CANSAT France, CMU Class, Dave Masten Trade Study, MSET, STELLAR Museum Event, More

@dmasten: For the rest of the day: aero estimations using DATCOM, then lots of CFD. If time tonight, write propellant trade study for @TeamFREDNET.

@glxp: Team @WhiteLabelSpace presents at the University of Tokyo: http://bit.ly/7XDxzo #GLXP

@dmasten: View from our shop parking lot this afternoon. http://twitpic.com/yrbvn

@NASAWatch: Teams Selected for 'Fly Your Thesis!' 2010 Microgravity Program http://bit.ly/568Y4Q

@mojaverocketguy: Ken just uploaed one of my favorite Xoie videos--our 195s flight in 30+ knot winds the day before the LLC competition: http://is.gd/6yqOu

@SoldTheMoon: CMU mobile robotics class under way today, with diverse student interests from mech E to cryogenic battery testing. A great group.

@mastenspace: welcomes @MattCannella to the Mojave desert!

@unrocket: Machined pieces for replacement bball landing gear, parts now at the welder. Haven't had the motivation to start the waiver paper work yet.

CANSAT France:

Where are we today? (PDF) - This shows the state of the CANSAT France competition, and includes a proposal for a European Cansat competion in 2011.

CANSAT - FRANCE - Proposed missions for the 2010 competition (PDF)

Mechanical Science and Engineering Team - This is a high school team that participates in the Vex Robotics Competition, First Robotics Competition, and Team America Rocketry Challenge, among other activities.

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #7 - Luna C/I

@ConradAwards: Check out our finalist teams at http://www.conradawards.org/

@Pomerantz: RT @michael_green: SEDS-UCF USLI (rocket for competition) Critical Design Review complete. nice 185 pages. PDF: http://tinyurl.com/y9pcxxf

@InnoCentiveCEO: New $30K InnoCentive Challenge! Lightning as an Alternative Energy Source http://bit.ly/5arIj3

@JUXTOPIA_JURBAN: Check out theWashington Post article on Ken Harvey, former Redskin and active member of the JURBAN team, on relieft efforts made in Haiti.

Here is the article http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011904211.html

Astronauts on 'Roids - This is from the producers of Luna C/I. There is also twitter account @AstrosOnRoids.

Celebrate 20 Years of Astronomy at the Museum of Natural Sciences - Raleigh Downtowner Magazine - A lot of space events are planned, including this:

Visitors can also check the progress of TeamSTELLAR and their pursuit of the Google Lunar X Prize, a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon; ...

Idea Connection list, Dave Masten and FREDNET, International Cansat, SLI, What If?, and more

@TeamPrometheus - Tommrow we start on 2 new landers for Frednet! I'll post when we go Live on livestream. http://bit.ly/8wEv2s

David Masten Intro - FREDNET forum:

The particular tasks I've volunteered for are to do a trade study on liquid propulsion systems for the lander and bus, and then trade on the idea of a single stage or two stage approach. After that, I think I need to get with the lander folks and ask for some changes, and start in on the TLI stage design and engine designs.

Idea Connection has a list of Open Innovation Success Stories that includes several NASA Centennial Challenges:

Xoie - Reusable Rocket (Masten and the Lunar Lander Challenge)
Otis (LaserMotive and the Beam Power Challenge)
NASA uses Open Innovation Contest to develop Moonraker (Paul's Robotics and the Regolith Excavation Challenge)
Open Innovation: Astronaut Glove (Peter Homer and the Astronaut Gove Challenge)

Other prize competitions are also included in the list.

@GoZeroG - Compete for cash prizes in the What if? Student Competition. Register your 6th, 7th, or 8th grader at http://bit.ly/5W2sPH

The 8th Continent Project Business Plan Competition 2010 - Colorado Space Coalition

@NASA_Ames - Design your Space Settlement (6-12th graders, D/L March 31st) http://settlement.arc.nasa.gov/ .:. 70s inspiration: http://is.gd/6cUHa

@tedprize - Can Oceans Survive the Human Appetite for Seafood? Sylvia Earle on "Talk of the Nation" http://bit.ly/6GQqtV

Alliances Takes us Back to School with the Newly Launched X PRIZE Lab at UW - neXt PRIZE

Rocket Boys volunteer remembered by co-workers - Al.com

Once Upon a Time, There Was a Rocket - NASA on the Student Launch Initiative

Mars Experiment Design Competition winners - Space for All:

... The competition invited Florida middle and high school students to design scientific experiments to send to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah in March 2010. ...

8th-11th April 2010, Madrid, Are you ready for it? - International Cansat Competition

Ciaraldi on Award-Winning Robot Team - Worcester Polytechnic Institute Computer Science

Moon Society Essay Contest, Prometheus Interview, Innocentive Challenges, Take Back Space, NASTAR Patch, More

@TeamFREDNET Our partners @teamprometheus hit the frontpage on @SpaceFellowship: ... Upcoming Tests, The N-Prize and the #GLXP http://is.gd/655jg

Apollo 13 - 40th Anniversary Essay Contest - Space for All

More 3D models added, with many more on the way - Google Earth blog mentions the "Model Your Town" competition in this post.

Take Back Space 2010 - Space Frontier Foundation - One of the items on their Capitol Hill agenda is "Increased funding for the Centennial Challenges space prize program".

