The University Rover Challenge is scheduled to start on May 31. You can find a lot more information on the URC Teams page, which links to the sites for all of the teams. Google Lunar X PRIZE team JURBAN is one of the teams through Johns Hopkins University.
Kevin Sloan interview on the University Rover Challenge - The Space Show
OSTP Sees NASA As Leader In Offering Prizes - NASA Watch
The 6 Space App Challenge winners that want to change the world - DVICE.com
Announcing the Opening of the 2012 Humans in Space Youth Art Competition: Winners' Artwork to be Displayed and Performed Worldwide - SpaceRef - See HumansInSpaceArt on Facebook
for examples of the artwork, presumably from previous years' competitions.
5/12/2012: Laramie Rose Free Flight - SpeedUp - I didn't write up the SpeedUp presentation at Space Access because I missed it when there was a change in the schedule there, so I'm glad to be able to link to this.
AISR CanSat Competition - Nina Markham on YouTube
Masten Space fires new Katana engine - RLV News
Briefs: Jordin Kare interview; KSC master plan - RLV News
Citizens in Space opens High Altitude Astrobiology Challenge - RLV News
XCOR announces Lynx suborbital flight winner - RLV News
2011 Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court competition finals - Space for All
Showing posts with label Mars Society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mars Society. Show all posts
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Friday, December 02, 2011
Sample Return and University Rover Rules, NEA Search, SunSat Art, Space Generation Prizes, Nanosat Launch Seminar, More
Proposal Information Updated - Sample Return Robot Challenge
***
URC 2012 Rules are Live! - University Rover Challenge
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NASA Human Exploration Community Workshop on the Global Exploration Workshop (PPT) - FISO - This includes "NEA Next" and "Moon Next" scenarios. The "NEA Next" scenario covers the need to add to our list of reachable potential asteroid destinations. Earth-based detection of these is mentioned:
A prize based approach may also provide incentives to include more public participation.
***
SGAC Announces the Barcelona Zero-G Aerobatics Challenge Winners - Space Generation Advisory Council
SGAC-EIC Space Entrepreneurship Paper Competition - Space Generation Advisory Council
***
Rocket firm presentations at Team Phoenicia Nanosat Launcher Seminar - RLV News
***
A lot is happening with the Google Lunar X PRIZE. For example:
Moon Express announces alliance with Autodesk - RLV News
Did Moon Express just take the lead in the POINT of the Google Lunar X PRIZE? - Evadot
Astrobotic Wins NASA Contract for Robot Teams to Explore Martian and Lunar Caves - Astrobotic
On NASA’s Lunar Heritage Guidelines - Will Pomerantz on his personal site, InstaPom
***
Two NASA Goddard Engineers Receive Prestigious Awards - SpaceRef
***
International SunSat Design Competition - National Space Society blog
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Space Lab student competition on YouTube attracts 5500 teams - ESA
***
Here are a couple of interesting non-space prizes:
NASA Tournament Lab/Patent Office Challenge - NASAHackSpace
DSTA launches TechX Challenge 2013 - Singapore's Defence Science & Technology Agency starts the 2nd robotic TechX challenge; the first was held in 2008. The winning team gets S$1 million, which a currency converter tells me is a nice prize.
***
URC 2012 Rules are Live! - University Rover Challenge
***
NASA Human Exploration Community Workshop on the Global Exploration Workshop (PPT) - FISO - This includes "NEA Next" and "Moon Next" scenarios. The "NEA Next" scenario covers the need to add to our list of reachable potential asteroid destinations. Earth-based detection of these is mentioned:
A prize based approach may also provide incentives to include more public participation.
***
SGAC Announces the Barcelona Zero-G Aerobatics Challenge Winners - Space Generation Advisory Council
SGAC-EIC Space Entrepreneurship Paper Competition - Space Generation Advisory Council
***
Rocket firm presentations at Team Phoenicia Nanosat Launcher Seminar - RLV News
***
A lot is happening with the Google Lunar X PRIZE. For example:
Moon Express announces alliance with Autodesk - RLV News
Did Moon Express just take the lead in the POINT of the Google Lunar X PRIZE? - Evadot
Astrobotic Wins NASA Contract for Robot Teams to Explore Martian and Lunar Caves - Astrobotic
On NASA’s Lunar Heritage Guidelines - Will Pomerantz on his personal site, InstaPom
***
Two NASA Goddard Engineers Receive Prestigious Awards - SpaceRef
***
International SunSat Design Competition - National Space Society blog
***
Space Lab student competition on YouTube attracts 5500 teams - ESA
***
Here are a couple of interesting non-space prizes:
NASA Tournament Lab/Patent Office Challenge - NASAHackSpace
DSTA launches TechX Challenge 2013 - Singapore's Defence Science & Technology Agency starts the 2nd robotic TechX challenge; the first was held in 2008. The winning team gets S$1 million, which a currency converter tells me is a nice prize.
Monday, June 06, 2011
Sample Return Review, Unreasonable Perspective, Rover Challenge Results, EuSEC Teams, Armadillo Test
NASA’s new robot challenge - The Space Review - Ben Brockert discusses the Sample Return Robot Challenge.
Armadillo SuperMod test at full-throttle - RLV News - Ben also shows what Armadillo Aerospace is doing. You can see more from Armadillo in other recent RLV News posts.
Unreasonable UAV aerial videography - RLV News - Continuing the coverage of former Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge teams, Unreasonable Rocket gives a view of a rocket launch that somehow reminded me of the trailer for the new X-Men movie.
Here are a few links for the 2011 University Rover Challenge:
The Results Are In!
2011 University Rover Challenge Concludes in Utah
Photos -> URC 2011
EuSEC announces competitors - The Space Elevator Blog
We-Are-Space video contest extended to June 14th - Space for All
Armadillo SuperMod test at full-throttle - RLV News - Ben also shows what Armadillo Aerospace is doing. You can see more from Armadillo in other recent RLV News posts.
Unreasonable UAV aerial videography - RLV News - Continuing the coverage of former Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge teams, Unreasonable Rocket gives a view of a rocket launch that somehow reminded me of the trailer for the new X-Men movie.
Here are a few links for the 2011 University Rover Challenge:
The Results Are In!
2011 University Rover Challenge Concludes in Utah
Photos -> URC 2011
EuSEC announces competitors - The Space Elevator Blog
We-Are-Space video contest extended to June 14th - Space for All
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Prize Roundup: OSIRIS-REx, 8-Band Research, CanSat, Mars Rover Challenge, More
NASA has selected the OSIRIS-REx mission to examine asteroid 1999 RQ36 and to bring a sample of it back to Earth as its next New Frontier mission. The Planetary Society plans to be involved with the mission, including running some contests:
As stated in the OSIRIS-REx Concept Study Report, Planetary Society "publishes OSIRIS-REx scientist- and engineer-authored articles; creates radio stories and holds interviews with OSIRS-REx personnel; collects names to be imprinted on a microchip and flown to RQ36 and back; runs the contest to name RQ36; holds a Planetfest at the time of asteroid sampling; and features images of RQ36 on the Planetary Society web site, and runs a 'choose your favorite OSIRIS-REx image' contest."
The latest Space News has an article about DigitalGlobe's 8-Band Research Challenge, which encourages researchers to find new ways to use the data products of DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite
in topics such as Land Use/Land Cover, environmental monitoring, coastal habitat mapping, feature extraction and mapping, natural resource mapping and monitoring, or other related disciplines.
The winning papers are now compiled here (large PDF).
It's a big time of the year for student competitions! The @Lunabotics competition continues later this morning, the Mar's Society 2011 University Rover Challenge will be held from June 2-4 at the Mars Desert Research Station, and the 2011 CanSat Competition in Texas is planned for June 10-12.
Challenge.gov: Mapping Dark Matter - NASA Watch - Also see the SpaceHack page.
