Crowdfunding Space Prize Teams

As I mentioned in my previous post, NanoSatisfi is funding a cubesat project with a number of prize aspects with a Kickstarter project.  By the time of that post, they had already achieved their original funding goal, and were attempting to reach $75,000 by their deadline of July 15 for additional satellite capabilities (possibly a pair of separate cubesats or a single 2CU cubesat).  This is just an update to note that they are now up to $82,453, and thus have reached their second funding goal.  Here's an update from them on what that means: Update #8: We are deeply humbled and inspired by you!.

During the Climber/Beam Power NASA Centennial Challenge, I often covered the Kansas City Space Pirates team, one of the most prominent teams in that competition.  Now the KCSP team is moving on to a new record-breaking challenge, to keep a small plane flying for 48 hours using beamed laser power, in the spirit of what Climber team LaserMotive achieved.  They are using an Indiegogo Fundraiser to raise funding for this project.  As of this writing, they are at $2,442 with a goal of $6,000.  Here is the actual fundraising page: Dawn of Laser Powered Flight.

Google Lunar X PRIZE team Omega Envoy is using Kickstarter to raise funds for a CNC milling machine: Earthrise Space Inc. Launches Kickstarter Project - Omega Envoy GLXP Teams page.  They have quite a way to go to reach their goal of $200,000.  Many of the funding rewards involve scale models of their lunar rover made using the CNC machine, but the biggest reward, for $10,000 or more pledged, includes having your DNA taken to the Moon.  Naturally that last bit assumes they succeed in getting their rover to the Moon.  Even if they don't, the highest pledge level includes a lot of other unique rewards.  Here is the Kickstarter page: Student Built Lunar Rover Prototype for Google Lunar X PRIZE.  This is also covered at PopSci: For $10,000 on Kickstarter, Google Lunar X-Prize Contender Will Land Your DNA on the Moon.

Final Frontier Design's spacesuit kickstart a success - RLV News on a Kickstarter success for one of the winners of the Astronaut Glove NASA Centennial Challenge