Sunday, October 23, 2011

Space Prize for DBAs, Copter Ropes, Sample Return Sponsors, Radical Benefit, Lots and Lots of Student Competions, More

Potential Sponsors for Competitors - Sample Return Robot Challenge

WPI Receives Accreditation for First-in-the-Nation Robotics Engineering Undergraduate Degree Program -Worcester Polytechnic Institute - WPI's management of the Sample Return Robot Challenge, the Regolith Excavation Challenge win, and FIRST Robotics competitions are all mentioned.

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NASA Sponsors 2011 Western Region Robotics Competition - NASA Ames

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Here's some recent information from the X PRIZE Foundation:

Welcome to the Blog - Archon Genomics X PRIZE:

... our team will be making a major announcement regarding this PRIZE on October 26, 2011 in New York City. 

@: Great benefit, just recovering! Thanks to @, @ and @ for amazing help. $2.7M raised to fund XPF!

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Mars Education Challenge Webinar #3 will be held by David Black - Explore Mars - The webinar will be held on October 24.  Also: 

Over the next couple of months, Explore Mare plans to have all of the other MEC winners present their materials in special webinars to help guarantee that these materials are as widely distributed as possible.  We hope that these education webinars will also build up excitement about the 2011-2012 Mars Education Challenge was launched in September 2011.

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Gingrich calls for privatizing human spaceflight - Space Politics - Prizes are featured in Gingrich's proposal.

Newt Gingrich calls Space Launch System “disgraceful” pork - Space Frontier Foundation

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Student Rocketeers Wanted for World’s Largest Rocket Contest - The Aerospace Industries Association announces that the Team America Rocketry Challenge is open for registration.

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The following are all from Space for All:

NASA announces two microgravity contests for students - This is for the latest DIME and WING competitions.
IAA student art competition results
Jim Baen memorial contest for manned space sci-fi short stories
Reach for the Stars National Rocket Competition results

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SpaceVision 2011 - includes student biz plan competition - RLV News

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Military dangles prize for helicopter fast-rope solution - MSNBC: 

Problem-solvers must create a device — added to or replacing a glove — that has enough grip on a "FAST" rope for a controlled descent by someone weighing 300 to 400 pounds with gear. It must also somehow dissipate the heat that builds up from the friction between glove and rope, and allow Special Forces operators, soldiers or Marines to fire their weapon as soon as they touch the ground.

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Database Admins! Red Gate Wants To Send One Of You INTO SPACE - TechCrunch

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E. Coli Testing Technology From Yale Engineers Could Save Thousands Of Lives - Huffington Post: 

Weber told The Huffington Post that a prototype is still a year or so off, but the team's design was promising enough to take top honors at this year's NASA Tech Brief Engineering competition. It beat out 900 other designs from 50 countries for a $20,000 prize.

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NASA, NIA Announce 2012 Student Rover Contest - SpaceRef on the RASC-AL (Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage) Exploration Robo-Ops Student Challenge

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10/15/2011: More Tether Testing - SpeedUp 

... our team will be making a major announcement regarding this PRIZE on October 26, 2011 in New York City.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

FAA Trouble, YouTube Space Lab, Oil Spill Challenge, Why Do You Explore? Contest, Carmack Prize, More

Today, the Google Home Page features the YouTube Space Lab, so about a billion people should know about it by now.  Just in case that isn't enough, I'll try to push it over the edge with this mention.  The winning space experiment video will be performed on the International Space Station.

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House appropriators tell FAA to focus more on air than space - Space Politics - The affordable space access prize proposed by the FAA is one of the casualties.

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Illinois Team Wins Oil Spill Cleanup X CHALLENGE
Pictures: X PRIZE Contest Seeks Improved Oil Spill Cleanup - National Geographic

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NASA Funded Astronomer Wins Nobel Prize - NASA Watch

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Rocketry Winners Come to Washington - OSTP Blog - White House

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NASA Adds Some Numbers to Green Flight Challenge
AVweb Readers Weigh In on Electric Aircraft, Green Flight Challenge
Green Flight Challenge Winners
Green Flight Challenge – Days Three and Five
Green Flight Challenge – Day Two - CAFE Foundation Blog

The CAFE Foundation PhotoStream has pictures from the event.

NASA Contest Heralds Dawn of the Electric Plane - OSTP Blog - White House - NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

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X PRIZE Foundation Announces Three-Year, Multi-Million Dollar Sponsorship with Shell for Prizes Promoting Exploration of Space, Oceans and Land - X PRIZE Foundation press release - This includes the Why Do You Explore? video contest, with a grand prize of a $10,000 National Geographic Expedition, and 3 other prizes of Airship Ventures flights.

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Amateur Rocketeers Chase $10,000 Launch Prize Offered by John Carmack - Space.com