Update May 29:
Laurentian students win NASA Lunabotics - CBC News
Draft Rules Available for Review! - Sample Return Robot Challenge (WPI)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Mars Society Prizes: University Rover Challenge and Convention Poster Contest
Here's a couple prize items from the Mars Society:
2011 Mars Society Poster Contest - The winner will help publicize this year's International Mars Society Convention, which will be held in Dallas.
Meet the Competitors - The competitors in this year's University Rover Challenge have been selected, and are now listed on the URC 2011 Teams page. There are links to web sites for most of the teams there, so it's easy to learn more about them.
One of the University Rover Challenge competitors, the University of Michigan Mars Rover Team, has its own space prize, the 2011 Mars Rover High School Contest for Michigan high school teams. The first place prize is $600, there is a total of $1000 in prizes.
2011 Mars Society Poster Contest - The winner will help publicize this year's International Mars Society Convention, which will be held in Dallas.
Meet the Competitors - The competitors in this year's University Rover Challenge have been selected, and are now listed on the URC 2011 Teams page. There are links to web sites for most of the teams there, so it's easy to learn more about them.
One of the University Rover Challenge competitors, the University of Michigan Mars Rover Team, has its own space prize, the 2011 Mars Rover High School Contest for Michigan high school teams. The first place prize is $600, there is a total of $1000 in prizes.
Friday, January 21, 2011
JSC Ideas, Phobos and Deimos Conference, University Rover Date, Hoppers, More
A Look Inside JSC's New Ideas - NASA Watch
Cross Cutting Themes at JSC - NASA Watch - Click through to take a look at the slide presentations for both of these articles. You may see some imagery that evokes the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge here and there. For example, the "Promote Rapid Prototype Engineering" slide (slide 16 in the Cross Cutting Themes presentation) reminds me of Robonaut - Project M History and Driving Philosophy:
We had also been working with Armadillo Aerospace for a few years. ... We did “hardware store engineering” like a scaled propellant slosh test made of light globes, colored water, nuts and bolts, and lumber from the hardware store. That test allowed us to confirm fundamental slosh modes, anchor our simulation, develop a better full scale slosh test, and give engineers an intuitive feel for the physics. We didn’t sit and debate it, we didn’t analyze and re-analyze, we simply built and learned.
@wikkit: Cryogenic snow falls in Caddo Mills as Phil's 4k methane engine starts running. http://twitpic.com/3r9c98
Preparations for NASA Power Beaming Competition 2011 - LaserMotive
Power up: Laser beams can now deliver energy to machines through thin air - The Economist (link from @NASA_Green_Ames)
Still here - Vog Rockets has a brief note.
A student interested in the N Prize gets a lecture from a former Centennial Challenges manager:
@fineri: Had a lecture by Ken Davidian from the FAA/AST office today, very interesting, pity it was only an hour..
@ConradAwards: Technological innovation, entrepreneurship alive among U.S. HS students, more than 480 students in 2011 competition http://ow.ly/3HiGk
@NextGiantLeap: Planetary rovers: Space hopping | The Economist http://t.co/hgCwg0g via @theeconomist
@Eurospaceward: Registration for the University Rover Challenge June 2 - 4, 2011 extended to Feb 15, 2011, see https://sites.google.com/marssociety.org/urc/
The above Mars Society link (and the site in general) is having some trouble as of this posting, but you can get more details at this University Rover Challenge site.
Second International Conference on the Exploration of Phobos and Deimos - SETI Institute - The conference will be held at NASA Ames on March 14-16. It includes the
Mars Institute “Asaph Hall Best Student Paper Award” ceremony during which the Mars Institute will present an award certificate and a USD$500 prize to the student who will have first-authored the most noteworthy research abstract or poster relating to the exploration of Phobos and/or Deimos, as judged by the Conveners of the conference.
Cross Cutting Themes at JSC - NASA Watch - Click through to take a look at the slide presentations for both of these articles. You may see some imagery that evokes the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge here and there. For example, the "Promote Rapid Prototype Engineering" slide (slide 16 in the Cross Cutting Themes presentation) reminds me of Robonaut - Project M History and Driving Philosophy:
We had also been working with Armadillo Aerospace for a few years. ... We did “hardware store engineering” like a scaled propellant slosh test made of light globes, colored water, nuts and bolts, and lumber from the hardware store. That test allowed us to confirm fundamental slosh modes, anchor our simulation, develop a better full scale slosh test, and give engineers an intuitive feel for the physics. We didn’t sit and debate it, we didn’t analyze and re-analyze, we simply built and learned.
@wikkit: Cryogenic snow falls in Caddo Mills as Phil's 4k methane engine starts running. http://twitpic.com/3r9c98
Preparations for NASA Power Beaming Competition 2011 - LaserMotive
Power up: Laser beams can now deliver energy to machines through thin air - The Economist (link from @NASA_Green_Ames)
Still here - Vog Rockets has a brief note.
A student interested in the N Prize gets a lecture from a former Centennial Challenges manager:
@fineri: Had a lecture by Ken Davidian from the FAA/AST office today, very interesting, pity it was only an hour..
@ConradAwards: Technological innovation, entrepreneurship alive among U.S. HS students, more than 480 students in 2011 competition http://ow.ly/3HiGk
@NextGiantLeap: Planetary rovers: Space hopping | The Economist http://t.co/hgCwg0g via @theeconomist
@Eurospaceward: Registration for the University Rover Challenge June 2 - 4, 2011 extended to Feb 15, 2011, see https://sites.google.com/marssociety.org/urc/
The above Mars Society link (and the site in general) is having some trouble as of this posting, but you can get more details at this University Rover Challenge site.
Second International Conference on the Exploration of Phobos and Deimos - SETI Institute - The conference will be held at NASA Ames on March 14-16. It includes the
Mars Institute “Asaph Hall Best Student Paper Award” ceremony during which the Mars Institute will present an award certificate and a USD$500 prize to the student who will have first-authored the most noteworthy research abstract or poster relating to the exploration of Phobos and/or Deimos, as judged by the Conveners of the conference.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Prize Roundup: Mars Rover, Mars Prizes, Space Pirates, Nanosat Challenge Seats
@TheMarsSociety: #Poland's Magma rover for #Mars Society's University Rover Challenge 2010. http://plixi.com/p/52138136
"Colonizing Mars" in the Journal of Cosmology - RLV News - The issue includes the article The Mars Prize and Private Missions to the Red Planet.
@Spaceport_NM Another successful #ispcs concluded, and my runway dedication is in a few hours... :D
The Kansas City Space Pirates throw in the towel… - The Space Elevator Blog - In addition to honoring this prominent Space Elevator Games team, this post gives some hints about the future:
I have had several conversations with Ben Shelef about the future of the Climber / Power-Beaming competition and, while it is much too early for me to spill any of the beans, I can safely say that some significant changes in the structure of the Games appear to be in the cards.
Team Phoenicia has a few new posts:
New Sponsor: Dragon Valves
New Sponsor: Micro/sys
Team Phoenicia/Techshop Nanosat Launcher Challenge Seminar Reservations Now Open
"Colonizing Mars" in the Journal of Cosmology - RLV News - The issue includes the article The Mars Prize and Private Missions to the Red Planet.
@Spaceport_NM Another successful #ispcs concluded, and my runway dedication is in a few hours... :D
The Kansas City Space Pirates throw in the towel… - The Space Elevator Blog - In addition to honoring this prominent Space Elevator Games team, this post gives some hints about the future:
I have had several conversations with Ben Shelef about the future of the Climber / Power-Beaming competition and, while it is much too early for me to spill any of the beans, I can safely say that some significant changes in the structure of the Games appear to be in the cards.
