University teams from around the USA will be invited during the 2004-2005 academic year to participate in a design competition aimed at advancing NASA’s plans for lunar and Mars exploration.

The teams will be challenged to develop innovative concepts for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), demonstrating the feasibility of using lunar regolith as a source for oxygen, water and other commodities necessary for lunar exploration and research operations.

Under the ISRU University Design Competition, student teams will design experiments that may ultimately be included aboard a NASA robotic lander or rover being considered for launch early in the next decade to a permanently shadowed crater at the lunar pole.

From SpaceRef, via Dexigner.