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 - 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.
Showing posts with label Planetary Society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Planetary Society. Show all posts
Saturday, September 08, 2012
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Prize Roundup: Heinlein Prize, International Rocketry Challenge, CanSat winners, SEDS Conference, More
Heinlein Prize Honors Elon Musk of SpaceX - Heinlein Prize Trust
06/16/2011: Swing Test - SpeedUp
NASA And DARPA Offer Students Chance To Support Future Missions - NASA - This is for the Zero Robotics competition using floating SPHERES platforms on the International Space Station
The CanSat Competition has posted their 2011 Competition Winners and 2011 Cansat Photos. Also, the 2012 mission has already been identified: Mission: Planetary Atmospheric Entry Vehicle.
Raytheon has a number of posts about the International Rocketry Challenge at the International Paris Air Show. You can see all of them at their 2011 Paris Air Show - Team America Rocketry Challenge tag. The most recent post is Raytheon-Sponsored Texas High School Team Wins International Rocket Fly-Off at Paris Air Show.
Northrop Grumman Announces Student Winners of Fourth Annual Engineering Scholars Program for Woodland Hills Facility - SpaceRef
SEDS Space Vision 2011 - RLV News - The early Speakers list for the conference includes a number of people with prize connections: Bill Nye (Executive Director of the Planetary Society, which has held a number of space competitions like the Apophis Mission Design Competition and numerous contests with themes like space art and mission names), Robert Richards (a Google Lunar X PRIZE competitor), Will Pomerantz (formerly of the X PRIZE Foundation), Jon Goff (who was part of the winning Masten Space Systems Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge team), and Ben Brockert (also from the Masten NG-LLC team, and now a member of another prize-winning NG-LLC team, Armadillo Aerospace).
Team Phoenicia sells first engine - RLV News
Briefs: Masten intern jobs; Langley lifting body event; Bruce Cordell interview - RLV News
White Label Space starts testing engines - RLV News
The next 2 links are from @ChallengeGov:
Now this is a cool ride! - The White House Blog discusses the Experimental Crowd-derived Combat-support Vehicle (XC2V).
The latest International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge opened on May 31.
A TEA Party organization called TEA Party in Space has a platform that includes the following plank:
NASA shall use competitions and prizes whenever feasible to stimulate the private sector, including individual American inventors, to achieve innovative and affordable solutions to technological challenges.
06/16/2011: Swing Test - SpeedUp
NASA And DARPA Offer Students Chance To Support Future Missions - NASA - This is for the Zero Robotics competition using floating SPHERES platforms on the International Space Station
The CanSat Competition has posted their 2011 Competition Winners and 2011 Cansat Photos. Also, the 2012 mission has already been identified: Mission: Planetary Atmospheric Entry Vehicle.
Raytheon has a number of posts about the International Rocketry Challenge at the International Paris Air Show. You can see all of them at their 2011 Paris Air Show - Team America Rocketry Challenge tag. The most recent post is Raytheon-Sponsored Texas High School Team Wins International Rocket Fly-Off at Paris Air Show.
Northrop Grumman Announces Student Winners of Fourth Annual Engineering Scholars Program for Woodland Hills Facility - SpaceRef
SEDS Space Vision 2011 - RLV News - The early Speakers list for the conference includes a number of people with prize connections: Bill Nye (Executive Director of the Planetary Society, which has held a number of space competitions like the Apophis Mission Design Competition and numerous contests with themes like space art and mission names), Robert Richards (a Google Lunar X PRIZE competitor), Will Pomerantz (formerly of the X PRIZE Foundation), Jon Goff (who was part of the winning Masten Space Systems Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge team), and Ben Brockert (also from the Masten NG-LLC team, and now a member of another prize-winning NG-LLC team, Armadillo Aerospace).
Team Phoenicia sells first engine - RLV News
Briefs: Masten intern jobs; Langley lifting body event; Bruce Cordell interview - RLV News
White Label Space starts testing engines - RLV News
The next 2 links are from @ChallengeGov:
Now this is a cool ride! - The White House Blog discusses the Experimental Crowd-derived Combat-support Vehicle (XC2V).
