| There are already competitions to win everything on | | | | the required protection. Hand fatigue during long, |
| Earth. From Make Me a Supermodel to The | | | | labour-intensive space walks is one of the most |
| Apprentice and Grease Is the Word, the shows spur | | | | difficult challenges to overcome." |
| on young hopefuls, leaving behind more traditional | | | | The Homers chatted about the problem over supper, |
| methods of signing the face of a new advertising | | | | at their home in Maine. How does one create a glove |
| campaign, recruiting a young executive or finding the | | | | that is both strong, yet flexible? Out came the sewing |
| next star of the stage. Now there are some new | | | | machine, and for months, the father- son team |
| reality contests - and they are, quite literally, out of this | | | | experimented with different fabrics and metals until |
| world. | | | | they came up with a prototype. |
| The Centennial Challenges are Nasa's answer to | | | | Mr Homer experimented by wrapping his hand in |
| Fame Academy, but this time the stars for which the | | | | masking tape. Each time he would make a fist and |
| public are reaching have nothing to do with celebrity. | | | | see how much he had to fight against the tape. "I sat |
| From this summer, the space agency is offering prizes | | | | up one night around midnight wrapping [masking] tape |
| as high as $5m (pound 2.44m) to anyone who can | | | | around my fingers and had the 'A-ha!' moment... I |
| solve a new series of problems that Nasa's space | | | | figured out that when you put tape around your fingers |
| engineers cannot. From building space robots to | | | | you can't move your hand." Then he spiralled the tape |
| extracting vast quantities of oxygen from lunar rock, | | | | around each finger, making "x" shapes across the tops |
| the dominant force in galactic exploration has decided | | | | of the knuckles. He made a fist - and the tape didn't |
| it needs fresh ideas to enter the next era of space | | | | break or pull at all. "I couldn't even feel the tape. It was |
| travel. | | | | like it wasn't even there." |
| The idea developed from Nasa's relationship with | | | | The Homers' chemist provided latex medical gloves |
| Volanz Aerospace, a non-profit organisation in | | | | for the innermost layer. For the outer shield, Peter |
| Maryland which now runs the competitions. On 4 | | | | Homer used a reinforced cloth-like material his son |
| August, the first of this summer's competitions, the | | | | noticed on eBay. Then Mr Homer, who once had a job |
| Personal Air Vehicle Challenge, will be launched with a | | | | sewing sails for yachts, replicated the tape's "x" shape |
| prize of $250,000 ([pound]122,000). The aim is to tap | | | | by using x-shaped stitches over each knuckle, and the |
| the largely ignored - but knowledgeable - community of | | | | finished glove was hand-stitched at their dining-room |
| space junkies and garden-shed inventors worldwide, | | | | table. It beat entries from two other finalists hands |
| rewarding innovation and fresh design. Arguably unlike | | | | down to scoop the $200,000 (pound 98,000) jackpot. |
| the reality television game shows, this is one contest | | | | The winning glove design was required to outdo |
| that is mutually beneficial. With the US government and | | | | Nasa's standard astronaut glove and those of the |
| several privately owned space agencies backing them, | | | | other finalists. |
| Nasa's pockets are deep. Since the contests replace | | | | The gloves were tested by measuring how much |
| traditional research grants, Nasa is prepared to reward | | | | effort it took to move the fingers, alongside a series of |
| successful participants with large sums of money - | | | | dexterity and strength tasks. "I wanted to do this to |
| and the inventors retain commercial rights to more | | | | show my kids that they can do anything they set their |
| money further down the line. "Our hope is that the | | | | minds to. When I started, I didn't know anything about |
| products from some of our competitions also provide | | | | making a glove. I had to learn that, and also design and |
| the building blocks for various private and commercial | | | | make my own test equipment, metal parts and do my |
| space activities, in addition to serving Nasa's activities | | | | own fabrication. It was a great learning experience |
| with new technical breakthroughs," says Brant | | | | along the way," he says. |
| Sponberg, the challenge programme manager and one | | | | The Centennial Challenges may be out of this world, |
| of the judges. | | | | but also arguably more realistic than anything seen on |
