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(Narrator)
NASA's Centennial Challenges looks to the public,

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industry, entrepreneurs, small businesses
and even garage inventors to develop revolutionary

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solutions to some of the biggest challenges
that NASA faces.

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Since 2010 Marshall Space Flight Center has
been home to Centennial Challenges.

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During that time we've been able to accomplish
great things, together.

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Our Astronaut Glove Challenge sourced novel
ways to improve the gloves that astronauts

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use in space.

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making it easier for them to perform tasks
during spacewalks.

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(Soundbite)
My background is in costuming.

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I'm a designer and fabricator and these challenges
allow people like myself to participate in

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a dialogue about aerospace that otherwise
they would have no interest in.

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(Narrator)
Our Lunar Lander Challenge task teams with

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building and flying a rocket powered vehicle

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that simulates the flight of a vehicle on the Moon.

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[cheers]

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Our Sample Return Robot Centennial Challenge
asked competitors to develop an autonomous

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rover that could seek out and cache samples
for future return missions from other worlds.

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(Soundbite)
It takes high-resolution pictures of the area,

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it analyzes those images, then it sends the
robot after it.

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(Soundbite)
This is like a top-notch competition, and

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it's NASA.

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I mean, well, it's awesome.

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(Narrator)
Our 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge sourced ideas

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and technologies to develop 3D printers that
could one day print habitats on the Moon and

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Mars, and also here on Earth.

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(Soundbite)
It's often counterintuitive that space research

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actually improves Earth, but it's seen time
and time again.

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(Soundbite)
We are all together developing a technology

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that advances the way we think about constructing
buildings on Earth.

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Nothing gets done without multiple people
coming together.

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(Narrator)
Our Space Robotics Challenge is advancing

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robotic software and autonomous capabilities
for space exploration missions on other worlds.

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Sending robots ahead of humans could give
us a robotic leg up.

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(Soundbite)
We look at this robot as being a type of caretaker

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robot that can manage human environments while
the crew's not there.

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(Narrator)
NASA's first in-space competition the Cube Quest Challenge

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tasked the public with developing
small satellites capable of orbiting the Moon,

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surviving the longest in deep space

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or being able to communicate from beyond our Moon back to Earth.

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(Soundbite)
It's a wonderful challenge to be able to go

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and push the boundaries of what exists.

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(Soundbite)
“Excited” might be an understatement.

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(Soundbite)
It's an amazing opportunity.

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(Narrator)
Our Vascular Tissue Challenge is tasking the

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public with creating vascularized human organ
tissue, in vitro, in order to advance research

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and benefit medicine on long-duration space
missions and on Earth.

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(Soundbite)
It will have an enormous impact on humankind.

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(Soundbite)
It can really change the face of medicine

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as we know it.

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(Narrator)
NASA's CO2 Conversion Challenge is all about

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converting carbon dioxide into sugars as a
step to creating mission critical resources.

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By combining these byproducts with on-site materials,

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we could create fuels, food, construction materials and even medicine.

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(Soundbite)
The NASA Centennial Challenge really opened the door.

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(Soundbite)
I think it's a really great illustration of

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how open NASA is to change and how important
these competitions are.

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(Soundbite)
The NASA Centennial Challenge for me was a

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life-changing experience.

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(Narrator)
Together NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

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and Centennial Challenges have come so far.