Space Prize Roundup: Poking Fun, Nanosat Launch Seminar, Other Space Florida Prizes, More

Here's a space prize roundup for the last couple weeks:

The Ridiculous Rocket Space Prize - Space for All - In addition to the Ridiculous Rocket Space Prize Facebook event page linked there, there is also a RidiculousRocket Facebook page celebrating the SLS in all of its grandeur.  The image that occurs to me is something like this, but Photoshopped with mighty, if a bit waterlogged and immobile, SLS rockets replacing the columns holding up the bridge.  Or maybe the columns are replaced by barnacle-covered SLS boosters and the road is the SLS core having a rest.  I'm sure someone with graphics art talent and too much free time could do justice to this goofy image.

Team Phoenicia hosting 3rd Nanosat Launch Challenge seminar - Space for All - Team Phoenicia also has some updates:

3rd Team Phoenicia Nanosat Launcher Seminar: Draft Agenda
3rd Annual Team Phoenicia Nanosat Launcher Seminar: Registration Now Open - Team Phoenicia

CubeSats get big - The Space Review - The Nanosatellite Launch Challenge is featured in the article.

CanSat Competition Guide - 2013 - Mission: Sensor Delivery System - Cansat Competition (PDF)

Happy Birthday, GLXP - InstaPom (Will Pomerantz)

Google Lunar X Prize: Hardware Progress - Citizens in Space

The Low-Cost Spacesuit Challenge - Citizens in Space

Space Florida International Space Station (ISS) Research Competition - Space Florida

Space Florida Awards BioCurity $100,000 at Second Annual Igniting Innovation Showcase - Space Florida

Round-up of news coverage of the 2012 Space Elevator Conference - Space Elevator Blog

Prize Roundup: Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundups, Challenge.gov Milestone, NRL CanSat Support, Back of the Napkin, Prometheus ChipIn, Much More

Here are some more Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundups from Nick Azer:

GOOGLE LUNAR X PRIZE ROUNDUP #6
GOOGLE LUNAR X PRIZE ROUNDUP #7
GOOGLE LUNAR X PRIZE ROUNDUP #8 - MyMoon

The Google Lunar X PRIZE has brought back an online forum: Google Lunar X PRIZE forums

Here is a sample conversation there: Alright Gentle(wo)men, place your bets!

The Ardusat Kickstarter succeeded, and now Team Prometheus set up a ChipIn site for their Ardusat Test Launch.

NRL Supports 8th Annual CanSat Competition - Naval Research Laboratory

2012 Zero Robotics Tourney Kicks Off Saturday! - NASA Television video on YouTube

Challenge.gov: Two Years and 200 Prizes Later - Cristin Dorgelo for The White House Blog

Space Florida and NanoRacks host ISS research competition - NewSpace Watch - Here is the competition site: International Space Station Research Competition

Weekly Update 8.30.2012 - Space Florida again mentions NASA's RFI on the Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge, and suggests that NASA might move ahead with the challenge rules in October.

Weekly Update 9.07.2012 - Space Florida mentions the possibility of TV coverage for the Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge

Teenagers Worldwide Invited to Innovate Commercially-viable Products, Services - Spirit of Innovation Challenge: 

The top five teams from each category will travel to the Conrad Foundation’s annual Innovation Summit, hosted at NASA-Johnson Space Center, April 10 – 13, 2013, where they present their innovations and vie for $10,000 next-step grants and commercialization opportunities.

The Back of the Napkin Challenge - Top Gun Maine

NASA sponsors student contest for naming an asteroid - Space for All - The asteroid is the target for the OSIRIS-REx mission.

Centennial Challenges: After the Challenge - NASA Centennial Challenges gives some examples of what happened to competitors after the competition.  The link is from Peter Homer, one of the Astronaut Glove Challenge winners.

Homer Hickam to attend October Sky Festival and Reach for the Stars rocketry competition - Space for All

UAV Demonstrates Utility Of Laser Power - Aviation Week & Space Technology

Galactic Unite awards first scholarships - Space for All

NASA360: Robots, Rocks, and Rovers Premiere! - Sample Return Robot Challenge - In addition to the NASA 360 shout-out, there is a hint of more news coming soon.

Prize Roundup: Strong Tether Status, Sikorsky Challenge, NSF Video Contest, Lunabotics 2013, More

The most recent update at the Nanosatellite Launch Challenge site at Space Florida discusses the NASA Request for Information I mentioned in my last post on some potential big changes to the challenge: Weekly Update 8.14.2012

Video Contest: Graduate Research Fellows Creating the Future - National Science Foundation

NASA'S 2013 Lunabotics Competition Open For Registration - SpaceRef

Space elevator ideas rising again - Cosmic Log includes the status of the Strong Tether Challenge in this overview.  Although the NASA Centennial Challenge expired, ISEC is still interested in the competition.  From the Space Elevator Blog post from a couple weeks ago Space Elevator Conference registration deadline approaching… : 

ISEC is funding the prize purse for this year’s Tether Strength Competition and the rules have been updated to lower the bar a bit and increase the chances that someone will win the competition this year.  Competition rules are now available on the conference web site.  One or two teams are interested in competing this year and we’re working to get them registered for the challenge.