Team Phoenicia has a few new posts:
New Sponsor: Dragon Valves
New Sponsor: Micro/sys
Team Phoenicia/Techshop Nanosat Launcher Challenge Seminar Reservations Now Open
Saturday, January 16, 2010
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
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
Sunday, November 22, 2009
N-Prize Twitter List, Science Art, Power Beaming Next Year, Glove Wins Reviewed, More
N-Prize
Yes, I made another one: N-Prize twitter list. One of the tweets there points out that there are a lot of recent updates on the Team Prometheus blog, such as:
Frednet Lander Progress!
More Liquid Fuel Engine Progress!
More Launcher Progress!
Tiny Satellite Prototype!
Actually you might want to check out the entire November archive. You will see in some of the posts that Team Prometheus is collaborating with Google Lunar X PRIZE Team FREDNET.
Astronaut Glove Challenge
High-Tech Space Gloves Win NASA's Astronaut Glove Challenge - Popular Science
$350,000 given in glove design - Florida Today - I have to admit that I prefer Florida Today's prize total addition to Popular Science's.
Astronaut Glove Challenge Winners Announced - Universe Today
NASA Awards $350,000 to Winning Astronaut Glove Designers - On Orbit
Space Elevator Games - Power Beaming/Climber
Jordin Kare and LaserMotive - RLV News
Fox News coverage of the Space Elevator Games - Space Elevator Blog
Next Power Beaming Challenge competition set for May - RLV News
Post-competition analysis from LaserMotive - Space Elevator Blog
Other Prizes
Big pictures of tiny wonders - Cosmic Log covers the Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition. It also gives a list of other similar competitions combining science and art that will keep you clicking for quite a while.
2010 University Rover Challenge - Space for All
The Suborbital Refueling Dance - Transterrestrial Musings suggests a couple more rocketry prizes.
Spaceship design contest entries - Space for All
CSA Announces 2009 SpotBeam Award Recipients (PDF) - California Space Authority
Young Entrepreneurs Visit White House - OSTP Blog discusses the winners of the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge.
Mathematics and Materials Science Research Take Top Prize at Nation's Premier High School Science Competition - PR Newswire
LEAG 2009 Debrief - Out of the Cradle - In addition to covering the 2009 Lunar Exploration Analysis Group conference, which may be of interest to Google Lunar X PRIZE teams, this includes information on several student contests:
Yes, I made another one: N-Prize twitter list. One of the tweets there points out that there are a lot of recent updates on the Team Prometheus blog, such as:
Frednet Lander Progress!
More Liquid Fuel Engine Progress!
More Launcher Progress!
Tiny Satellite Prototype!
Actually you might want to check out the entire November archive. You will see in some of the posts that Team Prometheus is collaborating with Google Lunar X PRIZE Team FREDNET.
Astronaut Glove Challenge
High-Tech Space Gloves Win NASA's Astronaut Glove Challenge - Popular Science
$350,000 given in glove design - Florida Today - I have to admit that I prefer Florida Today's prize total addition to Popular Science's.
Astronaut Glove Challenge Winners Announced - Universe Today
NASA Awards $350,000 to Winning Astronaut Glove Designers - On Orbit
Space Elevator Games - Power Beaming/Climber
Jordin Kare and LaserMotive - RLV News
Fox News coverage of the Space Elevator Games - Space Elevator Blog
Next Power Beaming Challenge competition set for May - RLV News
Post-competition analysis from LaserMotive - Space Elevator Blog
Other Prizes
Big pictures of tiny wonders - Cosmic Log covers the Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition. It also gives a list of other similar competitions combining science and art that will keep you clicking for quite a while.
2010 University Rover Challenge - Space for All
The Suborbital Refueling Dance - Transterrestrial Musings suggests a couple more rocketry prizes.
Spaceship design contest entries - Space for All
CSA Announces 2009 SpotBeam Award Recipients (PDF) - California Space Authority
Young Entrepreneurs Visit White House - OSTP Blog discusses the winners of the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge.
Mathematics and Materials Science Research Take Top Prize at Nation's Premier High School Science Competition - PR Newswire
LEAG 2009 Debrief - Out of the Cradle - In addition to covering the 2009 Lunar Exploration Analysis Group conference, which may be of interest to Google Lunar X PRIZE teams, this includes information on several student contests:
- the Waste Limitation Management & Recycling competition
- the No Boundaries program
- the 2010 Life & Work on the Moon 2010 Art & Design Contest
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Space Prize Roundup - TEMPO3 Balloon test, Space Show, Climber test, DARPA audio book, sand and water, more
I've been away for 10 or so days, and I don't have a realistic chance to catch up on all of the space prize activity that's happened over that time, but here are some recent items:
@spaceshow - Conrad Foundation high school Award winners are on The Space Show today, 12-1:30 PM PDT. Listen at www.thespaceshow.com.
@tempo3 (Mars Society project contest winner) - Balloon launch day! Late night last night, but we're ready to head out this morning for an 11AM launch.
... (see the linked twitter account for intervening tweets) ...
Balloon flight over. Results unsuccessful. Problem most likely at interface between balloon and gondola. Hardware recovered. Reflt poss
Stratofox remote support for Mars Society TEMPO3 balloon, September 26, 2009 - This includes numerous updates, several pictures, and a summary.
@ikluft also has some twitter updates from the Stratofox side.
WHAT IS "COMMERCIAL SPACE"? - Ken Davidian (former NASA Centennial Challenges manager) on the Commercial Space Wiki
@spacehack - NASA needs ideas from you for new prize challenges: http://is.gd/3FXyj (thx @doug_comstock). Spacehack has a few up at http://is.gd/3FXDo
The MiniSpaceWorld Design Contest has extended its deadline to November 1: http://bit.ly/29NJSM
It's a wrap for DARPA audio book - Dispatches from the Final Frontier (Michael Belfiore) - ... My director, David Rapkin, seemed particularly taken with the chapter on the Urban Challenge, DARPA's autonomous vehicle race. ...
DARPA/EERC green jet fuel wins Popular Science Best of What's New - Dispatches from the Final Frontier
Spirit of the Competition - BFD (Big Freewheeling Digger, a Regolith Excavation Challenge team)
@paulsrobotics (Regolith Excavation Challenge team) - Just bought 250 dollars worth of sand, also known as 5000 lbs. Yeah. ... Lots of sand, 4 more like this http://yfrog.com/0g5x7pj
Moonraker Robot from Paul’s Robotics to Compete in 2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge - press release on PRLog
Next Space Elevator Games testing coming up - The Space Elevator Blog posts an email from the Kansas City Space Pirates
@lasermotive (Beam Power team) - We're ready for the 5,000' helicopter test tomorrow. Hopefully it will go as well as the 1,000' test did!
... (see the linked twitter account for intervening tweets on the testing, which also included 2 other teams, USST and Kansas City Space Pirates) ...
Done testing for the day. All of our tests were successful.
Gold Rush on the Moon - Peter Diamandis at the Huffington Post - This discusses the recent announcement on water on the Moon and the role Google Lunar X PRIZE teams might play as prospectors. It also looks ahead to more data - this time from the LCROSS impact.
In the comments, Google Lunar X PRIZE team NextGiantLeap notes:
The recent findings seem to indicate that hydrogen from the sun is bonding with oxygen on the lunar surface to form trace amounts of H2O and HO. These findings also seem to indicate that some process, perhaps solar wind, is causing these atoms to migrate towards the poles. If this water has been accumulating in permanently shadowed craters near the poles for millions of years, there could be a lot of water available there!
Here are a couple eyebrow-raising tweets from a Google Lunar X PRIZE team:
@odysseymoon - @scibuff The other shoe(s) will drop when Paul Spudis releases his min-SAR discoveries from LRO & Chandrayaan. LCROSS will be the slam-dunk.
