A living repository of problems worth solving.
World Solve is an institutional, citable repository of unsolved and solved problems across science, technology, economics, governance, and philosophy. We give independent researchers and entrepreneurs precise targets to work on next.
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3. Citable Records
Every problem gets a unique permanent citation ID (e.g. WS00042) for research papers and proposals.
4194Total
4194Open
0Solved
9Humans
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02138
Permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles reach -240°C, making metals and polymers brittle and prone to shattering. Special cryogenic-resistant alloys and thermal insulation jackets are required.
Team Humans Club. (2026). Lunar permanent night regions reach near absolute zero, causing severe structural embrittlement.. World Solve Repository, WS02138. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2138
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02139
Thickening Mars' atmosphere or cooling Venus requires releasing greenhouse gases or solar shades on a planetary scale. Advanced bio-engineered extremophiles or orbital mirror swarms must be modeled and tested.
Team Humans Club. (2026). We have no proven operational mechanism for planetary-scale atmospheric terraforming.. World Solve Repository, WS02139. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2139
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02140
Traditional star trackers struggle when solar glare or local dust plumes obstruct sensor fields during maneuvers. Pulsar-based navigation systems utilizing ultra-precise atomic X-ray timing signals are needed.
Team Humans Club. (2026). Deep-space optical navigation loses accuracy when spacecraft travel far from recognizable stars.. World Solve Repository, WS02140. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2140
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02141
Earth's shifting atmosphere blurs astronomical imagery, requiring expensive adaptive optics systems with limited fields of view. Next-generation artificial laser guide star arrays and photonic lanterns are needed.
Team Humans Club. (2026). Ground-based telescopes suffer from atmospheric turbulence that limits angular resolution.. World Solve Repository, WS02141. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2141
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02142
Chemical lithium-hydroxide canisters are consumable, heavy, and wasteful for multi-year missions. Algae photo-bioreactors capable of converting human exhaled CO2 directly into oxygen and edible protein are required.
Team Humans Club. (2026). We lack closed-loop biological carbon dioxide scrubbers for human spacecraft cabins.. World Solve Repository, WS02142. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2142
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02143
Mars (0.38g) and the Moon (0.16g) have partial gravity levels whose long-term impact on embryo development is completely unknown. Ground-based and orbital partial-gravity mammalian centrifuges are required.
Team Humans Club. (2026). We do not know if mammalian gestation and development can safely occur in partial gravity.. World Solve Repository, WS02143. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2143
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02144
The boom in commercial satellite constellations on Earth causes RF noise that bleeds into planetary science frequency bands. Strict international spectrum carving and transition to optical laser links are necessary.
Team Humans Club. (2026). Radio frequency spectrum congestion threatens deep space telemetry transmission bands.. World Solve Repository, WS02144. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2144
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02145
Solar glare blinds optical ground survey telescopes, leaving blind spots where dangerous asteroids can approach unnoticed. Space-based infrared observatories placed at Lagrange point L1 are required for solar-side scanning.
Team Humans Club. (2026). We cannot easily detect dark, metallic near-Earth asteroids approaching from the direction of the Sun.. World Solve Repository, WS02145. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2145
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02146
Without gravity, liquid fuels float randomly inside tanks, causing air bubbles to enter fuel pumps during orbital refilling. Scalable fluid-settling systems and bladderless zero-g fuel transfer ports must be built.
Team Humans Club. (2026). In-orbit propellant transfer between moving spacecraft in microgravity is unstable.. World Solve Repository, WS02146. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2146
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02147
Energetic protons and electrons in Earth's Van Allen belts degrade standard solar panel efficiency over time. Radiation-hardened perovskite-on-silicon tandem solar cells are needed to maintain high power-to-weight ratios.
Team Humans Club. (2026). We lack ultra-lightweight, high-efficiency solar cells resistant to orbital radiation degradation.. World Solve Repository, WS02147. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2147
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02148
The solar wind strips away atmospheres from unmagnetized planets like Mars, but how it reaches supersonic speeds is unclear. Close-orbit solar probes and plasma simulations are needed to resolve acceleration dynamics.
Team Humans Club. (2026). The mechanism by which solar wind plasma accelerates to millions of km/h remains unverified.. World Solve Repository, WS02148. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2148
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02149
Pressurized gloves force astronauts to constantly fight suit resistance, leading to fingernail loss and severe hand fatigue. Robotic assistance exoskeletons or active pressure-sensing glove joints are needed.
Team Humans Club. (2026). Current space suit gloves restrict hand dexterity and cause physical trauma during prolonged spacewalks.. World Solve Repository, WS02149. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2149
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02150
Cosmic strings are theoretical linear defects in space-time that could explain early cosmic structure formation. Advanced gravitational lensing networks are required to detect their unique space-bending signatures.
Team Humans Club. (2026). We have no direct observational images of cosmic strings or primal topological defects.. World Solve Repository, WS02150. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2150
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02151
Frequent commercial launches risk disrupting the ozone layer and altering upper-atmosphere global thermal dynamics. Clean-burning propellants like methalox or hydrogen-based engines must be evaluated for environmental impact.
Team Humans Club. (2026). High-altitude rocket launches deposit light-absorbing black carbon directly into the stratosphere.. World Solve Repository, WS02151. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2151
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02152
Capturing dead satellites or space debris requires catching uncontrolled objects without causing collision fragments. Advanced computer vision, robotic capture arms, and net-based soft capture systems are required.
Team Humans Club. (2026). Autonomous docking between non-cooperative, tumbling space objects remains high risk.. World Solve Repository, WS02152. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2152
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02153
Converting Mars' 95% CO2 atmosphere into plastics, methane, and industrial reagents requires complex catalysts that foul quickly. High-efficiency solid oxide electrolysis systems optimized for dirty ambient gas are needed.
Team Humans Club. (2026). We cannot reliably synthesize high-purity industrial chemicals from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide.. World Solve Repository, WS02153. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2153
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02154
As microchips shrink, energetic cosmic particles flip memory bits more frequently, freezing flight computers. Ultra-reliable fault-tolerant voting architectures and magnetic RAM must be deployed across satellite buses.
Team Humans Club. (2026). Cosmic ray impacts trigger single-event upsets in orbit, causing catastrophic satellite computer crashes.. World Solve Repository, WS02154. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2154
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02155
Asteroids range from solid iron rocks to loose rubble piles, making landing or kinetic deflection unpredictable. In-situ seismic characterization and robotic surface sampling missions are needed across asteroid types.
Team Humans Club. (2026). We lack precise knowledge of the mechanical strength and internal cohesion of small asteroids.. World Solve Repository, WS02155. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2155
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02156
Closed space station biomes combined with radiation select for rapid bacterial mutation, risking astronaut health. Autonomous metagenomic sequencing systems must continuously monitor station surfaces for bio-threats.
Team Humans Club. (2026). We cannot monitor long-term space station microbial mutations that could yield multi-drug resistant superbugs.. World Solve Repository, WS02156. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2156
Open
Global / Global / Unspecified
WS02157
Commercial point-to-point rocket or scramjet transit is limited to ocean routes due to severe atmospheric shockwaves. Low-boom aerodynamic shaping and active acoustic damping technologies must be developed.
Team Humans Club. (2026). Sub-orbital hypersonic passenger vehicles cause extreme noise pollution and sonic booms over land.. World Solve Repository, WS02157. Retrieved from https://www.worldsolve.org/index.php?view=problem&id=2157
