NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION {NASA}, CENTENNIAL CHALLENGES PROGRAM, Carbon Dioxide to Glucose, Request for Information (RFI)
1. SUMMARY
The Centennial Challenges Program seeks to stimulate innovation in basic and applied research, technology development, and prototype demonstration that have the potential for application to the performance of the space and aeronautical activities of the Administration (www.nasa.gov/challenges). The program is an integral part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing, and flying hardware for use in NASA's future missions. The Centennial Challenges Program directly engages the public, academia, and industry in open prize competitions to stimulate innovation in technologies that have benefit to NASA and the nation. For more information about NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) see http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech.
The Centennial Challenges program is seeking input on the Carbon Dioxide to Glucose Challenge. The Challenge seeks to develop novel synthesis technologies necessary to manufacture "food" for microbial bioreactors from carbon dioxide and hydrogen molecules which are sufficiently abundant on Mars. The ultimate goal is to produce the sugar glucose. Glucose is a readily metabolized carbon and energy substrate widely used in microbial production systems, and is also a food ingredient for human consumption. Producing glucose from resources on Mars will allow In-situ microbial production systems to generate numerous products needed to support future missions to Mars. This challenge provides the opportunity for participants to advance the capabilities of CO2-based organic synthesis systems being developed in academic institutions and industry as well as to investigate pioneering approaches not yet
explored.
This RFI seeks: (1) to gather feedback on the competition being considered, including the challenge goal, prize amounts, and competition structure (including parameters and evaluation criteria); and (2) to determine the interest level in potentially competing in this challenge. Specific information sought is detailed in Section 6.
Responses should be submitted in Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word format and are limited to five (5) pages in length. Responses should include: name, address, email address, and phone number of the responding individual, business, or organization, with point of contact for business or organization. Comments must be submitted no later than 11:59 pm Eastern Time on October 13, 2017, to Mr. David Howard at e-mail address: HQ-STMD-CentennialChallenges@mail.nasa.gov. Please use "Carbon Dioxide to Glucose Challenge RFI" on the subject line.
NASA welcomes individual innovators and enthusiasts as well as those affiliated with industry, academia, governments, and other organizations to reply to this RFI. This RFI is for informational/planning purposes only and the Government will not be responsible for any cost associated with preparing information in support of this RFI. This RFI is NOT to be construed as a commitment by the government to enter into any agreement or other obligation or to conduct a Carbon Dioxide to Glucose Challenge. This notice is issued in accordance with the NASA Prize Authority, 51 U.S.C. § 20144. Responses may be made available for public review and should not include proprietary information. Submitted information will be reviewed by NASA and contractor personnel associated with the NASA Centennial Challenges Program.
For general information on the NASA Centennial Challenges Program see: http://www.nasa.gov/challenges. The point of contact is Ms. Monsi Roman, Program Manager, Centennial Challenges Program, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, email to monsi.roman@nasa.gov.
2. BACKGROUND
Future planetary habitats on Mars will require a high degree of self-sufficiency. This requires a concerted effort to both effectively recycle supplies brought from Earth and use local resources such as CO2, water and regolith to manufacture mission-relevant products. Human life support and habitation systems will treat wastewater to make drinking water, recover oxygen from carbon dioxide, convert solid wastes to useable products, grow food, and design equipment and packaging to allow reuse in alternate forms. In addition, In situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) techniques will use the abundant local materials to generate substantial quantities of products to supply life support needs, propellants and building materials, and support other In situ Manufacturing (ISM) activities.
Many of these required mission products such as food, nutrients, medicines, plastics, fuels, and adhesives are organic, and are comprised mostly of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen molecules. These molecules are readily available within the Martian atmosphere (CO2, N2) and In situ water (H2O), and could be used as the feedstock to produce an array of desired products. While some products will be most efficiently made using physico-chemical methods or photosynthetic organisms such as plants and algae, many products may be most effectively made using heterotrophic (organic substrate utilizing) microbial production systems. This is because heterotrophic bioreactor systems can utilize fast growing microbes combined with high concentrations of rich organic substrates, such as glucose, to enable very rapid rates of product generation.
The type of organic substrate used strongly affects the efficiency of the microbial system. For example, while an organism may be able to use simple organic compounds such as formate (1- carbon) and acetate (2-carbon), these "low-energy" substrates will result in slow growth and large, heavy bioreactors. In order to maximize the rate of growth and reduce system size and mass, organic substrates that are rich in energy and carbon, such as glucose, are needed. Glucose is a six-carbon sugar that is used by a wide variety of microbes, and is typically the preferred organic substrate for commercial terrestrial microbial production systems and experimentation.
