NASA Announces Finalists for $3.5 Million Break the Ice Challenge

NASA has announced the six finalists in its Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, a competition to develop robotic systems capable of traversing the volatile terrain of the Lunar South Pole. These robots must be able to excavate the Moon's regolith and transport it for in-situ resource utilization. The finalists will bring their prototypes to a NASA test facility for head-to-head matchups in the spring of 2024, with a total cash prize of $1.5 million at stake. The winning technologies will contribute to NASA's goal of establishing a sustainable presence on the Moon.