@bob_richards - @danzi94 We hope the news of the UK student competition will come out soon. Watch the ISSET website http://bit.ly/vDCZa
The Importance of Lunar Water - Dennis Wingo at SpaceRef briefly mentions the Google Lunar X PRIZE in this article. Part of the article concerns a choice between surface robotics at the Moon or Mars. I don't have a preference one way or the other; I think we can and should do both. To be able to afford that, I suspect we need many smaller landers at both the Moon and Mars, with a bias towards incremental improvements rather than starting from scratch each mission.
@airshipz - The Airship Z Prize has a couple posts that aren't on their proposed prize, but are about interesting airship news:
Airships to the Arctic ~ Oct 7-9th Calgary, Alberta www.airshipstothearctic.com Also, link to article on event from WIRED http://ow.ly/r4YC
Dynalifter airship goes where trucks can't http://ow.ly/rhVF 1,000-ft airship will be able to haul 250 tons & take 100's of workers to build
@fineri (N-Prize team) - Got a 4" dia slab of round aluminium bar toady, so the lathe and I are going to get intimate over the next week or so!......
http://twitpic.com/j6anx - Nose cone making, with a road cone!
@spaceshow - Conrad Foundation high school Award winners are on The Space Show today, 12-1:30 PM PDT. Listen at www.thespaceshow.com.
@tempo3 (Mars Society project contest winner) - Balloon launch day! Late night last night, but we're ready to head out this morning for an 11AM launch.
... (see the linked twitter account for intervening tweets) ...
Balloon flight over. Results unsuccessful. Problem most likely at interface between balloon and gondola. Hardware recovered. Reflt poss
Stratofox remote support for Mars Society TEMPO3 balloon, September 26, 2009 - This includes numerous updates, several pictures, and a summary.
@ikluft also has some twitter updates from the Stratofox side.
WHAT IS "COMMERCIAL SPACE"? - Ken Davidian (former NASA Centennial Challenges manager) on the Commercial Space Wiki
@spacehack - NASA needs ideas from you for new prize challenges: http://is.gd/3FXyj (thx @doug_comstock). Spacehack has a few up at http://is.gd/3FXDo
The MiniSpaceWorld Design Contest has extended its deadline to November 1: http://bit.ly/29NJSM
It's a wrap for DARPA audio book - Dispatches from the Final Frontier (Michael Belfiore) - ... My director, David Rapkin, seemed particularly taken with the chapter on the Urban Challenge, DARPA's autonomous vehicle race. ...
DARPA/EERC green jet fuel wins Popular Science Best of What's New - Dispatches from the Final Frontier
Spirit of the Competition - BFD (Big Freewheeling Digger, a Regolith Excavation Challenge team)
@paulsrobotics (Regolith Excavation Challenge team) - Just bought 250 dollars worth of sand, also known as 5000 lbs. Yeah. ... Lots of sand, 4 more like this http://yfrog.com/0g5x7pj
Moonraker Robot from Paul’s Robotics to Compete in 2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge - press release on PRLog
Next Space Elevator Games testing coming up - The Space Elevator Blog posts an email from the Kansas City Space Pirates
@lasermotive (Beam Power team) - We're ready for the 5,000' helicopter test tomorrow. Hopefully it will go as well as the 1,000' test did!
... (see the linked twitter account for intervening tweets on the testing, which also included 2 other teams, USST and Kansas City Space Pirates) ...
Done testing for the day. All of our tests were successful.
Gold Rush on the Moon - Peter Diamandis at the Huffington Post - This discusses the recent announcement on water on the Moon and the role Google Lunar X PRIZE teams might play as prospectors. It also looks ahead to more data - this time from the LCROSS impact.
In the comments, Google Lunar X PRIZE team NextGiantLeap notes:
The recent findings seem to indicate that hydrogen from the sun is bonding with oxygen on the lunar surface to form trace amounts of H2O and HO. These findings also seem to indicate that some process, perhaps solar wind, is causing these atoms to migrate towards the poles. If this water has been accumulating in permanently shadowed craters near the poles for millions of years, there could be a lot of water available there!
Here are a couple eyebrow-raising tweets from a Google Lunar X PRIZE team:
@odysseymoon - @scibuff The other shoe(s) will drop when Paul Spudis releases his min-SAR discoveries from LRO & Chandrayaan. LCROSS will be the slam-dunk.
@bob_richards - @danzi94 We hope the news of the UK student competition will come out soon. Watch the ISSET website http://bit.ly/vDCZa
The Importance of Lunar Water - Dennis Wingo at SpaceRef briefly mentions the Google Lunar X PRIZE in this article. Part of the article concerns a choice between surface robotics at the Moon or Mars. I don't have a preference one way or the other; I think we can and should do both. To be able to afford that, I suspect we need many smaller landers at both the Moon and Mars, with a bias towards incremental improvements rather than starting from scratch each mission.
@airshipz - The Airship Z Prize has a couple posts that aren't on their proposed prize, but are about interesting airship news:
Airships to the Arctic ~ Oct 7-9th Calgary, Alberta www.airshipstothearctic.com Also, link to article on event from WIRED http://ow.ly/r4YC
Dynalifter airship goes where trucks can't http://ow.ly/rhVF 1,000-ft airship will be able to haul 250 tons & take 100's of workers to build
@fineri (N-Prize team) - Got a 4" dia slab of round aluminium bar toady, so the lathe and I are going to get intimate over the next week or so!......
http://twitpic.com/j6anx - Nose cone making, with a road cone!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Armadillo Lunar Success, Powering Beaming Prep, LEGO, Mars Rover Challenge, Lunar X PRIZE, Dutch CanSat, RegEx and N-Prize Videos
Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
Of course you've heard the big news on Armadillo's flights this weekend:
Armadillo Aerospace did it! - RLV News
Armadillo flight video - RLV News
Dramatic photos from Caddo Mills - RLV News (go to full screen size for these pictures!)
Other teams are also busy:
@mojaverocketguy - Spent most of the day out in the desert helping fly a Xombie. Making progress, but Murphy is extracting his pound of flesh along the way.
@wikkit - The team got in one flight today, again taking off from the ground and landing on the ground. Again on tether. More flights every day.
@http://twitpic.com/heg91 - Did you know that you can make bubbles of molten concrete?
@unrocket - Getting ready to go out to FAR tonight. We will try to teter hover the blue ball for 90 seconds some time Sunday Morning.
At far all nonhazardous setup complete. 87F gusting to30mph humuidity < 20 %
Blue ball 106 sec stable tethered hover!!!
@NGLLC09 - Direct quote from Armadillo's Neil Milburn: "Go, Xombie, go!" Good luck, Masten and Unreasonable!
Space Elevator Games
Climber / Power-Beaming update - The Space Elevator Blog
Quick update - The Space Elevator Blog - A test of the new helicopter/tether scheme was successful, allowing additional steps to be taken towards the Power Beaming competition itself.
Helicopter Testing, Version 2 - LaserMotive - This includes a number of pictures of the testing.
Here's the LaserMotive twitter account. I added this to the twitter list and latest tweets panel.
Power Beaming Challenge update - RLV News - This also includes a picture of the testing.
Gallery of Photos from 2009 Tether Challenge - NASA Centennial Challenges
Student Competitions
Mars Society opens University Rover Challenge 2010 - Space for All - The 2010 competition includes 2 new rover jobs: Equipment Servicing and Sample Return.
Spacegirls present extraordinary space project at ASTRON - ASTRON - Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy posts about the winners of the Dutch CanSat competition
Since the MoonBots competition involves LEGO, I thought I'd pass along the following post from Maximizing Progress: Beyond The Brick ~ LEGO Toys Renaissance!