However, according to the Competition rules link above,

The Strong Tether Challenge will not be held at the 2012 Space Elevator Conference and is postponed until next year.  We were not able get the competition organized in time to allow participants to adequately prepare for the conference.  However, we are now prepared to have the competition organized and announced well before next year's conference and also have time to look for additional sponsors to increase funding for the prize purse.

Engineering TV Video from AUVSI on Laser-Powered Stalker - LaserMotive, the winner of the other NASA Centennial Challenge presented as a Space Elevator competition, the Beam Power/Climber Challenge, shows its work with Lockheed Martin.

Conrad Foundation News, August Newsletter, 2012 - Conrad Foundation Spirit of Innovation Awards

The Sikorsky Entrepreneurial Challenge - Sikorsky - Although Sikorsky is focused on helicopters, some of the current challenges are relevant to spacecraft, too:

1. How can your business concept enable safe, high-speed manned and unmanned vehicle operations in complex, obstacle-rich environments?
2. How can your business concept utilize vertical flight to better serve or create new markets?
3. How can your business concept introduce new approaches to preserve, stabilize or heal damaged systems and structures?
4. How can your business concept reduce the cost and time of the design-build-test-qualify process for new complex vehicles?
5. How can your business concept realize cost savings and lead-time reductions by using 3-D printing and additive manufacturing to produce or maintain components in vehicles?

Documentary about UK student space design competition - Space for All

NewSpace Competition a Potential Model for Canada - Commercial Space

Prize Roundup: New Nanosat Launch Challenge Approaches, Network Visualization, SLI, NRC Response, More

European Southern Observatory holding two public contests - Space for All

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #5 - MyMoon

Visualize This! NSA Network Visualization Contest - Challenge.gov for the National Security Agency

NASA HEOMD Announcement of Cubesat Launch Initiative - SpaceRef

Weekly Update 8.6.2012 - Space Florida for the Nanosatellite Launch Challenge, with a brief note on rule changes and sponsors.  There isn't much activity on the forum, but there is now an effort to make an external forum for the competition: Nano Sat Launch Pad.  SpaceRef posted the following RFI from NASA on the challenge: NASA Request for Information: Centennial Challenges Nano Satellite Launch Challenge.  Here is an excerpt discussing possible big changes to the competition, which started as a $2M competition, and is currently for $3M: 

Several approaches to the NSL Challenge are being considered by NASA. In one approach an initial competition would require delivery of payloads to LEO twice within a one-week period using a launch system sized to deliver up to 10Kg to LEO. The competition would be for one year and a $3M prize purse would be divided between all successful competitors. Subsequently, a second competition would be held that would require successful competitors to deliver payloads to LEO at least ten times within a one-year period using a launch system sized to deliver up to 10Kg to LEO. A total prize purse of $6M would be offered for at least 10 successful payload deliveries: 1st Place receiving $3M for most deliveries; 2nd place, $2M for next most deliveries; and 3rd place, $1M for next most deliveries. ... An alternative approach to the NSL Challenge would be initially to focus on component and subsystem technology development. In particular the avionics for small launch vehicles is considered a significant cost item and novel approaches will be required to achieve a launch cost that is attractive to most nano-satellite developers. This phase would be followed by launch vehicle demonstration competitions along the lines of the approach described above.

Here is the NASA document, complete with RFI questionnaire for potential Nanosat Launch competitors and their potential customers: Request for Information - Centennial Challenges Nano Satellite Launch (NSL) Challenge (PDF)

An Open Letter to the National Research Council’s Committee on the Strategic Direction of NASA - Dennis Wingo includes a section on "Large Scale Prizes" in his answer to the NRC question on commercial space ventures.

2012-2013 NASA's University Student Launch Initiative - SpaceRef

Lockheed Martin Launches Innovation Contest - SpaceRef: 

The "Innovate the Future" contest creates a global forum for interested participants to share their ideas on how innovation can enable a more secure future for the planet. Participants are invited to submit their thoughts on a range of topics facing the world community, including the need for sustainable energy, cyber security, and healthcare. ...

There will be up to one $25,000 grand prize, one $10,000 second place prize, and three $5,000 third place prizes. The grand prize winner will also receive an incubation contract with the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute at the University of Maryland to help validate and develop the idea.

Here's a link to the site: Innovate the Future Challenge

Space Prize Roundup: SSR Approaches, Space Pirates Strike Back, Public Sector Prizes Forum, More

I have several updates on NASA Centennial Challenges:

Garver To Attend NASA $1.5 Million Robot Competition June 16 - NASA on the NASA-WPI Sample Return Robot Centennial Challenge

The NASA Centennial Challenges are now on Facebook: NASA Centennial Challenges.  They have a few pictures related to the SSR Challenge, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more over the next few days.

