NASA to get citizens involved in Mars exploration

NASA is hosting an exhibit at the World Maker Faire in New York, and they announced Saturday they have launched a new website called NASA Solve and have opened registration for the Mars Balance Mass Challenge competition. "The Mars Balance Mass Challenge seeks design ideas for small science and technology payloads that could potentially provide dual purpose as ejectable balance masses on spacecraft entering the Martian atmosphere," according to their website.
They're looking to get citizens involved in attempting to design a payload that can help analyze Mars and can "provide the necessary weight to balance planetary landers." Competitors who can complete the challenge by the November 21 deadline will have a chance to win the $20,000 award. "This challenge is a creative way to bring innovative ideas into our planning process, and perhaps help NASA find another way to pack more science and technology into a mission," said Lisa May, lead program executive for NASA's Mars exploration program.
On top of the new challenge, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is expected to reach Mars on Sunday night around 10PM. The spacecraft left Earth's atmosphere over ten months ago. You can watch MAVEN make it to Mars on their website. They expect the spacecraft to help them understand Mars' atmosphere so the concept of humans visiting the planet can be further explored.