To employ this type of microbial production system on Mars, it is vital that the glucose be made on-site using local materials. However, generating complex compounds like glucose on Mars presents an array of challenges. While glucose is inexpensively made on Earth via the enzymatic conversion of starch from plant biomass, this approach is currently not feasible in space. Alternatively, current physicochemical processes such as photo/electrochemical and thermal catalytic systems are able to make smaller organic compounds such as formate and methane from CO2; however, these systems have not been developed to make larger organic molecules such as glucose. This is primarily because of strong technical challenges combined with the low cost of obtaining glucose and other sugars from biomass on Earth. Novel research and development is required to create the physicochemical systems required to directly make high-energy sugars such as glucose from CO2 in space environments. Therefore, this Centennial Challenge is devoted to fostering the development of CO2 conversion systems that can effectively produce glucose for "feeding" microbial production systems.
3. CHALLENGE DESCRIPTION
The objective of this challenge is to create a process/system that uses CO2 as the primary carbon source for the manufacture of glucose, which can then be readily used as a metabolic substrate for heterotrophic microbial growth in bioreactor production systems. Glucose is selected as it is the primary carbon and energy source for a wide variety of fast-growing microbes that can also be readily engineered to produce valuable products. As compared to less energy-dense and metabolically-limited substrates, bioreactors that employ glucose can be much smaller, lighter, and can accommodate a wider variety of potential products.
4. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS
The challenge will award prizes for achieving each of two accomplishments to be verified by demonstrations, representing two levels of success. The Level 1 challenge involves the development of a system that produces a microbial organic substrate from CO2 that meets defined microbial growth metrics. The system product does not have specific requirements for organic composition but must support microbial growth as outlined in the Level 1 performance requirements below. The Level 2 challenge also involves the development of a system that produces a microbial organic substrate from CO2 that meets the same defined microbial growth metrics but requires that the product contain defined amounts of glucose, as described in the Level 2 performance requirements below.
Level 1 Performance Requirements:
• The CO2 conversion system shall produce a minimum of 2 grams of organic product in four hours of operation. This will be measured by using Total Organic Carbon analysis for liquid products or determining volatile solids for solid products.
• The CO2 conversion system product shall demonstrate general biocompatibility and growth potential using one of the following tests:
o For liquid products - Using the liquid product as the sole carbon/energy source (unconcentrated but can be diluted with water), demonstrate an increase of optical density (OD) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 660nm from 0.1 to 1.0 within 48 hours incubation at 34oC by using the liquid product to make Yeast Nitrogen-Based (YNB) media. Aeration and/or shake flasks are acceptable.
o For solid or semi-solid products - Using the solid/semi-solid product as the sole carbon/energy source, demonstrate an increase of optical density (OD) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 660nm from 0.1 to 1.0 within 48 hours incubation at 34oC using the addition of Yeast Nitrogen Based (YNB) components to make standard YNB media (0.5% by dry mass of solid/semi-solid). Aeration and/or shake flasks are acceptable.
• The CO2 conversion system shall comply with the following constraints:
o The total system components shall be shown to be able to fit within a volume no greater than 0.5 cubic meters.
o The average continuous power shall not exceed 300W.
o The entire system mass shall not exceed 50Kg. This excludes CO2 and water feed storage systems, and includes only system process and control systems.
o The system shall demonstrate that the system meets or exceeds standard industry safety guidelines with respect to parameters such as pressure, temperature, explosive gases, etc.
Level 2 Performance Requirements
• The CO2 conversion system product must meet all of the performance requirements listed for Level 1. In addition, the following performance requirements must be met:
o The developed system shall make at least 5 grams of glucose in 4 hours of operation.
o If the system product is in liquid form, it shall contain at least 0.4% glucose by mass (unconcentrated product).
o If the system product is a solid (or semi-solid), it shall contain >80% glucose (on a dry-mass basis).
5. DRAFT CHALLENGE RULES AND COMPETITION STRUCTURE
• Team Registration - All teams must register by the given deadline to participate in the Challenge.
• All teams are able to compete in and win either Level 1 or Level 2 separately, or both levels, in accordance with the rules stated below.
• Level 1 Challenge 1 (0-18 months)
o Once a team believes they have attained the Level 1 performance requirements, they will be required to notify NASA by email and send evidence that demonstrates the performance of their system. The initial step is to submit a video that shows the system in operation and provides evidence of the defined microbial growth rates in Section 4. Additionally, a written description of the system with confirmatory data is required. Once the evidence has been reviewed and accepted by a judging panel comprised of both NASA personnel and external experts, the team will be required to perform an on-site demonstration for the judging team to verify that all of the system performance requirements have been met.
o The first team to send NASA their preliminary evidence and then fully attain the performance requirements for Level 1 as defined in Section 4 as evaluated by the judging panel will be awarded $100,000. The next two teams to fully attain the requirements will be awarded $75,000 each.
o The Level 1 challenge officially ends 18 months after the commencement of the Challenge.
• Level 2 Challenge (0-18 months)
o Once a team believes they have attained the Level 2 performance requirements, they will be required to notify NASA by email and send evidence that demonstrates the performance of their system. The initial step is to submit a video that shows the system in operation and provides evidence of satisfactory glucose production and growth rates. Additionally, a written description of the system with confirmatory data is required. Once the evidence has been reviewed by the judging panel, the team must perform an on-site demonstration for the judging panel to verify that all of the system performance requirements have been met.
o The first team to send NASA their preliminary evidence and then fully attain the performance requirements for Level 2 as defined in Section 4 as evaluated by the judging panel will be awarded $100,000. The next two teams to fully attain the requirements will be awarded $75,000 each. Teams may be awarded in Level 2 even if they did not receive an award in Level 1.
o The Level 2 officially ends 18 months after commencement of the Challenge.