Space Florida Announces Nano-Sat Launch Challenge Logo Design Contest - Space Florida

Space Elevator conference registration now open! - The Space Elevator Blog - The conference, to be held at the Seattle Museum of Flight, includes the Strong Tether Centennial Challenge and a robotic climber competition for kids.

The Return of the Kansas City Space Pirates - The Space Elevator Blog - It sounds like the KCSP team is going to make this year's Space Elevator conference even more interesting.  Hmmm ... I wonder how LaserMotive will respond? See more information at the KCSP blog 2012- New Mission: The Dawn of Laser Powered Flight

FAQ-What are the uses for wireless power via laser? - LaserMotive

Here's an article that isn't really about Armadillo Aerospace, another former Centennial Challenge team, but that nevertheless has some Armadillo "ambiance": 'Doom 3 BFG Edition' will deliver the full Doom back catalog plus new levels


Yesterday, the Collaborative Innovation: Public Sector Prizes was held by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Case Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation.  Here are a couple related articles:

Unleashing Innovation and Deepening Democracy Through Prizes - The White House Blog

How the White House is aiming the X Prize model at big problems - CNET interviews Cristin Dorgelo, formerly of the X PRIZE Foundation and now Assistant Director of Grand Challenges in the OSTP


To round things out, I'll catch up on some other prize news:

One moonshot team buys up another - Cosmic Log on Moon Express and Next Giant Leap

Landsat Contest Offers View of Local Landscape Change from Space - NASA - The contest is at "My American Landscape" Contest: A Space Chronicle of Change.

Nanosatellite Launch Challenge Draft Rules: Comments and Excerpts of Interest

Space Florida has released the draft rules (PDF) for the Nanosatellite Launch Challenge.  Current comments (PDF) from the interested public, including some who you may know, are also available.  Citizens in Space notes a part of the draft rules that allows systems that were designed or developed by a government, but considers that not to be a real problem for those who want to encourage private design and development since governments haven't been much interested in nanosatellite launchers.  I will also note the following excerpt from the rules that makes it even less likely to be a problem from that perspective:

Teams using Launch Vehicles based on U.S. Government or foreign government designs must certify to SFSSRC that these designs are available to all other competitors, and their vehicles will be available for commercial launch operations after the Challenge.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the total prize purse has been increased to $3M, spread across 3 potential awards.  In the area of prize funding, I also think the following section is interesting:

The SFSSRC, in cooperation with other Challenge sponsors, may offer Bonus Prizes to incentivize additional activities associated with the Challenge objectives. Initial Bonus Prizes are listed below. Other Bonus Prizes may be added before the Challenge is expired.
7.2.1 Space Florida will provide an additional $______ cash prize to a Team that wins the Challenge by staging both of its winning Challenge Launch Attempts from Florida. This includes the use of Cape Canaveral Spaceport or the Cecil Field Spaceport as a launch base for expendable or reusable Launch Vehicles, or as an integration site for Launch Vehicles carried aloft for air-launch.

Space Access '12: A Conference Warmup Roundup

After a long break from posting on Space Prizes, my post backlog is a bit too huge to handle all in one post, so I plan to do some "roundup with a theme" posts.  This post's theme is the Space Access '12 Conference.  It's a good time for this theme, since the Space Show's lineup for this week includes Henry Vanderbilt, who will discuss the 2012 Space Access Society meeting on the radio show today.  The conference itself is scheduled to start April 12.  Many of the presenters at this conference are, or have been, involved with various space prizes (the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge being a prominent example).  Let's take a look at what some of this year's presenters with space prize backgrounds have been up to lately, borrowing heading links straight out of the Space Access '12 agenda.

Altius Space Machines, Jon Goff

New Moonandback Interviews - Altius Space Machines

Armadillo Aerospace

Second Flight of Stiga - Armadillo Aerospace gives a detailed and entertaining description of the flight and subsequent shovel-less shovel recovery.  The post ends with a hint about what to expect next from the team.
More on Armadillo STIG-A flight - RLV News
Florida team pursues Carmack Prize - RLV News
Briefs: Latest ATREX launch target; Project Ursa aims for Carmack Prize - RLV News
NASA selects expt. payloads for commercial suborbital flights - RLV News (This one is relevant to both Armadillo Aerospace and Masten Space Systems) 

Lasermotive, Jordin Kare

LaserMotive: Working the paths at the DoD - LaserMotive
LaserMotive Marks Five Years Pioneering Wireless Power Technology - LaserMotive
Student Science Fair Project Studying Power Beaming - LaserMotive

LaserMotive is also mentioned briefly in this Space Elevator Blog post: JSETEC ‘11