Google Lunar X PRIZE
The next 3 are from the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page:
Upcoming AIAA Space 2009 Conference - Next Giant Leap will be at the conference
The GLXP Panorama in One Shot - White Label Space on a camera with a curved mirror
TWO SYNERGY MOON X PRIZE TEAM MEMBERS TO FLY ORBITAL MISSION - SYNERGY MOON on a mission that Interorbital Systems plans
N-Prize
@fineri - Successfull Igniter test tonight, had flames, yay!! this is my first bi-prop i guess you could say! video soon....
http://twitpic.com/hjrb7 - Igniter V1.5 test from last night, still from video.
Video of 2nd igniter test, V1.5, http://bit.ly/3U8Bmm
Regolith Excavation Challenge
@paulsrobotics - http://yfrog.com/0b4gpbj
http://yfrog.com/0ah6aj
I uploaded a YouTube video -- Moonraker - First Dig Test http://bit.ly/6Fb6e
@Regolith_Chal - The FAQ has been updated. Posted some new info about the comm link and other info.
For those wondering: revisions to the FAQ can be viewed if you log in.
Of course you've heard the big news on Armadillo's flights this weekend:
Armadillo Aerospace did it! - RLV News
Armadillo flight video - RLV News
Dramatic photos from Caddo Mills - RLV News (go to full screen size for these pictures!)
Other teams are also busy:
@mojaverocketguy - Spent most of the day out in the desert helping fly a Xombie. Making progress, but Murphy is extracting his pound of flesh along the way.
@wikkit - The team got in one flight today, again taking off from the ground and landing on the ground. Again on tether. More flights every day.
@http://twitpic.com/heg91 - Did you know that you can make bubbles of molten concrete?
@unrocket - Getting ready to go out to FAR tonight. We will try to teter hover the blue ball for 90 seconds some time Sunday Morning.
At far all nonhazardous setup complete. 87F gusting to30mph humuidity < 20 %
Blue ball 106 sec stable tethered hover!!!
@NGLLC09 - Direct quote from Armadillo's Neil Milburn: "Go, Xombie, go!" Good luck, Masten and Unreasonable!
Space Elevator Games
Climber / Power-Beaming update - The Space Elevator Blog
Quick update - The Space Elevator Blog - A test of the new helicopter/tether scheme was successful, allowing additional steps to be taken towards the Power Beaming competition itself.
Helicopter Testing, Version 2 - LaserMotive - This includes a number of pictures of the testing.
Here's the LaserMotive twitter account. I added this to the twitter list and latest tweets panel.
Power Beaming Challenge update - RLV News - This also includes a picture of the testing.
Gallery of Photos from 2009 Tether Challenge - NASA Centennial Challenges
Student Competitions
Mars Society opens University Rover Challenge 2010 - Space for All - The 2010 competition includes 2 new rover jobs: Equipment Servicing and Sample Return.
Spacegirls present extraordinary space project at ASTRON - ASTRON - Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy posts about the winners of the Dutch CanSat competition
Since the MoonBots competition involves LEGO, I thought I'd pass along the following post from Maximizing Progress: Beyond The Brick ~ LEGO Toys Renaissance!
Google Lunar X PRIZE
The next 3 are from the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page:
Upcoming AIAA Space 2009 Conference - Next Giant Leap will be at the conference
The GLXP Panorama in One Shot - White Label Space on a camera with a curved mirror
TWO SYNERGY MOON X PRIZE TEAM MEMBERS TO FLY ORBITAL MISSION - SYNERGY MOON on a mission that Interorbital Systems plans
N-Prize
@fineri - Successfull Igniter test tonight, had flames, yay!! this is my first bi-prop i guess you could say! video soon....
http://twitpic.com/hjrb7 - Igniter V1.5 test from last night, still from video.
Video of 2nd igniter test, V1.5, http://bit.ly/3U8Bmm
Regolith Excavation Challenge
@paulsrobotics - http://yfrog.com/0b4gpbj
http://yfrog.com/0ah6aj
I uploaded a YouTube video -- Moonraker - First Dig Test http://bit.ly/6Fb6e
@Regolith_Chal - The FAQ has been updated. Posted some new info about the comm link and other info.
For those wondering: revisions to the FAQ can be viewed if you log in.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Space Prize Roundup: Rover Naming, Phoenicia Fundraising, Skywalker Ranch and Fire Pix, White Label Partner, Regolith Roundup
RLV News (Space Transport News at HobbySpace) has been covering a lot of space prize developments over the last few days. Here they are:
Briefs: N-Prize update; Lunar science interest - This one covers 2 new N-Prize teams: The Valkyrie Federation (which I mentioned recently) and Thomas Space Corp.
Briefs: GLXP updates; Finding sponsors; Tech prizes - This one features Team Phoenicia and Odyssey Moon, with a brief mention of the Mars Society University Rover Challenge in one of the articles. (Note from the URC site: Stay tuned for the release of the 2010 URC rules - Coming soon!).
Briefs: Team Phoenicia & NG-LLC; Rocket concepts - This covers Team Phoenicia's offer to sell tattoo space on their vehicle for $10 per square centimeter to help them raise the lunar prize funds they need.
White Label Space gets new partner - In addition to the new partner AOES, you can read about the other world-spanning White Label Space partners in their press release.
Beam propulsion update - This one includes a discussion of Beam Power Competition team LaserMotive.
Now here are a few prize updates from other sources:
More updates, photos and videos from Regolith Excavation teams - Green Cheese Solutions covers all sorts of recent activity in the 2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge. This includes team posts, slide shows, chats, videos, twitter updates, and more. One of the teams, BFD, plans another day of testing at Dockweiler State Beach (near any other notable space prize locations?) at ~11am on Friday (September 4) - it's only Tuesday and Friday is already looking like a Fun Day!
Communications Setup Details - Regolith Excavation Challenge - This gives a bit more background on one of the items noted by Green Cheese Solutions.
@wikkit (Ben Brockert of Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge team Masten Space Systems) - http://twitpic.com/fy04j - The three fires visible from Mojave. Both photos are 40 second exposures at night.
@Bob_Richards - Horsing around at Skywalker Ranch http://twitgoo.com/2tg7b #SingularityU BBQ tonight.
@OmegaEnvoy - With the Rover Naming Contest coming to an end today check out the latest submission by @jasontweets: http://bit.ly/wXCdI
Take a look at the latest submission to the Rover Naming Contest, great name! #GLXP http://bit.ly/15LIut
Videos from Japan’s first Space Elevator Games - Space Elevator Blog
ALS Patient Stephen Hawking Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom - Prize4Life
Briefs: N-Prize update; Lunar science interest - This one covers 2 new N-Prize teams: The Valkyrie Federation (which I mentioned recently) and Thomas Space Corp.
Briefs: GLXP updates; Finding sponsors; Tech prizes - This one features Team Phoenicia and Odyssey Moon, with a brief mention of the Mars Society University Rover Challenge in one of the articles. (Note from the URC site: Stay tuned for the release of the 2010 URC rules - Coming soon!).
Briefs: Team Phoenicia & NG-LLC; Rocket concepts - This covers Team Phoenicia's offer to sell tattoo space on their vehicle for $10 per square centimeter to help them raise the lunar prize funds they need.
White Label Space gets new partner - In addition to the new partner AOES, you can read about the other world-spanning White Label Space partners in their press release.
Beam propulsion update - This one includes a discussion of Beam Power Competition team LaserMotive.
Now here are a few prize updates from other sources:
More updates, photos and videos from Regolith Excavation teams - Green Cheese Solutions covers all sorts of recent activity in the 2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge. This includes team posts, slide shows, chats, videos, twitter updates, and more. One of the teams, BFD, plans another day of testing at Dockweiler State Beach (near any other notable space prize locations?) at ~11am on Friday (September 4) - it's only Tuesday and Friday is already looking like a Fun Day!
Communications Setup Details - Regolith Excavation Challenge - This gives a bit more background on one of the items noted by Green Cheese Solutions.
