The US space agency NASA has launched a 1 million dollar contest to create ‘Valkyrie’ AI robot that will accompany astronauts on the first mission to Mars. NASA, in partnership with Space Center Houston, the Official Visitor Center of NASA Johnson Space Center, and a global innovation consultant organization NineSigma, has opened registration for this new competition.

Called Space Robotics Challenge, this event seeks to develop the capabilities of humanoid robots to facilitate man’s first trip to Mars scheduled for the year 2021.

The teams must program a virtual robot, modeled after NASA’s Robonaut 5 (R5, also known as Valkyrie). Valkyrie was originally designed to aid in disaster relief, but now NASA scientists have found a better use of the humanoid and now they will use Valkyrie on Mars for searching life and to know how the planet became a deserted place where once water flowed.

The competition will be held in a virtual environment. The teams will work in a series of tasks in a simulated environment that includes periods of latency, which represents the delay of communication between Earth and Mars. Each of the team has three objectives: aligning a communications array, repairing a broken solar array and fixing a habitat leak.

 “NASA and our partners are confident that the public will rise to this challenge, and are excited to see what innovative technologies will be produced,” says Monsi Roman, program manager of NASA’s Centennial Challenges

A panel of judges will decide the winner on the basis of efficiency and ability to complete the given tasks, and how long it takes to complete the tasks.

With the technology generated by this challenge, robots could participate in precursor missions to selected landing sites; arriving long before astronauts to set up habitats, life support systems, communications and solar apparatuses, and even begin preliminary scientific research.

Interested teams can register for the Space Robotics Challenge. The qualifying round runs from mid-September to mid-November. Finalists will be announced by December, and they’ll be engaged in open practice from January until finals to be held in June 2017. The winners will be announced at the end of June at Space Center Houston.

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