NASA Contest: Name a Space Station Droid

This scenario shows NASA's free-flying robot in action. 

The space agency has teamed up with TopCoder in a contest to name the new space robot.

Credit: NASA /Topcoder

NASA needs your help to name a new space robot, and you could win some cash doing it.

NASA officials are asking space fans around the world to help name, and design a mission patch for, a new free-flying robot expected to launch to the International Space Station in 2017.

The first-place winner of the challenge will receive $1,000. Officials with the space agency put out the call to any interested space fans during a packed session here at New York Comic Con on Saturday (Oct. 11).

"We have this new free-flying robot that we're building," Jason Crusan, director of NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems division, told a full house at Comic Con. "We don't know what to call it.

'Free-flying robot' sounds kind of boring and not all that exciting, so we're asking you to actually name the robot for us."

Second, third and fourth place also come with cash prizes. Second place will win $500, with third and fourth prize taking home $250 each. NASA has teamed up with Topcoder to organize the contest.

If an artist's depiction of the new space automaton is any indication, the new robot may look like something out of "Star Wars."

In the artist's concept, the robot could appear as a small, ball-shaped droid that will use fans to move itself around the interior of the International Space Station. It is expected to be able to fly itself, or be operated by remote control.

The new free-flying bot would join a group of other free-fliers already on the station. NASA's SPHERES robots (the name is short for Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites) are already used on the orbiting outpost.

The program has been running for seven years, and is designed to help scientists test robotics hardware and software in microgravity.

The SPHERES robots and the new robot should be able to move around autonomously, but humans living and working on the orbiting outpost can also control the satellites.

"As the push for manned and automated exploration of the solar system expands, NASA and the NASA Ames Research Center are creating controlled and autonomous robotic devices capable of supplementing flight crew," officials wrote in a description of the challenge on the Topcoder website.

"These 'free-flying robots' will eventually extend the research and exploration capabilities of astronauts, as they are capable of working during off-hours and (eventually) in extreme environments."

To participate in the NASA challenge to name the new robot, space fans need to register with Topcoder. Participants will reach a checkpoint where they will receive feedback on their initial designs on Oct. 22, and the challenge ends on Oct. 27. Officials will announce the winners of the competition on Nov. 2.

Enter Israeli Google Lunar X Prize Gaming Contest - Last Chance

Team SpaceIL is a nonprofit organization and the only Israeli group competing in the Google Lunar X Prize. 

Credit: Google Lunar X Prize

This week is your last chance to enter a competition for $25,000 to develop your own space exploration game.

Games for Change, an organization that aims to make a social mark through digital games, is hosting a contest asking people to share their ideas for a space game that "takes players to the final frontier," officials with the organization said. Interested participants must submit their game ideas by Friday (March 14).

The game should be created to benefit SpaceIL, an Israeli group competing for the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize.

The grand prize will be awarded to the first private team to complete a set of goals including landing a probe on the lunar surface.


Teams must be ready to launch by Dec. 31, 2015. To win the grand prize, the winning spacecraft must move 1,650 feet (500 meters) on the moon and successfully beam back video, images and data to Earth.

"SpaceIL is seeking to create a crowd-sourced simulation generator that invites players to land a spacecraft on the moon, producing comprehensive data that will enable them to optimize the real-world spacecraft design," Games for Change wrote in a statement.

"The game would allow players to have a first-person experience in navigating an unmanned spacecraft."

"Through customizing their spacecraft and navigating to the Moon, they will actually help SpaceIL optimize their real spacecraft and mission design."

"SpaceIL will gather data about the different orbits, paths, and maneuvers players choose and see how much fuel was burned to find more fuel-efficient orbits and optimize their trajectory design software — saving both fuel and money in the process."

Finalists will be notified of their selection on March 21, and three finalists will present their game design to a judging panel on April 23 at the 11th annual Games for Change Festival.

"Stateless" Mynamar Boy Comes 3rd in Japan Paper Airplane Contest

Mong Thongdee, a 12 -year-old stateless who was born in Thailand to Myanmar migrants, competes during the team indoor flight duration competition at the All-Japan Origami Airplane Contest in Makuhari, near Tokyo, on Saturday.

A Mynamar boy who the Thai Government claim is "Stateless" and has no 'official nationality' even though he lives in Thailand, has captured third place in a Japanese paper airplane contest on Sunday. Only after he made extensive tearful pleas to be allowed to attend the contest, did the authorities decide to grant him a rare 'temporary' passport for the event.

Mong Thongdee, 12, won a national paper airplane championship in Thailand in August 2008 after he threw a plane that flew for 12 seconds, and was later chosen to attend the Japanese contest in Chiba, near Tokyo.

Mong, who lives in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, is the son of Myanmar migrants and they have officially been declared 'stateless', by the Thai Government and therefore have no legal right to travel abroad.

His first application to leave Thailand was denied, but after national media coverage of him quietly sobbing after the refusal captured the hearts of many Thais, he was granted a temporary passport.