@wikkit (Ben Brockert of Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge team Masten Space Systems) - http://twitpic.com/fy04j - The three fires visible from Mojave. Both photos are 40 second exposures at night.
@Bob_Richards - Horsing around at Skywalker Ranch http://twitgoo.com/2tg7b #SingularityU BBQ tonight.
@OmegaEnvoy - With the Rover Naming Contest coming to an end today check out the latest submission by @jasontweets: http://bit.ly/wXCdI
Take a look at the latest submission to the Rover Naming Contest, great name! #GLXP http://bit.ly/15LIut
Videos from Japan’s first Space Elevator Games - Space Elevator Blog
ALS Patient Stephen Hawking Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom - Prize4Life
Sunday, May 31, 2009
2009 University Rover Challenge
All of this is from the Mars Society:
URC Blog - Day 1
URC Blog - Day 2
University Rover Challenge Under Way, York University Takes Early Lead
Video:
URC Construction Task Description
URC Construction Task - BYU, Part 1
URC - University of Nevada, Reno
URC - Oregon State Introduction
Here's the YouTube channel in case they post more videos.
University Rover Challenge Facebook - One of the posts says "York University Rover Team : The Ultimate Champion!"
URC Blog - Day 1
URC Blog - Day 2
University Rover Challenge Under Way, York University Takes Early Lead
Video:
URC Construction Task Description
URC Construction Task - BYU, Part 1
URC - University of Nevada, Reno
URC - Oregon State Introduction
Here's the YouTube channel in case they post more videos.
University Rover Challenge Facebook - One of the posts says "York University Rover Team : The Ultimate Champion!"
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Space Prize Roundup - May 26-27
The 2009 ISDC, including numerous space prize, award, and competition talks and events, is starting.
Reach for the Stars Rocket Contest at ISDC 2009 - Space for All
NASA Means Business 2009 finalists - including links to the teams' work to
Reach for the Stars Rocket Contest at ISDC 2009 - Space for All
NASA Means Business 2009 finalists - including links to the teams' work to
- Design and prepare a Constellation Program Branding Strategy, and
- Illustrate that strategy in a 30-second video public service announcement (PSA) production.
Some of the proposals included competitions and prizes of different sorts (Constellation-themed model rocket contests, video contests, etc). Some of the ideas seem like they might be useful for other parts of NASA, or commercial space organizations, too.
Bentley University Students Win NASA Marketing Competition Grand Prize - Bentley University Newsroom
Lunar Lander Challenges Official Notice Posted- NASA Watch
Unreasonable update - RLV News
Briefs: SS2. NM spaceport report; Masten Space report & videos - RLV News
Update on University Rover Challenge 2009 - Mars Society - Space for All
Singapore student satellite design contest - Space for All
MIT Spring 2008 Space Systems Engineering Class Report - Next Giant Leap (Google Lunar X PRIZE teams page)
Why InterPlanetary Ventures (part of SYNERGY MOON) joined this race to the moon! - SYNERGY MOON (Google Lunar X PRIZE teams page)
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Student Space Prize Roundup - May 17, 2009
Briefs: Exp. Sounding Rocket Assoc.; Team America Rocketry Challenge - RLV News covers an organization that, among other things, runs the 4th Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition. SpaceX is a "major sponsor" of this competition, which is scheduled for June 25-26.The post also covers the results from the 2009 Team America Rocketry Challenge. As noted, the winner of the post-TARC fly-off was a UK team from Royal Liberty School (the winners of UKAYRoC). Here's more about the TARC itself:
Wisconsin student 'rocketeers' win national contest - Madison West High School will represent U.S. in international fly-off today - Rocketry Planet (AIA press release)
For a brief bit of local flavor: Madison West students win national rocket competition - Wisconsin State Journal
top 20 teams (PDF) - Team America Rocketry Challenge
Team America Rocketry Challenge 2009 - Rocket Jones gives some background on the competition as well as an insider's view of the event.
Originally, the plan was for the winning entries for the 2009 Thacher Scholar Awards for secondary school students (grades 9-12) demonstrating the best use of geospatial technologies or data to study Earth to have been awarded by now. However,
Because of the high quality of the entries received for this year's contest, judging and selecting the winners is taking longer than planned. Winning entries will be posted by May 18.
As I'm posting, that's tomorrow. Here's the scope of the contest:
Because of the high quality of the entries received for this year's contest, judging and selecting the winners is taking longer than planned. Winning entries will be posted by May 18.
As I'm posting, that's tomorrow. Here's the scope of the contest:
Eligible geospatial tools and data include satellite remote sensing, aerial photography, geographic information systems (GIS), and Global Positioning System (GPS).
Does anyone want to include imagery from suborbital rockets in that set?
A while ago I briefly mentioned the winners of the 2009 NASA/NSS Space Settlement Contest. Here's a post from the National Space Society blog with more information about the other winning entry: Prize-Winning Space Settlement Design
Another Construction Update... - MAVRIC (Mars Analog Vehicle for Robotic Inspection and Construction) - Mars Society University Rover Challenge team
Iowa State’s 2009 Mars rover is ready to roll - Iowa State University College of Engineering
OSURC Mars Rover - URC team from Oregon State University:
Does anyone want to include imagery from suborbital rockets in that set?
A while ago I briefly mentioned the winners of the 2009 NASA/NSS Space Settlement Contest. Here's a post from the National Space Society blog with more information about the other winning entry: Prize-Winning Space Settlement Design
Another Construction Update... - MAVRIC (Mars Analog Vehicle for Robotic Inspection and Construction) - Mars Society University Rover Challenge team
Iowa State’s 2009 Mars rover is ready to roll - Iowa State University College of Engineering
OSURC Mars Rover - URC team from Oregon State University:
Announcement May 15 2009
Successfully tested remote operation in a large gravel parking lot. It was difficult to keep up with the rover, we will not have any speed problems in utah, this thing hauls!
No Boundaries (NASA/USA contest):
Successfully tested remote operation in a large gravel parking lot. It was difficult to keep up with the rover, we will not have any speed problems in utah, this thing hauls!
No Boundaries (NASA/USA contest):
All mail entries must be postmarked by May 15, 2009, 11:59 p.m. and received no later than May 20, 2009.
A list of No Boundaries winners is expected June 6, 2009.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Prize Roundup - May 14, 2009
I may add to this morning roundup post later today.Here's the CAFE Foundation blog. They run the Aviation Centennial Challenges for NASA. I linked to a post on this blog earlier, but I wasn't able to actually connect to it and check it at the time.
The most recent CAFE Foundation and PAV News item is on the NASA Ames Workshop (I assume the same one Pete Worden twittered about) covering environmentally-friendly aviation technology. CAFE discussed their Aviation Green Prize.
Briefs: Team Italia in GLXP; TEMPO3 test from balloon - RLV News
Batteries survive cryogenic freezing. - Astrobotic at the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams site - One of the areas of this prize that I find the most interesting is the full lunar day/night bonus prize, but I haven't seen much news about it. The technology shown in the video and text at this post may help.
Dean McLaughlin's novella “Tenbrook of Mars” wins Analog magazine AnLab Award - Marooned - Science Fiction books on Mars
The latest from the KC Space Pirates - Space Elevator Blog
A few more prizes - Conservation International on The Great Turtle Race
MIT IDEAS 2009 Winners ~ Eight Promising Protos - Maximizing Progress
MIT Imaging Ventures ~ 2009 Finale Proposals - Maximizing Progress
SolSource ~ Novel Solar Cooker Wins St Andrews - Maximizing Progress on the $75,000 St Andrews Prize for the Environment
MIT $100K Finale 2009 ~ 20 Years of Venturing! - Maximizing Progress
Winners of Panoramio Contest of December 2008 - Panoramio Blog - The picture for the post is one of the honorable mention ones. I didn't have trouble picking the space theme picture this time, although one of the others sure has an "other-worldly" feel to it. As usual, check them out in Google Earth or Google Maps (the site makes it easy to do this).
