This document discusses NASA's use of crowdsourcing and challenges to advance space exploration and science. It provides examples of successful challenges that have improved NASA technologies and saved costs. The document advocates that crowdsourcing is an effective way for NASA to access innovative solutions from a global pool of technical experts and to tap into communities of practice. It also discusses how crowdsourcing and gig work will be important for the future of work and how workforce platforms can provide curated crowds of skilled problem solvers to NASA.

1. National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
NASA’s Space Exploration,
Open Innovation, and the
Future of Work
Steve Rader
NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation
NASA Tournament Lab (NTL)
steven.n.rader@nasa.gov
@steverader
@NASA_NTL

2. National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
EXPLORE DEVELOP
LEAD THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE
WITH INTERNATIONAL & PRIVATE
SECTOR PARTNERS
DEVELOP
SPACE
ADVANCE
EXPLORATION &
SCIENCE
2

3. Fiscal Realism | Commercial & International Partnerships | Scientific Exploration
Technology Pull and Push | Gradual Buildup of Capability
Architecture Openness and Resilience
Global Collaboration and Leadership | Continuity of Human Spaceflight
3
LEADING FUTURE EXPLORATION - STRATEGIC PRINCIPLES

4. What it Takes to Come Home Safely
LOW EARTH RETURN
3 HOURS
3,000OF
17,500 MPH
250 MILES
LUNAR RETURN
3 DAYS
5,200OF
24,700 MPH
240,000 MILES
MARS RETURN
9 MONTHS
6,200OF
26,800 MPH
39,000,000 MILES

5. 5
NASA’S DEEP SPACE EXPLORATION SYSTEM
The Orion spacecraft
and Space Launch
System rocket, launching
from a modernized
Kennedy spaceport is
foundational to extending
human presence deeper
into the solar system.

6. Space Launch System Lift Capabilities
Maximum Thrust 11.9M lbs8.8M lbs8.8M lbs8.8M lbs
** Not including Orion/Service
Module volume
Payload Volume 34,910 ft3 (988 m3)18,970 ft3 (537 m3)10,100 ft3 (286m3)**N/A**
Payload to TLI/Moon > 45 t (99k lbs)37–40 t (81k–88k lbs)34–37 t (74k–81k lbs)> 26 t (57k lbs)
Trans-Lunar
Injection (TLI) is
a propulsive
maneuver used to
set a spacecraft on
a trajectory that will
cause it to arrive at
the Moon. A
spacecraft performs
TLI to begin a lunar
transfer from a low
circular parking orbit
around Earth.
The numbers
depicted here
indicate the mass
capability at the
Trans-Lunar
Injection point.
SLS Block 2 CargoSLS Block 1B CargoSLS Block 1B CrewSLS Block 1 Crew SLS Block 2 Crew
10,100 ft3 (286m3)**
> 45 t (99k lbs)
11.9M lbs
> 26 t (57k lbs)
9,030 ft3 (256m3)
8.8M lbs
SLS Block 1 Cargo

8. National Aeronautics and
Space Administration

9. National Aeronautics and
Space AdministrationPATH TO LUNAR SURFACE

10. National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
10

11. Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Big Challenges
&
Giant Leaps
Require Significant
INNOVATIONS

12. NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
HQ
ARC
GRC
GSFC
KSC
LaRC
MSFC
JPL
JSC
SSC
AFRC
Educates NASA workforce on the value of
crowdsourcing & challenges.
Makes crowdsourcing & challenges easy to
use by removing/reducing barriers.
Across NASA Centers Public Facing - Worldwide Across US Federal Agencies

13. NASA Programs & ProjectsU.S. Federal Agencies
USE
TO ENGAGE THE PUBLIC AS PARTNERS IN MAKING PROGRESS IN THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE
AND
In Collaboration with
Researchers
Crowd Offerings
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
HQ
ARC
GRC
GSFC
KSC
LaRC
MSFC
JPL
JSC
SSC
AFRC
Tapping NASA’s Internal Crowd
As a part of NASA’s
TO RUN CHALLENGES AND PERFORM WORK
USING CONTRACTS WITH CURATED CROWDS

14. NASA Programs & ProjectsU.S. Federal Agencies
USE
TO RUN CHALLENGES AND PERFORM WORK
USING CONTRACTS WITH CURATED CROWDS
TO ENGAGE THE PUBLIC AS PARTNERS IN MAKING PROGRESS IN THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE
AND
In Collaboration with
Researchers
Crowd Offerings
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
HQ
ARC
GRC
GSFC
KSC
LaRC
MSFC
JPL
JSC
SSC
AFRC
Tapping NASA’s Internal Crowd
NASA
Citizen
Science
As a part of NASA’sNetwork of 2M
Technical
Problem Solvers
working across
Industry,
Academia &
Government
Crowd of 400K
diverse problem
solvers that
specializes in
technical
problem solving
challenges
Network of
36M problem
solvers with its
genesis in the X-
Prize Challenges
Network of 20K
problem solvers
working across
Industry,
Academia &
Government
Network of
100K problem
solvers.
Specialize in
large scale
challenges.
Crowd of 1.6M
data scientists
focusing on
machine
learning and big
data challenges
Crowd of 1.4M
software
developers and
data scientists
focusing on
algorithms and
software
Crowd of
100K film
makers and
creatives that
focus on video
challenges
Network of 13K
companies,
researchers,
and individuals
providing
technology
searches
500K+ worker
that can be
inexpensively
mobilized for
micro-tasks like
training machine
learning
Crowd of 31M
freelance
workers that
provide
products via
tasks and
contests
Crowd of 5M
mechanical
engineers &
designers
competing in
CAD/Design
Challenges
Community of
10K+ software
developers/
teams that can
build software.

