management,
all of these things drive us to
be our best selves and they
remind us that we need the best
from everyone.
And that is what is great about
these competitions is seeing the
students all from all the
universities especially from my
alma mater.
It is great to see all walks of
life, all the ideas and
ingenuity, all of us doing
our best together.
>> Thank you, so much, we are so
appreciative of you.
>> Thank you for the time it was
great to be here in great
talking to you and good luck to
all the students in the
competition.
>> Victor Glover pushing us to
bring out the very best in all
of us that was so inspiring I
think I got goosebumps during
it.
>> I wasn't going to say
anything but it is simply
amazing.
>> I cannot wait to see the rest
of it and I am sure other people
wonder how they could watch this
entire video and the all of that
on YouTube so check it out.
>> Do I have to deliver the bad
news.
>> I do.
>> I just got comfortable over
here but we are out of time we
have seen lots of amazing
prototypes and I have seen
designs I've never seen before
with this competition so I
believe that we have heard it
over and over again that the
technology being developed today
is really going to help us
advance exploration as a whole
as we pursue other worlds like
Mars.
>> And it will be the student's
ideas in the idea of the future
which will take that giant leap
and I am very excited and I want
more people to get involved and
I think people wonder how to do
that so if you want to get
involved in are curious about
more challenges like this,
subscribe to the newsletter
online and if you want to learn
more about our very exciting
Artemis program, visit our
website.
All right, thank you for joining
us today on NASA Science Live.
We will see you next time.
Thank you.
Goodbye, everybody.
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