The latest International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge opened on May 31.
A TEA Party organization called TEA Party in Space has a platform that includes the following plank:
NASA shall use competitions and prizes whenever feasible to stimulate the private sector, including individual American inventors, to achieve innovative and affordable solutions to technological challenges.
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)
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Prize Roundup: Altius Milestone, Student Astronomy, Prometheus Sponsors, Virtual Worlds, Asteroid Competition Hints, More
@RobinSnelson: Vote to give this idea 50K: Rebuild an astronomy observatory for student and community education. #pepsirefresh http://pep.si/bXRWIT
@rocketrepreneur: NASA Authorization Bill passes, Altius signs its first contract, and I had a good time meeting with LM and ULA friends today. Good day.
@TeamPrometheus: Has added DIY Drones to the sponsor list! Thanks, Chris. http://fb.me/G3yQ3xDK
Has added Big Red Bee to the sponsor list! Thanks, Greg. http://fb.me/F5q6hbv4
Has added Featherweight Altimeters to the list of sponsors! Thanks, Adrian. http://fb.me/GNGGlr5K
@unrocket: Machine to round then brake cylinder hone. http://plixi.com/p/47588504
Low melting temp metal to fixture odd shape parts in the mill. Cleaning up weld scale on sealing surface. http://plixi.com/p/47568220
Green Flight Challenge: Elektra One Progress - CAFE Foundation Blog
If you can't get to other worlds using spacecraft yet, try the Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge.
British Entreprenuer Julian Ranger Backs Astrobotic in Google Lunar X Prize - Parabolic Arc
Follow this link to see some more hints about the Planetary Society's planned HUMAN MISSION TO AN ASTEROID COMPETITION.
WSJ tech prizes now and in future - RLV News
@rocketrepreneur: NASA Authorization Bill passes, Altius signs its first contract, and I had a good time meeting with LM and ULA friends today. Good day.
@TeamPrometheus: Has added DIY Drones to the sponsor list! Thanks, Chris. http://fb.me/G3yQ3xDK
Has added Big Red Bee to the sponsor list! Thanks, Greg. http://fb.me/F5q6hbv4
Has added Featherweight Altimeters to the list of sponsors! Thanks, Adrian. http://fb.me/GNGGlr5K
@unrocket: Machine to round then brake cylinder hone. http://plixi.com/p/47588504
Low melting temp metal to fixture odd shape parts in the mill. Cleaning up weld scale on sealing surface. http://plixi.com/p/47568220
Green Flight Challenge: Elektra One Progress - CAFE Foundation Blog
If you can't get to other worlds using spacecraft yet, try the Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge.
British Entreprenuer Julian Ranger Backs Astrobotic in Google Lunar X Prize - Parabolic Arc
Follow this link to see some more hints about the Planetary Society's planned HUMAN MISSION TO AN ASTEROID COMPETITION.
WSJ tech prizes now and in future - RLV News
Thursday, August 12, 2010
More on Planetary Society NEO Competition
Report from the Exploration of Near-Earth Objects Objectives Workshop - Day 2 - The Planetary Society Blog: Bruce Betts gives an overview of NASA's Explore NOW workshop. Some of his notes concern a new competition planned by the Planetary Society:
I also discussed the Planetary Society's Human Mission to an Asteroid competition that will challenge people to design a human mission to an asteroid. We will have open and college design competition categories, and an essay competition for high school and below. We are currently assembling our advisory committee and partners and determining the details of the competition. Stay tuned in coming weeks and months for more information.
Speaking of competitions, at this meeting I ran into the Principal Investigator of the winning entry from the Planetary Society Apophis Mission Design competition, Mark Schaffer from SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. Though the content will be quite different, the human asteroid mission will follow the same type of process as the Apophis competition did, and we expect lots of spectacular entries like we got for Apophis.