15. NASA
Tournament
Lab
Challenges
by the
Numbers
90+%Successful
300+Challenges
80+%Result in Cost Savings

16. Challenge Case Study
Determining
Urine Volume in
Microgravity
Found an existing
prototype saving
$1.3M & 3-5 years
of development.
Solution already existed in a lab 300m from challenge owner.

17. ISS Astronaut Food Intake Tracker (FIT) iPad App
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

18. Robonaut Vision Algorithm Challenges
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

19. Data Driven Forecasting of Solar Flares
Algorithm from Challenge by Innocentive:
8 Hour Prediction
NASA’s Existing Capability:
2 Hour Prediction
4X
Improvement
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

20. 20
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

22. Robonaut Sim Tools
3D Modeling Contest
Series
Developed 14 photorealistic
CAD models for a Robonaut
simulation environment.
300 submissions across 14
10 day challenges
Saved over 90% cost when
compared with in-house
capabilities
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

23. Astronaut Smartwatch
App Contest
$1500 User Interface challenge resulted
in 245 UI submissions.
$3000 SW Development Task
implemented functional prototype.
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

24. RFID-Enabled
Autonomous Logistics
Management
(REALM)
Video Contests
$1500 storyboard
challenge followed by a
$3000 video production
challenge developed a 3
minute fully CGI
explanation of REALM.
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
https://youtu.be/0bcWA-HnSSY

25. 8 NASA projects now
identify their project using
Freelancer contest
produced graphics
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
NASA Project Graphic Contests

26. 2 Contests and 1 Project to
develop origami designs and
animations for spacecraft
radiation shielding.
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Origami Concepts for Radiation Shielding Challenge

28. Series of 17 challenges each with a
different scope with prizes ranging from
$250 - $5000 (total about $25,000)
Each contest has gotten between 16-40
entries (265 total to date)
Winners have tended to be mechanical,
electrical, or software engineers (some
with masters) that have worked in the
robotics field
Astrobee Robotic Arm Architecture Challenge Series
Materials/Component List & Mass Analysis
Design drawings/CAD Models
Control Software Logic Flow Force Analysis
System Layouts & Wiring
Submissions are accompanied by surveys – results are under study by
GWU examining diverse approaches to architecture & design
Submissions have been design reports from 8-30 pages containing:

29. 29
Smart Fine-Positioning Arm
0.35 kg $4000
Simple Deployment Mechanism
0.21 kg $250
Attachment Mechanism
0.058 kg $500
Smart Attachment Mechanism
0.19 kg $1,500
Positioning Software Architecture
$250
Mechanically Driven Clamping Mechanism
0.033 kg $250
Electrically Driven Clamping Mechanism
0.11 kg $250
Smart Coarse-Positioning Arm
0.21 kg $1500
Smart Positioning and Attachment
0.26 kg $4000
Astrobee Robotic Arm Architecture Challenge Series9of17ContestsAwardedtoDate

30. NASA Tournament Lab Challenges
333 Challenges Total Completed or in Progress
Trade names, trademarks, and logos are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
61 Technical Solutions
34
12
4
2
2
2
1 2
40 Software/Apps
31
3
3
2
1
21 Algorithms
17
1
1
1
1
23 Graphics/Designs
13
6
4
71 Ideation
53
7
5
4 1
1
1
31 CAD Modeling/
Mechanical Design
27
4
1
17 Videos
6
4
5
1
1
37 Technology Survey
27
10
2 Consulting Services
1
1
35 Other
32
2
1

31. “Skate to where the puck is going to be,
not where it has been.”
- Wayne Gretzky

32. “The Future of Work”
We are in the midst
of a significant shift
in how work is
performed and how
organizations will
get work done.
Source The Human Cloud, the Gig Economy, & the Transformation of Work
Report by Staffing Industry Analysts (www.staffingindustry.com) 2017

33. Source: Freelancing in America 2017
Edelman Intelligence – commissioned by Upwork and Freelancers Union 2017

34. Source: Freelancing in America 2017
Edelman Intelligence – commissioned by Upwork and Freelancers Union 2017

35. Communities of Practice
But Scaled to Global Crowds
Global collections of passionate experts that
are aggregating knowledge and building
expertise.
Some are capitalizing on “diversity” to
provide match unexpected, unknown, or
hard to find expertise to provide
innovative solutions to unsolved
problems.

36. The Emerging Cloud Workforce Imagined
On-Demand and Persistent
Available both Globally and Locally
Grunt Workers and Experienced Experts
Lifelong Learners Up to Speed on the Latest Tech
Workforce Platforms Providing Low Friction Access
• Matched to specific needs
• Trusted Workers (checked, certified, etc.)
• Efficient Collaboration & Handoff (w/ Provisioning)
• Integrated with Specialty Tools, Robotics, AI, etc.
• On-Demand High Performing Teams

37. Crowds, gig-workers, freelancers are a rapidly growing
resource with increasing capabilities
Curated communities are attracting passion and building
expertise and skills
Open methods are extremely effective for accessing
valuable innovations
Those that fail to innovate will be left behind
“OPEN” is the Future and
“INNOVATION” is No Longer Optional

38. @SteveRader @NASA_NTL