Masten Space, Dave Masten

Why Precision Landing? - Masten Space Systems
Masten's Xaero extended hover test - RLV News
SpaceUp San Diego review - RLV News - This includes a talk by Dave Masten.
Masten Xaero free flight - RLV News
Draper flies Masten's Zombie with GENIE guidance system - RLV News
Masten Space's XEUS lunar lander system - RLV News
Briefs: More on Xombie & Draper; Steve Brody pt. 3 - RLV News
Briefs: Q&A with Masten Space; Alaskan rocket launch - RLV News
Masten's Xaero did 61m free flight on Feb.17th - RLV News

Tim Pickens, Rocket City Space Pioneers GLXP Project

Fourth Graders Name Rocket City Space Pioneers' Lander "Spirit of Alabama" - Rocket City Space Pioneers Blog
Rocket City Space Pioneers Team Member Participates in Electric Car Competition - Rocket City Space Pioneers Blog

Team Phoenicia, Will Baird

Team Phoenicia Wins $1 Million Contract - Team Phoenicia announces an arrangement with Nova Rocketcraft, which is interested in the Nanosatellite Launch Challenge.
Team JURBAN Selects Team Phoenicia Engines for GLXP Lander - Team Phoenicia

You can also see a number of recent rocket test videos and component pictures at the Phoenicia blog.

Team Phoenicia set up the Nanosatellite Launch Challenge seminars.  One of the teams, Vog Rockets, links to one of Phoenicia's seminar recordings in this post: The Team Phoenicia/Techshop Nanosat Launcher Seminar Video: Vog Rockets 

Speedup, Robert Steinke 

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, Sara Meschberger

2nd Annual SEDS High-Powered Rocketry Competition Announcement - SEDS

Unreasonable Rocket, Paul Breed

Quick Update... - Unreasonable Rocket - This post covers a lot of ground, including a possible "show and tell" topic at the SA '12 conference.
Ideas about business and a request for feedback... - Unreasonable Rocket

Space Prize Roundup: Shredder Challenge, Cost Saving Idea, Nanosat Allied Org, LEAG, more

This isn't a space prize, but it's an interesting one nonetheless: the DARPA Shredder Challenge.

***

White House Selects NASA Idea for Savings - Lori Garver at NASA discusses the NASA finalist for the SAVE Award.

***

YouTube Space Lab Competition Expands Panel of Prestigious Judges: YouTube and Lenovo Tap Renowned Science and Technology Experts to Ignite Students' Interest in Space - press release at CNBC - The new Teachers in Space effort is well represented.

***

NASA And Space Florida Small Satellite Research Center Partner In Space Launch Challenge - This is a NASA press release on the long-awaited selection of the allied organization for the $2M Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge


2nd Nanosat Launcher Challenge Seminar Draft Agenda Updated 11/2/2011 - Team Phoenicia presents the latest update on the schedule for the Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge seminar.  This includes Space Florida, NASA representatives, spaceports, potential suppliers and teams, and more.  The seminar is this weekend, and a parallel seminar covers NASA's other Centennial Challenges.

@unrocket: Saturday I'm going to NanoSat conference. I really like this particular Centennial challenge, IMHO best one yet.. (http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/early_stage_innovation/centennial_challenges/nano_satellite/index.html)

Space Florida promises Virgin Galactic payloads - Florida Today shows that Space Florida is keeping busy with space prize activity.  The researcher and payloads for the suborbital flight will be selected using a competition.  Part of the competition will be for Florida university students.

***

NASA 2011 OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Video Contest - SpaceRef notes that registration is now open for the 2011 version of this contest.

***

Teams selected for the 2012 CanSat competition - ESA on the high school finalists for the European CanSat competition

***

NASA prepares for moon tourism - USA Today

***

Rules have been updated - Sample Return Robot Challenge - WPI

***

WSJ Innovator of the Year in Tech award for Elon Musk - RLV News

***

Finding Commercial Applications for Laser Power Designed for Space - Space News

***

FUTURE MISSIONS OF EXPLORATION AND SCIENCE (PDF)
FORGING INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIPS I: COMMERCIAL LUNAR EXPLORATION (PDF) - The LEAG (Lunar Exploration Analysis Group) meeting agenda includes X PRIZE Foundation and Google Lunar X PRIZE team participation.

Notables sign letter to Congress in support of Commercial Crew - RLV News - This includes representatives of the X PRIZE Foundation and Google Lunar X PRIZE teams.

***

Here is some news about some former Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge competitors, including their latest work and the Carmack 100kft Micro Prize:

Armadillo Stig-A rocket video
Briefs: Armadillo rocket snapshot; New Virgin Galactic vid
Masten Space update
Armadillo Stig snapshot
Briefs: Ben Brockert interview; Derek Deville interview
Briefs: Ben Brockert pt. 2; Ken Murphy interview
Derek Deville's Qu8k rocket in USA Today
Unreasonable composite tank test - all from RLV News

Sample Return Registration, TARC Tour, Green Flight Challenge and Expo, Much More

Wow, there's a lot going on in the space prize world!  A lot of the topics deserve their own post, but with my growing family I can only manage a quick link list.  Here's the latest roundup of space prize updates:

Sample Return Robot Challenge

Challenge Rules Posted & Registration Open - Sample Return Robot Challenge (WPI) 
@WPI_Robotics: Picture of the pre-cached sample for the Centennial Challenge! #WPI #omgrobotswpirobotics.smugmug.com/services/graph… or visit challenge.wpi.edu for info

Team America Rocketry Challenge

Winning TARC Team Visits Washington, Praises Raytheon for Support - Raytheon
TARC Winners in DC - This is a Flickr photo set of the visit.