| Sponberg may be the Simon Cowell of Centennial | | | | television. "You can do anything you set your mind to" |
| Challenges, but he lacks the smarmy, know-it-all streak | | | | may be a mantra more commonly heard on Fame |
| of his Pop Idol counterpart. But then he has little reason | | | | Academy than at Nasa research labs, but how many |
| to be smug. The Centennial Challenges project was | | | | pop wannabes actually go on to success after |
| launched in 2005, but until May 2007, none of the | | | | performing on reality television? How long do Alan |
| challenges had ever been won. In 2005, there was the | | | | Sugar's apprentices actually last in the jobs? The |
| low-cost space suit challenge, which came with a prize | | | | technology behind the Homers' glove, on the other |
| of $500,000; a challenge to build an all-terrain lunar | | | | hand, will directly benefit space technology. |
| buggy, which was worth a cool $1m; and even a $2m | | | | It could one day even be sent to the moon for tests. |
| competition to see if anyone could come up with a | | | | But before that is possible, Nasa has its hands full |
| way of safely delivering six hens' eggs, intact, from a | | | | adapting the design for space. Its scientists hope to |
| low orbit down to Earth, presumably without a bang. | | | | replicate the flexible shape and design of the glove |
| Hundreds of entries were received, but none cut the | | | | using reinforced, more space-worthy materials. After |
| mustard. | | | | all, the fact that it was hand-sewn on a dining-room |
| Then, two months ago, just as Mr Sponberg was | | | | table with cloth bought from an internet auction site |
| beginning to despair, along came Peter Homer, an | | | | hardly prepares it to withstand extremes of |
| unemployed engineer, with his 14- year-old son, | | | | temperature and the threat of micrometeor impacts. |
| Matthew. On Nasa's website they read about a | | | | "Most of the score was on the dexterity of the glove. |
| challenge in which participants were invited to design a | | | | Like other Centennial Challenges, the astronaut glove |
| glove for astronauts. Gloves are the hardest part of a | | | | challenge encouraged innovation that will greatly |
| space suit to design. Like the rest of the suit, they're | | | | enhance Nasa's capabilities," says Alan Hayes, chief |
| pressurised, but that means that each finger of the | | | | executive officer of Volanz Aerospace. |
| glove wants to stay straight, inflated like a balloon. | | | | "New technologies and innovations will now be |
| The gloves currently in use, the Nasa Phase VI, are | | | | developed to improve the wearability and dexterity of |
| sturdy and designed to withstand the rigours of work | | | | gloves," he says. Buoyed by the Astronaut Glove |
| in a place with no atmosphere. Astronauts face tasks | | | | Challenge, Mr Hayes looked to the next contest, the |
| on space walks that demand manual dexterity, and | | | | Regolith Excavation Challenge, held on 14 and 15 May. |
| the incredibly stiff pressurised gloves do not help - they | | | | Four teams competed with home-made low-energy |
| often return from their time in orbit with bleeding, sore | | | | lunar diggers to excavate as much mock moon soil as |
| hands, blistered and broken fingernails after wearing | | | | possible in 30 minutes. No one, Mr Hayes says, walked |
| them. | | | | away with the $125,000 prize. That just might be a |
| The gloves have two separate inner layers - one | | | | good thing. In a world of reality game shows, it is |
| formed from a rubbery, balloon-like plastic and another | | | | refreshing to come across a sponsor who is only |
| made from soft cloth to keep shape. The outer layer | | | | willing to reward talent, intelligence and hard work. With |
| is made from a type of cloth not unlike that used in | | | | five further challenges planned for 2007, serious |
| gardening gloves, only hundreds of times thicker. This | | | | contenders can, for once, shun shooting stars and use |
| helps guard against space debris and insulates the | | | | their brains to aim high. |
| hands against extremes of hot and cold. The current | | | | Nasa has just announced plans to run the contests |
| suits are made by a firm called Hamilton Sundstrand. | | | | until 2010. You can even, via the space agency's |
| As Chuck Seaback, the firm's programme manager, | | | | website, submit ideas for your own challenge. There |
| has said before: "The primary challenge in a glove | | | | you have it. Celebrity is not the only way to rub |
| design is to maximise hand mobility, while still providing | | | | shoulders with the stars. |