This challenge is for anyone under the age of 18. If you are 18 years of age or older, please go here.
If you are 12 years old or younger, please have your parent/guardian register on your behalf.
This challenge is all about your ideas for how to maintain a breathable atmosphere inside an extraterrestrial habitat.
If you are 17 years old or less, give us your idea for how to keep the air inside a habitat on another planet breathable. Your submission will be a single picture, schematic, or diagram that communicates the key aspects of your idea along with a short description. Up to 12 winners, 4 in each age category, will each receive a special HeroX badge to display on their user profiles and an official NASA certificate!
Guidelines
This challenge is for anyone under the age of 18. If you are 18 years of age or older, please go here.
If you are 12 years old or younger, please have your parent/guardian register on your behalf.
Background
When we breathe, our bodies take needed oxygen out of the air. When we exhale, our bodies release carbon dioxide back out. Usually, we don’t think about this because our planet has a breathable atmosphere. But in the future, humans may live in habitats on the surface of the moon and on other planetary surfaces. These places don’t have a breathable atmosphere, so human habitats will need a system that can maintain it for the crew. What’s your idea for how an extraterrestrial habitat can maintain a breathable atmosphere for its inhabitants?
Prize
This challenge will recognize up to 12 winners, across three age categories. Participants may submit up to 5 different ideas, with each idea being a separate submission. Submissions from the same participant are expected to be substantially different from one another, and duplicative submissions will be screened out. Participants may only win one prize.
Age categories (up to four winners will be selected from each category):
10 years old and younger
11-14 years old
15-17 years old
Submissions will be evaluated by a judging panel, using the Judging Criteria shown below.
In addition to general glory and bragging rights, winners of this challenge will also receive a NASA certificate and a HeroX participation badge.
Timeline
Open to submissions: October 26, 2022
Submission deadline: January 12, 2023 @ 5pm Eastern Time (11 weeks)
Judging: January 12 to February 21, 2023 (6 weeks)
Winners Announced: March 1, 2023
How do I win?
To be eligible for an award, your proposal must, at minimum:
Include a drawing, sketch, diagram, or schematic made by you.
Specifically address how to maintain a breathable atmosphere inside an extraterrestrial habitat.
Judging Criteria
Section
Description
Overall Weight
Quality of Description
The idea is clearly described and is relevant to the challenge.
The idea impactfully addresses the question, “How would you keep the air inside a habitat on another planet breathable?”
40
Quality of Image
The picture/drawing/schematic/model/etc. relates to the described idea and displays in some fashion how the idea would work
The image shows how any required technology would fit into their system.
40
Creativity
The competitor has thought ‘out of the box’ with their idea and addressed the problem in a new or innovative way.
The image the competitor has provided is uniquely styled, looks appealing, and/or was made through an interesting process or medium.
20
Rules
The Prize is open to anyone under the age of 18, participating as an individual or as a team. If you are 12 years old or younger, you will need to have a parent or guardian register and submit on your behalf. Individual competitors and teams may originate from any country, as long as United States federal sanctions do not prohibit participation (see: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/Programs.aspx). If you are a NASA employee, a Government contractor, or employed by a Government Contractor, your participation in this challenge may be restricted.
Submissions must be made in English. All challenge-related communication will be in English.
No specific qualifications or expertise in the field of waste management is required. NASA encourages outside individuals and non-expert teams to compete and propose new solutions.
Registration and Submissions:
Submissions must be made online (only), via upload to the HeroX.com website, on or before January 12, 2023, at 5:00 pm ET. No late submissions will be accepted.
All submissions become NASA's property and will not be returned.
Selection of Winners:
Based on the winning criteria, prizes will be awarded per the weighted Judging Criteria section above.
Judging Panel:
The determination of the winners will be made by HeroX based on evaluation by relevant NASA specialists.
Additional Information
By participating in the challenge, each competitor agrees to submit only their original idea. Any indication of "copying" amongst competitors is grounds for disqualification.
All applications will go through a process of due diligence; any application found to be misrepresentative, plagiarized, or sharing an idea that is not their own will be automatically disqualified.
All ineligible applicants will be automatically removed from the competition with no recourse or reimbursement.
No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win the competition.
We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Recycling Air Beyond Our Earth junior challenge, aimed at inspiring young minds to create a breathable atmosphere on another planet! Our judging panel had a difficult time choosing from the numerous outstanding submissions, but we are excited to showcase the top four ideas in each age category.
10 Years and Younger
Life in a Balloon by Hanife Ucar’s Student, Oğuz Alp Toy
Air Purification by Hanife Ucar’s Student, Ayşenur Aykut
Tube Traveler by Asher Freije and Elliot Kemble from Team NASA Juniors
Life Cube by Hanife Ucar’s Student, Ali Bertuğ Yüzer
Judges were impressed with the creativity displayed in these ideas.
These submissions showcased innovation and practical application of scientific concepts.
Ages 15-17
PlanetX- The Epitome of Sustainable Air Production by Saksham Jain, Mana Sharma, Aditya Tiwary, Mannat Kaur, and Manvik Kumar from Team PlanetX
Algae Ecosystem: Dual-purpose Oxygen and Food by Amit Bhalesha
Oxygeni Productio Extra Terram by Pranav Karthi, SarVessh Balaji, Aryan Janarthanan
Oxy-Green by Daniel Zlotnick, Varun Gabbita, Arjun Tschand, Kevin Liu, Gordon Fan, Harry Fan, and Angie Garcia-Lopez from Team High Techies
These submissions displayed impressive scientific understanding and highlighted each team’s passion for space and science.
We thank all of our participants for their outstanding submissions and for showcasing their passion and creativity in space exploration. We were delighted to see so many young, bright minds from all over the world contributing to this challenge. Congratulations to our winners!
Our judging team is enjoying reviewing everyone's submissions and is impressed with the creativity and hard work that has gone into each submission. Due to judge availability, we will be extending the judging period. The updated date for the award announcement will be March 16, 2023.
Just like that, it’s over! Thank you to all of you who sent in submissions. We can’t wait to finally see what you’ve been working so hard on.
Crowdsourcing would be nothing without the crowd — that’s you! Thank you for being an indispensable part of this process, and using your brainpower for the greater good.
Congratulations on completing your submission. This is not an easy process, and you deserve a pat on the back for your hard work and dedication. Thank you!
You now have less than a day left to submit your Recycling Air Beyond our Earth Junior Challenge. Now’s the time to make final changes and send it off!
Please remember that the deadline is January 12, 2023, 5pm Eastern Time. We don’t accept any late submissions, so do your best to get it in ahead of time.
We can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with! Best of luck.
The time has almost come! You now have two days left to finish your Recycling Air Beyond our Earth Junior Challenge submission. The final project is due on January 12, 2023, 5pm Eastern Time.
We don’t accept any late submissions, so now is the time to make sure that everything is good to go.
We are more than happy to answer your last-minute questions about the submission process. Post a question in the forum or leave a comment on this post, and we will be in touch with you.
We can’t wait to see the final projects. Good luck!
