{"id":386300,"date":"2026-03-14T03:03:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=973408"},"modified":"2026-03-14T03:03:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:03:49","slug":"usbr-halt-the-hitchhiker-invasive-species-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=386300","title":{"rendered":"USBR Halt the Hitchhiker: Invasive Species Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\">\n<div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\">\n<div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\">\n<figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-cover \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg?w=2048\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"In this underwater shot, a few strands of a brownish-yellow algae floats in teal blue water. The algae looks like miniature seaweed, with little leaves and tiny balls.\" style=\"transform: scale(1.2); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" loading=\"eager\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg 5395w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg?resize=600,400 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg?resize=900,600 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/oceanos2024loiacono-2059.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\">\n<div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">A clump of sargassum &#8211; an invasive species of algae &#8211; floats along in the current off the short of La Parguera, Puerto Rico. <\/div>\n<div class=\"hds-credits\">NASA\/Milan Loiacono<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>NASA\u2019s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) assists in the use of crowdsourcing across the federal government. CoECI\u2019s NASA Tournament Lab offers the contract capability to run external crowdsourced challenges on behalf of NASA and other agencies.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is sponsoring a 3-phase prize challenge (managed by yet2) for innovative solutions to eliminate the risk of aquatic invasive species (AIS) being transported in raw water entering and exiting watercraft ballast compartments. The goal is to identify novel approaches that can kill, exclude, or inactivate AIS such as quagga, zebra, and golden mussels, thereby protecting Reclamation\u2019s water delivery and hydropower infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Award: $550,000 in total prizes across all phases<\/p>\n<p>Open date: February 26, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Phase 1 concept papers due: May 29, 2026<\/p>\n<p>For more information, visit:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/haltthehitchhiker.yet2.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/haltthehitchhiker.yet2.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA\u2019s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) assists in the use of crowdsourcing across the federal government. CoECI\u2019s NASA Tournament Lab offers the contract capability to run external crowdsourced challenges on behalf of NASA and other agencies. The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is sponsoring a 3-phase prize challenge (managed by yet2) for innovative solutions [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15705,16320,15966],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-386300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-center-of-excellence-for-collaborative-innovation-coeci","category-coeci-news","category-prizes-challenges-crowdsourcing-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=386300"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":386361,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386300\/revisions\/386361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=386300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=386300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=386300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}