Pomerantz: RT @jeff_foust: Odyssey Moon's lunar greenhouse gets mentioned in a trade pub for the produce industry (!): http://is.gd/zVrp
PeterDiamandis: just landed in SFO... long day, Detroit and Dallas. visited Carmack @ Armadillo
i_2_i: @PeterDiamandis is blogging about i2i at http://blog.innocentive.com/ @innoCentive #i2i
Bob_Richards: At The Planetary Society. Thinking of Carl sitting at the table where we talked of many possibilities http://twitpic.com/55y99
More fun hair hijinks at Masten, I assume in celebration of their milestone tethered flight:
colinake: Orsen is cutting @rocketplumber's hair... Here's an intermediate step. http://twitpic.com/56au4
jeff_foust: In addition to their normal tasks, the ISS crew is going to be involved in the Eurovision music contest: http://is.gd/zRzY
Doug_Comstock: http://twitpic.com/4zn1l - Jackson getting his savings bond for winning the essay contest. Just a few minutes to launch!
Friday, May 08, 2009
Mars Society 2009 University Rover Challenge Approaching
The 2009 University Rover Challenge is scheduled for May 28-30. There are other deadlines during the month, and the site warns teams to be careful not to miss any. Here's the list of registered teams. Several of the teams have sites which have been updated varyingly with videos, blogs, and pictures.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Student Prize Roundup - April 15, 2009
Up … Up … and Away! - GM Today.com (Greater Milwaukee) -
On Sunday, the trio of Washington County 4-H Rocketry team members will launch a 31-pound rocket at the Student Launch Initiative in Huntsville , Ala. In 2007, the group earned a spot in the top 25 teams and finished in 15th place in the Team America Rocketry Challenge. ... The team has been working on the project for almost three months, and because it need FAA flight clearance to launch, it had its first trial run at the Quad City Rocket Challenge in Princeton , Ill. on April 4.
Student Launch Initiative 2008-2009 - Washington County 4-H Rocketry - This includes photos and video of the rocket (including an innovative rocket retrieval mechanism), as well as design information. The experiment:
Our payload/science experiment is to reclaim as much power as possible from 3 wind turbines located in tube fins. Each turbine will use a different blade design or configuration but with an identical Igarashi DC motor. The goal is to see which blade design is the most efficient. In addition, a thermoelectric generator will be mounted to the motor casing. Heat from the motor will be converted directly into electricity. The goal is to see how much, if any, electricity can be generated from heat.
Student Launch Initiative - NASA Student Launch Initiative page -
2009 Launch Dates: April 15-20, 2009
Bragg Farms, Toney, AL
2008 - 2009 SLI Teams:
--Boy Scout Troop 143, Giddings, Texas
--Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.
--Denmark High School, Denmark, Wis.
--Frenship High School, Wolfforth, Texas
--Harvard-Westlake School, North Hollywood, Calif.
--Krueger Middle School, San Antonio, Texas
--Madison West High School Team 1, Madison, Wis.
--Madison West High School Team 2, Madison, Wis.
--Mulberry Grove High School, Mulberry Grove, Ill.
--Plantation High School Team 1, Plantation, Fla.
--Plantation High School Team X, Plantation, Fla.
--W.G. Enloe High School Green Team, Raleigh, N.C.
--W.G. Enloe High School Gold Team, Raleigh, N.C.
--Washington County 4-H, Slinger, Wis.
University Student Launch Initiative - NASA - This one also lists the teams, this time at the University level.
Rocket team preps for national competition - Al.com (The Huntsville Times)
Rocket Boys ready for Challenge - Al.com
Cansat Competition - SEDS India National Conference - SEDS India blog
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Partnership - Omega Envoy (Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page)
Mars Rover Demonstration - Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium -
The Oregon State University Robotics Club’s 2009 University Rover Challenge Team will host a demonstration of their new rover design on Saturday, April 25. The team will test their new rover design while performing tasks in biology, geology, soil analysis, emergency navigation and construction.
Mavric - Mars Analog Vehicle for Robotic Inspection and Construction - This is the blog from one of the 2009 University Rover Challenge teams - this one from Iowa State University. Today's update from the blog: Construction Update #3
MDRS Crew 79 Final Commander Report - Mars Society - Part of the report covers work done in association with the Georgia Tech URC team.
Microgravity Research Competition Finalists - These are the finalists for the SpaceX/Heinlein Trust/Rice Alliance competition for a spot on a DragonLab flight.
... A finalist competition will be held on April 17 at Rice University and the winner will be announced on April 18.
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston -- Decoupling Diffusive Transport Phenomena
Universities Space Research Association -- Low-Gravity Colloidal Engineering
Durham VA Medical Center/Duke University -- Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus
In addition to this finalist competition, the Rice Business Plan Competition will be held April 16-18. That includes $80,000 in "specialty" prizes to be awarded by NASA.
Meanwhile, the 8th Continent Business Plan Competition (formerly Lunar Ventures) schedule includes:
Round 2: Semi-Finalist Teams Only
Step 5: Upload Full Business Plan by 4/10/2009
Step 6: Present your Venture at 8th Continent Business Plan Competition on 4/24-26/2009
2009 What if Competition winners - The 2009 winners were scheduled to be part of the Conrad Award Innovation Summit held a couple weeks ago.
Earth Day Photo Contest for Grades 5-8 - Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium - This is held by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies:
... a trusted leader in Earth and space science education, communication and outreach, and in fostering national and international cooperation in global Earth observations.
Cornell 100 MPG Car Design Team to Participate in Int’l Competition - The Cornell Daily Sun -
At its inception approximately two years ago, there were six students in the 100+ MPG Team. Now, headed by William “Trey” Riddle grad, the team boasts a membership of approximately 90 students, both undergraduate and graduate, and three faculty advisors...
On Sunday, the trio of Washington County 4-H Rocketry team members will launch a 31-pound rocket at the Student Launch Initiative in Huntsville , Ala. In 2007, the group earned a spot in the top 25 teams and finished in 15th place in the Team America Rocketry Challenge. ... The team has been working on the project for almost three months, and because it need FAA flight clearance to launch, it had its first trial run at the Quad City Rocket Challenge in Princeton , Ill. on April 4.
Student Launch Initiative 2008-2009 - Washington County 4-H Rocketry - This includes photos and video of the rocket (including an innovative rocket retrieval mechanism), as well as design information. The experiment:
Our payload/science experiment is to reclaim as much power as possible from 3 wind turbines located in tube fins. Each turbine will use a different blade design or configuration but with an identical Igarashi DC motor. The goal is to see which blade design is the most efficient. In addition, a thermoelectric generator will be mounted to the motor casing. Heat from the motor will be converted directly into electricity. The goal is to see how much, if any, electricity can be generated from heat.
Student Launch Initiative - NASA Student Launch Initiative page -
2009 Launch Dates: April 15-20, 2009
Bragg Farms, Toney, AL
2008 - 2009 SLI Teams:
--Boy Scout Troop 143, Giddings, Texas
--Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.
--Denmark High School, Denmark, Wis.
--Frenship High School, Wolfforth, Texas
--Harvard-Westlake School, North Hollywood, Calif.
--Krueger Middle School, San Antonio, Texas
--Madison West High School Team 1, Madison, Wis.
--Madison West High School Team 2, Madison, Wis.
--Mulberry Grove High School, Mulberry Grove, Ill.
--Plantation High School Team 1, Plantation, Fla.
--Plantation High School Team X, Plantation, Fla.
--W.G. Enloe High School Green Team, Raleigh, N.C.
--W.G. Enloe High School Gold Team, Raleigh, N.C.
--Washington County 4-H, Slinger, Wis.