6. INFORMATION SOUGHT
This RFI seeks feedback on the competition structure, the prize amounts and distribution structure, and level of interest in competing in the Challenge as follows:
a) Competition Structure
• Please remark on the benefits/drawbacks of the presented model of a simultaneous, head-to-head competition including two Levels of accomplishments for awards based on providing judges with an initial video and data package followed by an on-site demonstrations.
• Are the goals reasonable in relation to the schedule?
• Are there performance attributes beyond the Key Challenge Requirements in Section 4 and the evaluation criteria in Section 5, such as minimizing resources, exceeding requirements, etc., that should be incentivized and rewarded with bonuses?
b) Competition Awards
• NASA is considering awarding up to $500K in prizes. How could the award structure best incentivize participation and technical progress?
• Is the prize money sufficient to incentivize potential competitors?
• Please comment on the award distribution structure being considered. Are there other alternative scenarios that would provide greater incentives to compete?
c) Interest and Readiness
• Are you interested in participating in this competition?
• What barriers limit your interest or ability to participate? How can these barriers be addressed in the timelines, requirements, and formulation of these challenges?
• Are you familiar with or aware of existing glucose production systems?
• Do you have a concept on which to base a glucose production system?
• Do you have a glucose production system ready or nearly ready to participate in this Challenge? What level of development and investment is needed before your system is ready to participate in the Challenge?
• Are there specific emerging breakthrough technologies that are applicable to the Challenge goals?
• What actions could be taken to increase public interest in paricipaing in and following this Challenge?
7. RESPONSE TO RFI:
Responses to this RFI must be submitted no later than 11:59 pm Eastern Time on October 13, 2017
To: Mr. David Howard at e-mail address:
HQ-STMD-CentennialChallenges@mail.nasa.gov
Subject Line: "Carbon Dioxide to Glucose Challenge RFI"
Responses should be submitted in Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word format and are limited to five (5) pages in length. Responses should include: name, address, email address, and phone number of the responding individual, business, or organization, with point of contact for business or organization.
8. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Questions or requests specific to this RFI may be submitted prior to the closing date
To: Mr. David Howard at e-mail address:
HQ-STMD-CentennialChallenges@mail.nasa.gov, CC david.f.howard@nasa.gov
Subject Line: "Carbon Dioxide to Glucose Challenge RFI Questions"
For general information on the NASA Centennial Challenges Program see: http://www.nasa.gov/challenges. The point of contact is Ms. Monsi Roman, Program Manager, Centennial Challenges Program, Marshall Space Flight Center, email to monsi.roman@nasa.gov
9. ELIGIBILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN CHALLENGES
In the event that NASA initiates this challenge, NASA will post a public notice in the Federal Register which can be found at https://www.federalregister.gov/. At that time, all individuals or entities that wish to participate in the challenge must register as members of a team and enter into an agreement with the designated challenge management organization. Teams foreign and domestic may compete in the challenge, although teams that include foreign nationals who are not permanent residents of the United States may not receive prize money for these competitions. The sole exception is for U.S based educational institutions, which may have up to 50% foreign national students on their teams. No Team Member shall be a citizen of a country on the NASA Export Control Program list of designated countries in Category II, Countries determined by the Department of State to support Terrorism. The current list of designated countries can be found at http://oiir.hq.nasa.gov/nasaecp/. As of this publication, the most current list was updated February 15, 2017, and included 4 countries are in category II (Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria). Please check the link for latest updates.
Teams cannot include any Federal entity or Federal employee acting within the scope of his or her employment. This includes any U.S. Government organization or organization principally or substantially funded by the Federal Government, including Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC), Government-Owned, Contractor Operated (GOCO) facilities, and University Affiliated Research Centers (UARC).
NASA and other federal agencies may work with, and provide technical support to, participating teams as long as it is done on an equitable basis. That is, similar requests are dealt with in a similar fashion, be it access to facilities, testing, scientific consultation, or other services. This does not obligate NASA or other federal agencies to provide the support. These services may be at no cost or on a cost reimbursable basis as determined by the subject federal agency in accordance with law and policy.
Registration and participation in a challenge does not entitle a participant to a NASA-funded prize. To be eligible to win a NASA funded prize, the competitor must (1) register and comply with all requirements in the rules and enter into a team agreement; (2) in the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States, and in the case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States; and (3) shall not be a Federal entity or Federal employee acting within the scope of his or her employment.
Monserrate Roman, Program Manager, Centennial Challenges, Phone 256-544-4071, Email monsi.roman@nasa.gov - Melinda E Swenson, Contracting Officer, Phone 256-544-0381, Email melinda.e.swenson@nasa.gov
