Is This The End Of The Centennial Challenge?

If NASA leaders have their way, the Centennial Challenge Award will be used to spur space travel by rewarding companies for their achievements, not their promises. That way, the space agency expects it will actually get a return on its investment, rather than risking taxpayer dollars on untested technology.

Sounds good? Not to Congress. It seems NASA doesn't have the legal authority to award such prizes. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have indeed authorized $12 million for the CCA program. They've even told NASA to get on the ball and hurry the competitions into existence. But Congress so far has failed to provide the legal mechanism by which NASA can do all that. Without special authorization, the biggest money NASA can award without special permission is $250,000.

There are bills pending, of course, but they wouldn't authorize anything more than $1 million. NASA's vision of the CCA includes three tiers of awards:

• Flagship Awards would offer between $10 and $50 million for inventions like a robotic vehicle that can make soft landings on the moon, a viable solar sail and small unmanned vessels that can pick up small payloads from the International Space Station and bring them back to Earth. NASA would hand out one or two of these each year.
• Keystone Awards would be meted out to those companies that handle less ambitious challenges like developing better spacesuit components or better radiation shields or a more efficient rover vehicle. The Keystone Awards would be given in the amount of between $250,000 and $5 million. NASA would make as many as five Keystones available each year.
• Quest Challenges would be the smallest awards handed out by the space agency. Recipients would likely be students who could make up to $1 million by coming up with better model rockets or even good science fiction.

"The hope is that when the 109th Congress comes into session next year we'll see progress on this front," said NASA award program manager Brant Sponberg in an interview with United Press International. But that hope may be dashed by some Congressmen who won't let NASA pay for demonstrable innovation.

FMI: www.nasa.gov