University Student Launch Initiative - NASA - This one also lists the teams, this time at the University level.
Rocket team preps for national competition - Al.com (The Huntsville Times)
Rocket Boys ready for Challenge - Al.com
Cansat Competition - SEDS India National Conference - SEDS India blog
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Partnership - Omega Envoy (Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page)
Mars Rover Demonstration - Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium -
The Oregon State University Robotics Club’s 2009 University Rover Challenge Team will host a demonstration of their new rover design on Saturday, April 25. The team will test their new rover design while performing tasks in biology, geology, soil analysis, emergency navigation and construction.
Mavric - Mars Analog Vehicle for Robotic Inspection and Construction - This is the blog from one of the 2009 University Rover Challenge teams - this one from Iowa State University. Today's update from the blog: Construction Update #3
MDRS Crew 79 Final Commander Report - Mars Society - Part of the report covers work done in association with the Georgia Tech URC team.
Microgravity Research Competition Finalists - These are the finalists for the SpaceX/Heinlein Trust/Rice Alliance competition for a spot on a DragonLab flight.
... A finalist competition will be held on April 17 at Rice University and the winner will be announced on April 18.
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston -- Decoupling Diffusive Transport Phenomena
Universities Space Research Association -- Low-Gravity Colloidal Engineering
Durham VA Medical Center/Duke University -- Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus
In addition to this finalist competition, the Rice Business Plan Competition will be held April 16-18. That includes $80,000 in "specialty" prizes to be awarded by NASA.
Meanwhile, the 8th Continent Business Plan Competition (formerly Lunar Ventures) schedule includes:
Round 2: Semi-Finalist Teams Only
Step 5: Upload Full Business Plan by 4/10/2009
Step 6: Present your Venture at 8th Continent Business Plan Competition on 4/24-26/2009
2009 What if Competition winners - The 2009 winners were scheduled to be part of the Conrad Award Innovation Summit held a couple weeks ago.
Earth Day Photo Contest for Grades 5-8 - Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium - This is held by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies:
... a trusted leader in Earth and space science education, communication and outreach, and in fostering national and international cooperation in global Earth observations.
Cornell 100 MPG Car Design Team to Participate in Int’l Competition - The Cornell Daily Sun -
At its inception approximately two years ago, there were six students in the 100+ MPG Team. Now, headed by William “Trey” Riddle grad, the team boasts a membership of approximately 90 students, both undergraduate and graduate, and three faculty advisors...
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Space Prize Roundup - April 2, 2009
Spaceport Could Spur CRE Development in New Mexico - Commercial Property News - Lunar Lander Challenger Armadillo Aerospace is mentioned:
... an assortment of research parks and mixed-use industrial projects are on the drawing board or under way, such as New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Research Park, which will be on a 257-acre site at the junction of I-25 and I-10 in Las Cruces, plus business park development near the airports in both Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences. “Between Virgin Galactic as the anchor tenant and other new entrants, such as UP Aerospace and Armadillo Aerospace, there will be a space-related cluster will spawns commercial uses in the area,” Hummer noted.
NASA's Off-World Racing Begins April 3 with 16th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race - SpaceRef
Mars Society Christens “Colbert Mars Desert Research Station” - Mars Society - Colbert gets a consolation prize:
Assuming that that the ISS node is not named “Colbert,” we believe Mr. Colbert deserves a much better consolation prize than having a space toilet named after him, as has been suggested. The Mars Society will therefore rename our Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) near Hanksville, Utah to the “Colbert Mars Desert Research Station” for one week in April, 2009.
Podcasts of readings of 2008 Nebula short story nominees - Space for All
Briefs: GLXP in Asia; Team Phoenicia update - RLV News - From the post and comments it sounds like we can expect lots more news from Team Phoenicia soon. In fact ... fast on the heels of the Phoenicia post noted by RLV News comes this one:
New Sponsor: Online Metals - Team Phoenicia:
Online Metals has agreed to and delivered the material necessary for the construction of the structure our rocket, The Wind at Dawn. Even more graciously, they are in the process of delivering the material for a second rocket and enough for a third will follow as Team Phoenicia is ready. ... The Wind at Dawn's first structure will be complete within a week. Without Online Metals' help, this would not have happened nearly as quickly or as well. We thank them deeply for their aid.
... an assortment of research parks and mixed-use industrial projects are on the drawing board or under way, such as New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Research Park, which will be on a 257-acre site at the junction of I-25 and I-10 in Las Cruces, plus business park development near the airports in both Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences. “Between Virgin Galactic as the anchor tenant and other new entrants, such as UP Aerospace and Armadillo Aerospace, there will be a space-related cluster will spawns commercial uses in the area,” Hummer noted.
NASA's Off-World Racing Begins April 3 with 16th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race - SpaceRef
Mars Society Christens “Colbert Mars Desert Research Station” - Mars Society - Colbert gets a consolation prize:
Assuming that that the ISS node is not named “Colbert,” we believe Mr. Colbert deserves a much better consolation prize than having a space toilet named after him, as has been suggested. The Mars Society will therefore rename our Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) near Hanksville, Utah to the “Colbert Mars Desert Research Station” for one week in April, 2009.
Podcasts of readings of 2008 Nebula short story nominees - Space for All
Briefs: GLXP in Asia; Team Phoenicia update - RLV News - From the post and comments it sounds like we can expect lots more news from Team Phoenicia soon. In fact ... fast on the heels of the Phoenicia post noted by RLV News comes this one:
New Sponsor: Online Metals - Team Phoenicia:
Online Metals has agreed to and delivered the material necessary for the construction of the structure our rocket, The Wind at Dawn. Even more graciously, they are in the process of delivering the material for a second rocket and enough for a third will follow as Team Phoenicia is ready. ... The Wind at Dawn's first structure will be complete within a week. Without Online Metals' help, this would not have happened nearly as quickly or as well. We thank them deeply for their aid.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Some Student Prize Deadlines and Facebook Pages
Here are some deadlines:
The Oregon Space Grant Consortium Education Resources Blog seems to be keeping track of a lot of student space prize deadlines:
PISCES 2009 Student Design Competition - Notice of Interest Due By January 31, 2009
2009 RASC-AL Competition for College Students - Deadline February 6, 2009
Great Moonbuggy Race Competition - Deadline February 1, 2009
I'll add to that list:
8C Business Plan Competition 2009 - Step 3: Submit Business Plan Executive Summary (MANDATORY; by 2/6/2009) LAST DATE TO ENTER! (I'd check on steps 1 and 2 as well). This one used to be called Lunar Ventures (a name which I find a lot easier to remember).
UKAYRoC - Registration is closed; Qualification Closes 2 March 2009 and UKAYRoC 2008-2009 Final 2 April 2009
.. and here are some Facebook prize pages:
University Rover Challenge on Facebook
Team America Rocketry Challenge on Facebook (see TARC is on Facebook! from the TARC Blog Archive).
The Oregon Space Grant Consortium Education Resources Blog seems to be keeping track of a lot of student space prize deadlines:
PISCES 2009 Student Design Competition - Notice of Interest Due By January 31, 2009
2009 RASC-AL Competition for College Students - Deadline February 6, 2009
Great Moonbuggy Race Competition - Deadline February 1, 2009
I'll add to that list:
8C Business Plan Competition 2009 - Step 3: Submit Business Plan Executive Summary (MANDATORY; by 2/6/2009) LAST DATE TO ENTER! (I'd check on steps 1 and 2 as well). This one used to be called Lunar Ventures (a name which I find a lot easier to remember).
UKAYRoC - Registration is closed; Qualification Closes 2 March 2009 and UKAYRoC 2008-2009 Final 2 April 2009
.. and here are some Facebook prize pages:
University Rover Challenge on Facebook
Team America Rocketry Challenge on Facebook (see TARC is on Facebook! from the TARC Blog Archive).
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