Bruce's slide presentation from the workshop, Public Participation in the Exploration of NEOs (PDF), offers a lot of information on the Planetary Society's experience with public participation through space prizes and competitions. This is depicted through a pyramid of prizes and participation opportunities where the base of the pyramid includes the largest number of participants for more accessible competitions and other forms of participation, and the tip of the pyramid includes the most difficult challenges and richest rewards. In this context, the presentation offers the following information, and more, about the NEO competition now under development:
TPS Human Asteroid Design Competition
I also discussed the Planetary Society's Human Mission to an Asteroid competition that will challenge people to design a human mission to an asteroid. We will have open and college design competition categories, and an essay competition for high school and below. We are currently assembling our advisory committee and partners and determining the details of the competition. Stay tuned in coming weeks and months for more information.
Speaking of competitions, at this meeting I ran into the Principal Investigator of the winning entry from the Planetary Society Apophis Mission Design competition, Mark Schaffer from SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. Though the content will be quite different, the human asteroid mission will follow the same type of process as the Apophis competition did, and we expect lots of spectacular entries like we got for Apophis.
Bruce's slide presentation from the workshop, Public Participation in the Exploration of NEOs (PDF), offers a lot of information on the Planetary Society's experience with public participation through space prizes and competitions. This is depicted through a pyramid of prizes and participation opportunities where the base of the pyramid includes the largest number of participants for more accessible competitions and other forms of participation, and the tip of the pyramid includes the most difficult challenges and richest rewards. In this context, the presentation offers the following information, and more, about the NEO competition now under development:
TPS Human Asteroid Design Competition
- In coming months, Planetary Society will hold an open competition to design a human mission to a near Earth asteroid.
- Will emphasize the portions of the mission when near or on the asteroid (input invited on details) ...
- $20K prize from Google ...
- Doing in collaboration with NASA and other organizations and agencies ...
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Prize Roundup: NSF Robotics Competitions, Asteroid Prize Plan, Many Space Elevator Prizes, NASA Lunar Lander Data Purchase, More
Here's an excerpt from the 2011 Departments of Commerce and Justice, and Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill report (PDF):
Promoting STEM Education Through Competition.—The future of U.S. competitiveness rests on our ability to train the next generation of scientists and engineers. The Committee has acted on the ‘‘Rising Above the Gathering Storm’’ recommendation to improve K–12 STEM education by robustly funding the National Science Foundation and other science agencies. The Committee also recognizes the important contributions of groups and organizations that have developed nationwide STEM robotics competitions to inspire and train America’s students. The Committee directs NSF to set aside $2,000,000 for a competitive program of grants to promote STEM education through robotics competitions.
BLOG: Update on the NASA Authorization Bill - The Planetary Society - The reason that I included this here is that there's an interesting hint about a possible new Planetary Society prize at the end of the post:
A big first step will be consideration of the human asteroid mission. The Planetary Society will be participating in an upcoming NASA workshop on this subject, and we're getting ready to announce a new competition to advance the concept of humans exploring an asteroid. So stay tuned!
More Masten Space pictures
A brief glimpse of leg at Masten Space
Armadillo Aerospace flies Pixel - all 3 from RLV News
ISEC e-Newsletter #6 - August 2010 - International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) - This newsletter has a lot of information about Space Elevator Games Centennial Challenges and other prizes. Here are some excerpts, but the newsletter has many more details:
The Climber / Power-Beaming competition has been postponed until next year. ... The Strong Tether competition will be held at the upcoming Space Elevator Conference. The current schedule calls for this competition to be held on Friday, August 13th, at 4:15pm (US Pacific time) ...
In March, the International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) announced the Yuri Artsutanov and Jerome Pearson Prizes for Space Elevator research. ... the prize committee did not feel that any of them met the criteria; ... the prize committee did award an "Honorable Mention" to a paper submitted by Mr. Gaylen R. Hinton and he and his entry will be honored at the upcoming Space Elevator Conference. These prizes will be repeated next year. A new topic will be chosen for ... the Pearson prize ...
From August 6th-8th, the Japan Space Elevator Association (JSEA) will host it's second annual JSETEC (Japan Space Elevator Technical & Engineering Competition) event. ... The 2009 competition was held on a 150 meter tether. This year's competition will be held on a 300 meter tether. Next year, they plan on using a 600 meter tether. But, unlike the Space Elevator Games, they plan on holding the tether aloft with balloons, not a helicopter.
