"Registration is open for teams seeking to compete in the $1.5
million energy storage competition known as the Night Rover
Challenge, sponsored by NASA and the Cleantech Open of Palo
Alto, Calif. To win, a team must demonstrate a stored energy
system that can power a simulated solar-powered exploration
vehicle that can operate through multiple cycles of daylight and
extended periods of darkness. "The goal of the Night Rover
Challenge is to stimulate innovations in energy storage
technologies of value in extreme space environments, such as the
surface of the moon, or for electric vehicles and renewable
energy systems here on Earth," said Michael Gazarik, NASA's
associate administrator for Space Technology at NASA
Headquarters in Washington. "NASA wants this challenge to
generate new ideas that will allow planetary rovers the ability
to take on a night shift, and possibly create new energy storage
technologies for applications of benefit here on our home
planet." More Recently in Rovers Category "The 2014 Night