Space Prize Roundup - March 12, 2009

NASA and NIA Announce Moon Design Team Competitors - SpaceRef (press release):

HAMPTON, Va. - Fifteen teams have made it to the finals of a NASA and National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) sponsored competition that challenged university students to think about the conditions astronauts will face when we return to the moon, then design projects that could become part of real lunar exploration.

The undergraduate and graduate engineering students won the right to compete against each other at the 2009 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage or RASC-AL forum to be held in Cocoa Beach, Fla., June 1-4.

Also see RASC-AL Student Competition Finalists Announced by NASA/NIA - Luna C/I blog

From AnoushehAnsari.com:

Anousheh Ansari will be appearing at the following upcoming events and locations.

March 14, 2009 - National Air and Space Museum
Washington, DC
Event: Family Day
Topic: Women in Aviation & Space day
Location: The Steven F. Udvar- Hazy Center
For details: http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/eventDetail.cfm?eventID=1149

March 26, 2009 - Universities Space Research Association (USRA) Annual Symposium Celebration of USRA’s Fortieth Anniversary
Washington, DC
Theme: Our Future in Space: Perspectives from Civil Space Exploration, National Securities, Commercial Ventures, and International Collaboration
Location: The Auditorium of the National Academy of Science

March 30- April 1st, 2009 - Education without Borders
Dubai, UAE
Theme: Innovative Solutions to Global Challenges
For details: http://ewb2009.hct.ac.ae/Default.aspx

NASA to Award $80,000 in Rice University Business Plan Competition - NASA Johnson Space Center press release:

The Innovation Partnerships Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center has announced the addition of three separate $20,000 awards to one already granted, bringing the total to $80,000, to be presented as part of the 2009 Rice University Business Plan Competition.

The three new prizes will be awarded for the best business plans representing an engineering technology that has applications to both the NASA space program and to earth-based activities, according to Michele Brekke, director of the JSC Innovation Partnerships Office (IPO).

MIT professors honored with Turing Award and $250,000 - TG Daily

Barbara Liskov wins Turing Award - ACM cites 'foundational innovations' in programming language design - MIT News

Interview with Bob Richards and Michael Potter - RLV News

KC Space Pirates March, 2009 update - Space Elevator Blog

Interviews with author of SpaceShipOne book - RLV News