Green Flight Challenge

Matters of Note for the Green Flight Expo - The CAFE Foundation Blog describes Matternet, "an outgrowth of Singularity University" that plans to enable transportation of supplies to remote locations.
List of Exhibitors - The Green Flight Expo will be at NASA Ames on October 3 after the competition.  The actual competition starts in 1 week.
See the Google Green Flight Challenge Exposition hosted by NASA

Other

New Competition Brings Robots to Market - OSTP Blog
2nd Nanosat Launcher Challenge Seminar Draft Agenda Updated 9/16/2011 - Team Phoenicia
N-prize: the world's smallest space programme - SpaceRef - Part of this is a call for global representation in the challenge, particularly in Asia.  The new N-prize teams map shows why.  There is a gap, but on the bright side that's a lot of teams!
Fall 2011 Cassini Scientist for a Day essay contest - Teaching with Contests
CTSI Chooses LaserMotive as One of Top Ten Defense Energy Tech Companies - LaserMotive
Conrad Foundation on Capitol Hill - NASA Watch
"What's Next?" In Space Exploration Video Contest - NASA Watch - The contest is from the Coalition for Space Exploration.
Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts show Right Stuff in National Rocket Competition - Space for All
Student contest to name the GRAIL lunar probes and to direct their cameras - Space for All
Canadian Satellite Design Challenge - Space for All
Int. Art Contest - The Space Foundation - Space for All
Student NewSpace Business Plan Competition - RLV News
Unreasonable update - RLV News - Paul's post includes a picture of a new tank, and here's another one of it: twitpic.com/6j0jng

NASA Centennial Challenge Updates: Sample Return, Nanosat, Green Flight, Tether, More

A lot has been happening related to NASA Centennial Challenges in the last few weeks, so here's an update that focuses mainly on them.

Some teams are anxious to learn more about the rules and team agreement for the Sample Return Robot Challenge:

Update on Challenge

Status Update - Sample Return Robot Challenge

As you can see, starting a major prize competition can be quite a challenge in itself.

Team Phoenicia to hold 2nd Nanosat launcher seminar - RLV News - From the Team Phoenicia post: 

This will be upgraded to a two day event based on the feedback that we have received. Food and drink will be provided. There will be speakers in the vein of last time, but additionally all potential teams that wish to present will be able to do so on a first come, first serve basis until the slots are filled. Potential suppliers for the teams will also be given time to present as well.

Tech Could Beam Power to Drones - Lasers could power drones in flight and remove the need for gas deliveries to army bases. - Discovery News covers LaserMotive, the winner of the most recent Beam Power Centennial Challenge.

Also check out the recent tweets from @LaserMotive at the Unmanned Systems North America 2011 conference.  The conference had some other prize events, including a student competition pavilion, a photo contest, awards, and the following X PRIZE hint:

@AUVSI: Diamandis: will announce $10M purse James Cook X Prize next month for AUV that can circumnavigate the globe collecting certain data.

Move Over DARPA: X Prize is Here - National Defense Magazine - This covers the Peter Diamandis talk at the conference.  It includes a bit more information about potential prizes, including the James Cook X Challenge for a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle with a sensor suite and an Autonomous Auto X PRIZE that would pick up where the DARPA Challenges left off.

Getting back to the Centennial Challenges, here's some news about the Green Flight Challenge:

Google to Sponsor Green Flight Challenge - CAFE Foundation Blog: 

CAFE (Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency) will conduct the event from September 25 through October 2, 2011 at Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport. ... All competing aircraft will be shown to the public at the Google Green Flight Challenge Exposition hosted by NASA at Moffett Field–NASA Ames Research Center, from 9 AM to 4 PM on October 3, 2011. ... In addition to the main prizes for highest scores, the competition includes a bio-fuel prize and plans for a special Lindbergh Prize for Quietest aircraft, to be presented by Erik Lindbergh, grandson of the renowned winner of aviation’s Orteig Prize, Charles Lindbergh.

In addition to the Centennial Challenge news, the CAFE Foundation also has an announcement from Oshkosh 2011: PC-Aero Wins Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Vision Award

The Tether Strength Competition was held at the Space Elevator Conference a few days ago:

Space Elevator: Going Down? - Seattle Weekly
The 2011 Strong Tether Competition - The Space Elevator Blog

Many competitors in past Centennial Challenges continue their contributions.  The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is a great example of this:

Thoughts on small sat and cube sat market size. - Unreasonable Rocket

Team Prometheus on Carmack 100kft Micro Prize - Team Prometheus: 

Team Prometheus officially entered the Carmak Micro Challenge today.  Our launch date is set for March 10th 2012.  That's the date for our Space Shot.  Going to be crazy here for a while!

