By challenging bioengineers to grow human tissue, NASA is attempting to simultaneously transform healthcare on Earth and test the effects of deep space on explorers.

In partnership with Methuselah Foundation’s New Organ Alliance, NASA has launched the Vascular Tissue Challenge.

The challenge will award a $500,000 prize to three teams that successfully create “thick, metabolically-functional human vascularised organ tissue”.

NASA is using the competition as a springboard to test whether human tissue can withstand the pressure of expeditions to deep space, but the space agency also recognises that the bioengineers’ endeavors will aid healthcare on Earth.

“The humans who will be our deep space pioneers are our most important resource on the Journey to Mars and beyond,” said associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington, Steve Jurczyk.

“The outcome of this challenge has the potential to revolutionize healthcare on Earth, and could become part of an important set of tools used to minimize the negative effects of deep space on our future explorers.”

The challenge was announced as part of the White House Organ Summit, which was arranged to highlight the efforts being made to improve outcomes for people waiting for organ transplants and to offer support for living donors.

The vascularised, thick-tissue models resulting from this challenge will function as organ substitutes, or models, and will be used to study deep space environmental effects, such as radiation, as well as being used to develop strategies to minimize the damage to healthy cells.

To win the award competitors must produce vascularised tissue that is more than 1 cm in thickness and maintains more than 85% survival of the required cells throughout a 30-day trial period.

“When the Wright Brothers discovered how to control aircraft during flight for aviation in the early 1900s, there was an explosion of progress after this key barrier was removed,” said chief executive officer of the Methuselah Foundation, Dave Gobel.

“In the same way, once the ‘vascularization limit’ is solved, via the NASA Vascular Tissue Challenge, there inevitably will be an historic advance in progress and commercialization of tissue engineering applications to everyone’s benefit.”

In addition to the laboratory trials, teams also need to disclose how they would further advance some aspect of their research through a microgravity experiment that could be conducted aboard the International Space Station.

Further information about the competition is available here.