The Light Racers Championship, a space technology competition, challenges kids, young adults and grown ups to design, build and race beam-powered lunar rovers that could help NASA get to the ice deposits located in the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar poles.

The Spaceward Foundation opened registration on July 30 2007 for the 2007 Great Light Racer Championship. Total prize purse this year is $10,000 and registration has opened.

The possible presence of water in the permanently shadowed craters of the Lunar poles is the best opportunity we have of using local resources on the surface of the Moon.

Join the competition to explore the use of light beams to power Lunar rovers in these ancient and dark recesses of our nearest solar neighbour.

The Light Racers project is a wide-ranging educational program that teaches planetary science, physics, math and engineering concepts, in a fun and challenging environment that rewards innovation and originality.

Who can play?
The championship is open to three groups: Schools, Families, and Grown-Ups. School and family groups must have a person under the age of 16 controlling the car. A grown-up can handle the spotlight.

How much does it cost?

A basic entry will cost $200-$250 to build. Spaceward charges $25 for registration.

When do we play?
Preliminaries will be held starting October 15th at the competition site. To qualify, a team must demonstrate an end-to-end beam powered run. The best 32 teams will move on to the play-offs, which will be held on Saturday, October 20th.

What can we win?
All qualifiers will receive a personalized NASA logo certificate. Winning teams will take home $500, runner ups will take home $250, and there will be other prizes for distinguished teams. The real pay-back, however, is weeks of educational fun and the excitement of the championship. Bragging rights count too.

What do we need to build?
Each team needs to bring in only a beam powered RC Car. Spaceward will provide the spot lights, track, and other gadgets such as light trees and finish wires.

How can I practice?
Practice helps. If you can't get a commercial spotlight, use a smaller source such as a handheld spotlight and get close to the car. Use math to calculate how close you need to get. No need to practice in darkness - it is enough that the ambient light is dim - if your beam of light is brighter than the ambient light, you're doing ok.

Once I register, what happens?
Registration gets you on our lists, so we can let you into the qualification rounds during the week. You will also receive a starter's pack by mail. On site, one registration gets you three qualifying shots. If you succeed in completing an end-to-end run, you are considered "qualified" and receive a certificate listing your team name and your official time. The best time out of three shots is your official time.

Where should I start?
A very good place to start is your neighbourhood hobby shop or electronics store, or our starter's kit page. Get a Remote Control car. Better still - get a person who's been seriously playing with RC cars.

I want to practice with a real spotlight - where can I get one?

Our good friend Ken suggested the local theatre - they have a stage, and they have spotlight. You can also rent a competition-type spotlight from your local spot-light rental facility. A school's gym is an ideal practice grounds.

What is the race track like?
We will have two types of tracks - hard surface for speed, and loose dirt with obstacles. Your choice of track will occur when you qualify. The hard track is defined above, we're still working on the obstacle one.

How fast will the car go?
That all depends on how well you can extract power from the beam. At full speed, when consuming 50 Watts or so, these cars can go 10 feet per second. We expect significant hick-ups along the way though, and so a typical race will last anywhere between 30 and 60 seconds.

See http://www.LightRacers.org for details

The Mars Barn

Play-from-home Mars Exploration (Future Competition)

If the moon is a rocky lifeless island near the shore, Mars is the promising coastline of a new continent. Based on what we know of Mars today, it is by far the most important location in the Solar system to explore.

The Mars Robotic Construction challenge is a future challenge that may be implemented in 2008. It focuses on robotic assembly of large structures on remote planets such as Mars.  maybe implemented in 2008 by Spaceward

Visitors never set foot on MarsScape, the competition facility MarsScape, (nicknamed "The Mars Barn"). Instead, they control robots in it using a delayed communication link, operating from a "mission control center" at their school or university. For this reason, MarsScape does not have to be located in a prime location and the facility only has to accommodate the operating crew while able to cater to the entire United States and the world beyond.

Any comments or suggestions on Space Ward Games and Light Racers page, click on Contact Info.