Masten Space Systems Wins NASA Suborbital Flight Contract
Masten Space Systems Announces Management Additions - Masten Space Systems

'Sticky Boom' made for space dockings - Boulder County Business Report on the 2011 Heinlein NewSpace Business Plan Competition win by Altius Space Machines
Biz Plan Pitch Video - Altius Space Machines

Prize Roundup: Nanosat Launcher Comment, Make Tech Winner, CAFE and EAA Flight Challenges, More

Student Experiment Microgravity Kit Wins NASA-Make Tech Contest - NASA press release: 

Sponsored by Teachers in Space, a project of the Space Frontier Foundation in Nyack, N.Y, the first "Bring It Back" kits will fly aboard the Excelsior STEM mission scheduled to fly on a Masten Aerospace unmanned suborbital mission later this year. 

Jeff Foust tweets about one of the ISDC 2011 talks:

@jeff_foust: London: NASA's planned $2M nanolaunch prize is a "little light"; estimates it would cost $20-30M to build a nanosat launcher. #ISDC

Also see Jeff's twitter account for tweets on the Google Lunar X PRIZE ISDC session.

3DHawaii expands with private label product and a great trip giveaway - Google Earth Blog

Zephyr Aurora: Taking Shape [45]: More First Small Holes - Team Phoenicia (see more pictures at their site)

Pipistrel’s Four-seat, Side-by-side Electric Airplane - CAFE Foundation blog: 

This unique design has come about by grafting two Pipistrel Taurus aircraft together with a center section which is some 5 meters (16 feet) wide and includes a center pylon housing the electric engine and batteries designed to successfully carry this aircraft to the skies and hopefully to the completion of the 2011 CAFE/NASA challenge, the design bears some similarity to the twin Mustang fighter and even White Knight Two. ... The goal for the development of this aircraft is to enter and hopefully be successful in completing the 2011 CAFE/NASA green flight challenge which is held between July 11 and July 17, 2011 at the Santa Rosa airport in northern California and then also competing in the EAA AirVenture Electric Flight Challenge held at this year’s Oshkosh event just a few weeks later.

Roundup: Jousting, Slinky, Student Launches, Nanosat Vids, Space Tech, CAFE on FB, More

Sometimes a space prize is a space prize because of who is hosting the competition:

Competitive Jousting on the Shores of Lake Austin - TexasJoust.com - Richard Garriott is the host of Lysts on the Lake.

2011 Weightless Object Contest Winner - ZERO-G Facebook - The winner is the Slinky.

Nanosat Launcher Challenge Raw Video #12-15: Dr Andrew Petro on the Centennial Challenges - Team Phoenicia - You can find the earlier videos on the Nanosat Launcher Challenge meeting at their site, too.

Gallery: NASA Student Launch Projects - The Huntsville Times has a photo gallery for the student competition.

SpaceTech Engineering Design Challenge - SpaceHack shows a competition for college students that NASA's new Office of Space Technology wants to hold.

Space Angels Network LOS ANGELES Venture Forum, April 28, 2011 - Space Angels Network is holding this event for accredited investors at 1 Rocket Rd in Hawthorne, CA.  You can probably guess where that is.  The presenting company is Astrobotic Technology, Inc.

NASA Awards Contract for Lunar Gravity Simulation Device - Astrobotic

Our Sputnik Moment: US Entrepreneurs Needed for the "Space Race" - The Huffington Post features Naveen Jain from Moon Express.

LaserMotive to Present to 29th Annual Space Power Workshop - LaserMotive

FRC Championship at the Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, Missouri - USFIRST.org - The event will be held April 27-30.  NASA will live stream the event.

CAFE Foundation on Facebook - Their most recent update there links to their blog post Berblinger Flight Competition Winners for 2011.  Their blog also notes that the 5th Annual CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium Launches New Age of Flight on April 29-30.  That symposium includes some prize content: 

As a special event, EAS V will debut the awesome array of experimental new electric aircraft that will compete 9 weeks later in the 2011 NASA Aeronautics Prize, the CAFE Green Flight Challenge (July 10-17 at Santa Rosa Airport).

James Cameron And Eric Schmidt On Why They "Visioneer" For X Prize - Fast Company

X PRIZE Visioneering and The Mother of All Business Plan Competitions - Tech Crunch

Prize Roundup: Prize Report, Electric Aircraft, LLC Pad, GLXP Panel, FAA Prize, Nanosat Launch Partner, More

The 2011 CAFE Foundation Electric Aircraft Symposium - CAFE Foundation - One of the presentations on the preliminary program is for 

Larry Ford, Vice President, CAFE Foundation, DEBUT: The Amazing Aircraft of the 2011 CAFE Green Flight Challenge

The X PRIZE Foundation lists several open job opportunities, including one for the Senior Director, Google Lunar X PRIZE.

