NASA turns to competition to find a better astronaut glove

It may not be quite as exciting as the X-Prize competitions, but NASA’s latest Centennial Challenge looks like it could prove to be fairly consequential in its own right, tasking competitors to build a better astronaut glove, NewScientist reports. Set to go down on May 2nd and 3rd, the challenge will pit six teams against each other, with $250,000 in prize money up for grabs, not to mention the possibility of the winning design actually being put into use in space. From the looks of it, the entrants themselves will also face more than a few challenges, with one test requiring a team member wearing their glove to squeeze a ball inside a pressurized box for 30 minutes — if blood starts dripping out, they’re disqualified. As with its other challenges, however, NASA isn’t expecting to find a winner in its first year, so those that missed out this time ’round may still get a shot at making the cut for next year’s competition

[Photo courtesy of NASA]