The last few years of space exploration has been notable not least for the growing involvement of private entities such as Elon Musks SpaceX.

Whilst this hasn’t exactly opened up space to the masses, it has encouraged a wider range of participants than was previously the case.

Robotic explorers

This is increasingly the case as a growing number of space missions feature robotic explorers, with NASA unveiling the Valkyrie robot last year, which had worked with researchers at MIT’s CSAIL lab.

“Advances in robotics, including human-robotic collaboration, are critical to developing the capabilities required for our journey to Mars,” NASA said at the time. “We are excited to engage these university research groups to help NASA with this next big step in robotics technology development.”

So it is perhaps no surprise that the agency is continuing down this road with it’s recent Space Robotics Challenge competition.  The $1 million challenge aims to both help develop space exploration but also inspire young generations of scientists.

The challenge comes as part of the wider body of work that includes Valkyrie, and the participants in the challenge will be asked to program to the robot to perform a range of tasks, including using ladders and exiting hatches, or even fixing planetary rovers.

“The Space Robotics Challenge will engage all generations through innovative robotic design,” NASA say. “As the need for advanced technology continues to grow, this challenge will expand the global effort to accelerate our robotic capabilities for space exploration.”

The qualifying round runs from mid-September to the middle of November, with winners announced in December and an open practice period running from January to June 2017.  This will be followed by a virtual competition, with winners announced at the end of June at Space Center Houston.

For more information, please go to www.spaceroboticschallenge.com and www.spacecenter.org.