NASA OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Award - NASA Watch

Managing Innovation Prizes in Government - IBM Center for The Business of Government

Spurring Innovation via Contests and Prizes - Governing.com

Air Force Launches Open Innovation Pavilion - Open Government Initiative (The White House)

FAA Seeks Funding for New Space Prize - Space News

Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge partner needed - RLV News

The robots in Google's race to the moon - New Scientist

@LunarPioneer: LROC announces The Moon and Me K-12 Art Challenge #LPSC42 http://bit.ly/hPn3xa

@ISDC: We're featuring a panel with Google Lunar X Prize teams for our Saturday plenary...

@ikluft: Photo by @Rocket_Flyer of weeds growing in Lunar Lander Challenge launch/landing pad in #Mojave http://twitpic.com/47jh23

@sedsusa: The SEDS 2011 High-Powered Rocketry Competition is under way! Contact info and full rules and details can be found at http://bit.ly/gAMsb1

Also see SEDS 2011 High-Powered Rocketry Competition.

@TeamPrometheus: Here is the kickstart link! Wish us luck and pledge if you can! If we dont make our goal we get nothing and you... http://fb.me/WsSvcZNN

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.

Lego Elevators, Pocket Airports, SGAC and Heinlein Trust, LPI T's, Spheres, More

LASER 2010 - The Space Elevator Blog covers the Lego bricks Activity and Space Elevator Race competitions.

Faster and Greener - Pocket Airports (PDF) - The CAFE Foundation - Here's an bit from the abstract:

The potential aeronautical, environmental and societal benefits of on-demand, distributed, Green air travel are examined along with the urgencies and opportunities that pertain. A proposal is presented to rapidly bring about these benefits by extending NASA’s Centennial Challenge for Aeronautics, the Green Flight Challenge (GFC), into a sequence of two additional flight competitions, GFC II and III.

LaserMotive Wins NW Startup Demo - LaserMotive has more details on a win I briefly mentioned in my last post.

List of significant parts.... - Unreasonable Rocket

Zephyr Aurora: Taking Shape [25]
Zephyr Aurora: Taking Shape [24]
Zephyr Aurora: Taking Shape [23] - All from Team Phoenicia

And now for some tweets:

@ISS_Research: 12/16 watch ISS student zero robotics challenge: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/zero.html #NASA #ISS #education

@SGAC: SGAC Partners with the Heinlein Prize Trust to Support the 2011 Future Project Contest http://ow.ly/3qpNQ

@JUXTOPIA_JURBAN: 1st African American Owned Commercial Space Company Launched during Juxtopia Urban Learning Technology Conference @ Morgan State University

Phezu Space, LLC will design and build commercial space on-orbit service vehicles.

@dmasten: Launch vehicle erector trailer works. http://twitpic.com/3g8nmb

@MyMoonLPI: NEW! #MyMoonLPI contest: submit a MyMoon tshirt design: http://bit.ly/eax5oc?

@ConradAwards: In the Spirit of Innovation... - http://eepurl.com/bZgWP

Prize Roundup: Phoenicia History, NW Startup Win, Rover Captions, SBIR, More

IEEE Presentation: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Launch Pad - Check out the presentation within this Team Phoenicia blog post.  It has a lot of interesting information about the team.

Zephyr Aurora: Taking Shape [21] - Team Phoenicia

@LaserMotive: LaserMotive won the NW Startup Demo, beating out some other very good demos.

@MarsRovers: Here are the winning entries from the Oppy caption contest. Drumroll, please: http://on.fb.me/g5WsT0

@jetlab: Students Bounce to the Top at JPL Competition: With rubber band contraptions, leaf blowers, balloons and o... http://bit.ly/hmy1TQ

Internacional Cansat Competition 2011 - coming soon ...

Briefs: Masten Space's SBIR; Rocket City Space Pioneers update - RLV News

Eurospaceward Conference, NanoSat Launch Biz, SSP Competition, RWIW Date, Moonraker@Mall

The Space Elevator Blog is covering the 2010 Eurospaceward Conference.  I'll just give a few links with a lot of prize content; see the blog for more on the conference:

2010 EuroSpaceward Conference - Saturday morning (1) - This mentions the possibility of a European Strong Tether Challenge.
2010 EuroSpaceward Conference - Saturday morning (2) - One of the talks is by a Kansas City Space Pirates member.
2010 EuroSpaceward Conference - Sunday morning - This includes discussions of a number of international space elevator competitions.

I may update this list above as more details emerge.

Pricing a NanoSat launcher - RLV News - The linked post also refers to this older piece on NanoSat Launcher markets inspired by the NanoSat Launch Vehicle Challenge Seminar: Micro-Cargo Delivery & The Last Mile Problem - The Space Busine$$ Blog

Space Solar Power desgn competition - Space for All

@RWIWChallenge: Exciting News!!! The Advanced Registration Deadline has been extended to January 15, 2011!

