NASA wants to establish long-term human presence at the moon under its Artemis program. To do that, it will have to solve the tricky issue of power generation, transmission, and storage.

That's no easy task. Lunar night lasts 350 hours, rendering current solar schemes minimally effective. What NASA needs are lunar surface power systems that can deliver continuous, reliable power to support human habitation. And it needs help from savvy engineers and hobbyists to get there. 

Enter the latest phase of an ongoing crowdsourcing competition that asks whether you've got the right stuff. In an era of massive development budgets and increasing technology convergence and sophistication, there's something charming about the U.S. space agency seeking bright ideas from unlikely sources in business, education, and the general public.