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #6 - Luna C/I

Educate to Innovate: A Student’s View - OSTP Blog

Here are 4 new InnoCentive prize challenges:

@InnoCentiveCEO New InnoCentive $20K Challenge: Small-scale River Turbines for the Peruvian Jungle http://bit.ly/8XGux4

@InnoCentiveCEO New $20K InnoCentive Challenge: Make Water from Lake Victoria Safe to Drink! http://bit.ly/8O785t

@InnoCentiveCEO New $20K InnoCentive Challenge: Design of a Low Cost Rainwater Harvesting Storage Tank in a Wetland Region http://bit.ly/7aP2mI

@InnoCentiveCEO New $40K InnoCentive Challange: Sunlight/UV-light dose indicator http://bit.ly/6WYbcQ Supported by Rockefeller Foundation

The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is at the North American International Auto Show announcing news about the plans for the competition this year. Here's some of the news:

@progautoxp RT @speedwaymedia: Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Chooses Michigan for 2010 Competition Events http://bit.ly/6UeRLu

@progautoxp RT @MISpeedway: Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize competition to find a 100 mpg(e) vehicle will take place at MIS this summer! #piaxp

@ConradAwards The Conrad Foundation announces 25 finalist teams for the 2010 Spirit of Innovation Awards http://pitch.pe/40915

@NASAWatch ETC's The NASTAR Center Announces Winner of Student Patch Design Contest Outreach Effort #suborbital http://bit.ly/4GnF9X

Conrad Award Scholarships, Brain-Computer Interface Workshop, ISS Formation Flying, Lunar Sample Return, More

@TeamPrometheus SS2S recived the parts we made for the protoshot mark III! http://bit.ly/7tMsdk

@PeterDiamandis here at MIT X Prize event with my friend Bob Metcalf brainstorming BCI prizes

See many more tweets on the Brain-Computer Interfaces MIT X PRIZE Lab workshop at #bcixprize

@progautoxp If you will be @ #NAIAS next week stop by the #PIAXP booth. Learn more about the competition & meet qualified teams. Drive the cars too! #FB

@spacecom Scaled Composites’ Peter Siebold Wins Iven C.Kincheloe Award: Peter Siebold (Photo: Scaled Composites) Cal Poly gr... http://bit.ly/8RM13z

@NASA_Ames DARPA looks to use SPHERES (formation flying test on ISS) for crowdsource experiment http://is.gd/5RwXl

The previous tweet is on a Wired Danger Room article. From DARPA's RFI linked in the article:

DARPA seeks an open-innovation approach to the development of algorithms for the control of the Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage, and Reorient Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) that operate inside the International Space Station. ... DARPA is interested in novel, out-of-the-box ideas for involving vast groups of people in SPHERES algorithm and software development, and potentially operations. Such concepts may involve, for instance, competitions, prize awards, massively-distributed collaborative development, viral campaigns, prediction markets, new ventures ...

An Excellent Scholarship Opportunity for Spirit of Innovation Awards Participants - Spirit of Innovation Awards blog

MAKE visits MicroRAX HQ - Make blog - Beam power team LaserMotive is part of the story here.

Secor Strategies Sponsors & Helps Coordinate NASA Astronuat Glove Contest - Secor Strategies blog

Notional Next Rocket... - Unreasonable Rocket

Google Lunar X PRIZE teams will want to keep an eye on this as the 3rd New Frontiers mission is selected:

New Frontiers Candidates Selected - Future Planetary Exploration blog - One of the candidates is a lunar sample return mission.
More on MoonRise New Frontiers Proposal - Future Planetary Exploration blog
Moon Mission In Running For Next Big Space Venture - Moon Daily

Space Prize Roundup - January 2, 2010

@SpaceFellowship: N-Prize Team 'Anahera Tere' Talk to the Space Fellowship http://su.pr/2NCKju

There will be an X PRIZE Lab workshop at MIT on January 7-8 on Brain-Computer Interfaces (link from @ad_astra2).

Latest Masten Update - Selenian Boondocks

2009 Greater Tehachapi economy - Tehachapi News - Wind farms, hotels, local shops and services, heavy industry - and yes, with nearby Mojave, Edwards, and Dryden - space.

Rising to First Place -- Eureka featured in winning Aviation Week photo contest entry - Up Ship!

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #5 - Luna C/I: Moon Colonization and Integration

Singularity U Day 2: After Hours with Peter Diamandis - My Singularity

Briefs: Commercial spaceflight; Lindbergh Prize; - RLV News

Happy New Year! - The Space Elevator Blog

University Group collaborates on Lunar Lander Design - Team FREDNET at the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page

@synergymoon: is pleased to announce 2 new Partnering Organisations for 2010: Invento Media Group [... http://bit.ly/7g1zeD

Prizes and the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference ( NSRC)

I just realized that the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) includes a student suborbital experiment contest with cash prizes for University of Colorado and some Space Grant Consortium students. Here's the flyer (PDF).

There are some student suborbital experiment proposal presentations (PDF) on the schedule for the conference. I assume these are competitors in the contest.

One of the talks on Friday from Nicole Jordan of the X PRIZE Foundation and Erika Wagner of the MIT XPRIZE Lab is Prizes as a Tool for Engaging Researchers and Students:

This paper will describe the ways that Incentive Prizes can be used to attract high quality payloads for suborbital research and education missions (REM).

Several Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge competitors are featured:

Improving Mission Flexibility with the Hippogriff Propulsion Module (PDF) - Bob Steinke of SpeedUp.

Science When Flight Rate and Turn Time Don't Matter (PDF) - Michael Mealing of Masten Space Systems

Armadillo Aerospace and Purdue University Student Experiment Program (PDF)

Here's an idea for another student competition: ZERORobotics: a Student Competition Aboard the International Space Station (PDF)