@paulsrobotics: Come to the Solomon Pond Mall and check out #battlebots Brutality and Moonraker along with other #WPI robots! http://yfrog.com/2h74340880j

Prize Roundup: Nanosat Seminar, Earth Science Contest, Challenge.gov at Google, more

@EarthPic: Earth Science in Action Classroom Contest Winners announced. Congrats and thanks to all who entered! http://bit.ly/c13I3m

@ConradAwards: Students...Want to learn more about the Spirit of Innovation Awards? http://ow.ly/36o8u
 
@ChallengeGov: Excited for this morning's #ChallengeGov event at @Google DC. Thanks to @WebManagerU & @AdCouncil for co-sponsoring! 

If you check the ChallengeGov twitter link above, you'll see several pages of tweets about the event.  NASA's Jeff Davis represents the space field.

iGEM 2010 ~ Synthetic Biology Design Challenge! - Maximizing Progress

KCSP Closure party - The Space Elevator Blog participates in the Kansas City Space Pirates send-off:

So, what does KCSP have in store for the future?  I’m going to leave that for a blog update on their part.  Suffice it to say that they have new challenges they are taking on, but they are staying close and true to their robotic roots.

Nanosat launcher seminar update - RLV News

Briefs: Astrobotic update; Lunar city design contest - RLV News

Prize Roundup: Nanosat Launcher Seminar, Starting a Startup, Micro-G Challenge, More

@LunaCI: Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #36: http://bit.ly/cJFux6 The GLXP loses a leader, but his dream lives on...

Here's more about the Nanosat Launcher Challenge Seminar, which is scheduled to take place today:

@rocketrepreneur: After a nice full 12hr day at the Altius office, I made the drive out to DIA, on my way to the Nanosat LV Seminar tomorrow.

@NASAPrize: Going to Nano-Sat Launch Challenge seminar at Tech Shop in Menlo Park, CA on Saturday. See http://techshop.ws/Upcoming_Events.html

Team Phoenicia/Techshop Nanosat Launcher Seminar: Final Update - Team Phoenicia

If you can't go, don't forget this from an earlier Team Phoenicia post:

We will be posting the Nanosat Launcher Challenge Seminar presentations on youtube to the Team Phoenicia channel.

@ISS_Research: 1/3 NASA’s seeks proposal submissions from 5th-8th graders for 2011 Kids in Micro-g challenge, due 12/8.

2/3 The crew will perform winning experiments onboard ISS: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/nlab/experimentchallenge.html
 
3/3 To learn more about entering the 2011 challenge, contact the ISS Payloads Office at jsc-iss-payloads-helpline@mail.nasa.gov.

Five Control Loops - Jon Goff at Altius Space Systems shows what it's like to juggle multiple jobs in the processing of starting a new space business.

@ikluft: 1 yr ago: 1st place in Lunar Lander #XPrize awarded to @MastenSpace on Capitol Hill. My pics: http://is.gd/gJO4I #newspace

Prize Roundup: Nanosat Launch Seminar, Centennial Winners Keep Going, ZeroG Pictures, More

As the Nanosatellite Launch Challenge Seminar this weekend approaches, the news continues:

Team Phoenicia/Techshop Nanosat Launcher Challenge Seminar: Gathering Questions - Team Phoenicia:

The FAA-AST has asked Team Phoenicia to gather questions that the community would like answered for their part of the challenge.

Nanosat Launcher Challenge Seminar: Agenda Change (11/1/10) - Team Phoenicia

Getting closer - Vog Rockets

@TeamPrometheus - Getting ready to go to the conference for the NASA Centennial Challenge Nanosat contest! Go! Team Prometheus!

Several past Centennial Challenge winners are keeping themselves in the spotlight.  LaserMotive is getting a lot of press and staying active:

@LaserMotive: Regardless of how our pitch is received, I overcame my mental glitches and delivered a good presentation today.

Copter sets a laser-powered record - Cosmic Log

Laser-Powered Helicopter Breaks Records, Is Pretty Cute - Discover

Nov 2nd Update: Joining “The Vault” - Altius Space Machines

NASA’s Quest to Send a Robot to the Moon - The New York Times features Armadillo Aerospace in part of this article.

@paulsrobotics: Moonraker will be dropping the first puck this Friday @ Worcester Sharks! Buy tix through me to support FRC190. Check out the #omgrobots

Of course there's plenty of prize news from other sources, too:

@GoZeroG: 2010 Weightless Photo Competition http://conta.cc/aBapiz via #constantcontact

@sedsusa: The SEDS-USA Video Contest is finished. Thanks to everyone who submitted! Comment on your favorites - http://bit.ly/c6nNxe

CPM TV Pre-Launch Test Phase Begins - Synergy Moon on Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page

@arielwaldman: Science Hack Day SF is looking for prizes and/or sponsors! Anyone able to help? http://sf.sciencehackday.com/