The American space agency NASA in its latest competition has asked public for written submissions detailing what Mars explorers will need to colonize a new planet.

Ever since astronauts first walked on the Moon in 1969, scientists and space enthusiasts dreamt of one day exploring the Red Planet. Mars is seen as the next future for humans and scientists are trying hard thinking about how to build sustainable colony on Mars.

NASA through its new challenge is offering a total of $15,000 in prize money, which will be split between three winners of the contest.

This latest competition from the space agency is broad, but there are many challenges facing planetary colonization.

The space agency listed food, water, breathable air, communication, exercise, social interactions and medicine, as potential topics for the participants seeking to win the prize money and advancing humanity by their suggestions.

NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan during a recent interview said, “We're not going to get humans to Mars until mid-2030s, and world is going to change by then. So how do we make sure that path we're choosing has enough flexibility, so that as technology develops we can adapt what we're doing?”

Manned missions to Mars may be decades away, but NASA is already making progress toward achieving that goal.

Mars rovers and orbiting probes are providing the agency detailed information every day about the red Planet.

NASA has also turned to private enterprise and other countries to fill in the gaps in order to battle the budget cuts.

Stofan said the whole world is ready to get involved in the mission to mars. Presently they have 13 different space agencies from around the world working on the global exploration road map, which he said is beneficial for them due to limited resources.