The British Interplanetary Society (BIS) has launched a competition awarding prizes of up to £5000 for ideas focussed on energy-usage in space exploration technologies.

The BIS, a think tank exploring space development, is looking for participants to come up with the best ideas relating to the storage and handling of antihydrogen.

Antihydrogen is a chemical which can, in theory, be used to generate nuclear power for use in space exploration technologies, and point the way to highly energetic propulsion systems, which could reduce the transit time between solar system objects.

Sponsored by Mirror Quark Ltd and led by Alan Bond, the renowned British mechanical and aerospace engineer, the competition and will welcome proposals from engineers, scientists and physicists over the next six months, with a closing date of 11th June 2021.

Entrants will need to submit a written submission with numerical analysis, which is consistent with mainstream physics.

The participants who comes up with the best new idea for storage, handling or manufacture of antihydrogen will be announced as the winner of the competition in October 2021, with first place being awarded a £3,000 cash prize and second place awarded £1,500.

£300 will also be available to the best submission by a member of the Student Technical Working Group (STWG), and a £200 prize will be awarded to the runner up by a member of the STWG.

The BIS said that If antihydrogen can successfully be handled, space exploration engineers will be able to replace the existing thermodynamic process of converting heat into electrical power, which is heavy and inefficient, with a nuclear power generating technology, which would be far more time and cost efficient.

Therefore, BIS and Alan Bond have established this competition to generate new ideas around the storage and handling process of antihydrogen, specifically focussing on the following areas: Manufacture and storage of antiprotons; Conversion of antiprotons to an antihydrogen state suitable for practical use; Transfer of antihydrogen to a power supply storage container; and, transfer of antihydrogen from this container to a reactor.

Elizabeth Anderson, chief executive of the British Interplanetary Society, said: “This competition presents a fantastic opportunity for engineers and scientists across the world to contribute to a significant moment for the advancement of British space exploration.

“The BIS, and all judges and experts involved, are extremely excited to see what participants can bring to the table, and we hope that this competition will mark the first in a continuing series of prizes aimed at generating ideas to solve the issues inhibiting human-cosmic development and space exploration,” she added.

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