NASA Centennial Challenges 2010 Strong Tether Challenge - SpaceRef
Astrobotic designs excavator to recover lunar volatiles - Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page
NASA Seeks Data from Innovative Lunar Demonstrations - NASA:
NASA has issued a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to purchase specific data resulting from industry efforts to test and verify vehicle capabilities through demonstrations of small robotic landers. The purpose is to inform the development of future human and robotic lander vehicles. ... The ILDD BAA challenges industry to demonstrate Earth-to-lunar surface flight system capabilities and test technologies.
Astrobotic to pursue NASA data purchase offer - RLV News
First Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Prizes Announced At AirVenture - Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Prize (LEAP) - You can find out about this year's prizes at the link. There is also some information about next year's prizes:
LEAP announced that in 2011, LEAP prizes will be awarded at Aero-Friedrichschafen in Germany as well as at AirVenture.
Fueling Innovation (100 MPGe at a time) - Energy Blog (Department of Energy)
See much, much more about the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE here.
And the winner is… Offering a cash prize to encourage innovation is all the rage. Sometimes it works rather well - The Economist
Promoting STEM Education Through Competition.—The future of U.S. competitiveness rests on our ability to train the next generation of scientists and engineers. The Committee has acted on the ‘‘Rising Above the Gathering Storm’’ recommendation to improve K–12 STEM education by robustly funding the National Science Foundation and other science agencies. The Committee also recognizes the important contributions of groups and organizations that have developed nationwide STEM robotics competitions to inspire and train America’s students. The Committee directs NSF to set aside $2,000,000 for a competitive program of grants to promote STEM education through robotics competitions.
BLOG: Update on the NASA Authorization Bill - The Planetary Society - The reason that I included this here is that there's an interesting hint about a possible new Planetary Society prize at the end of the post:
A big first step will be consideration of the human asteroid mission. The Planetary Society will be participating in an upcoming NASA workshop on this subject, and we're getting ready to announce a new competition to advance the concept of humans exploring an asteroid. So stay tuned!
More Masten Space pictures
A brief glimpse of leg at Masten Space
Armadillo Aerospace flies Pixel - all 3 from RLV News
ISEC e-Newsletter #6 - August 2010 - International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) - This newsletter has a lot of information about Space Elevator Games Centennial Challenges and other prizes. Here are some excerpts, but the newsletter has many more details:
The Climber / Power-Beaming competition has been postponed until next year. ... The Strong Tether competition will be held at the upcoming Space Elevator Conference. The current schedule calls for this competition to be held on Friday, August 13th, at 4:15pm (US Pacific time) ...
In March, the International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) announced the Yuri Artsutanov and Jerome Pearson Prizes for Space Elevator research. ... the prize committee did not feel that any of them met the criteria; ... the prize committee did award an "Honorable Mention" to a paper submitted by Mr. Gaylen R. Hinton and he and his entry will be honored at the upcoming Space Elevator Conference. These prizes will be repeated next year. A new topic will be chosen for ... the Pearson prize ...
From August 6th-8th, the Japan Space Elevator Association (JSEA) will host it's second annual JSETEC (Japan Space Elevator Technical & Engineering Competition) event. ... The 2009 competition was held on a 150 meter tether. This year's competition will be held on a 300 meter tether. Next year, they plan on using a 600 meter tether. But, unlike the Space Elevator Games, they plan on holding the tether aloft with balloons, not a helicopter.
NASA Centennial Challenges 2010 Strong Tether Challenge - SpaceRef
Astrobotic designs excavator to recover lunar volatiles - Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page
NASA Seeks Data from Innovative Lunar Demonstrations - NASA:
NASA has issued a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to purchase specific data resulting from industry efforts to test and verify vehicle capabilities through demonstrations of small robotic landers. The purpose is to inform the development of future human and robotic lander vehicles. ... The ILDD BAA challenges industry to demonstrate Earth-to-lunar surface flight system capabilities and test technologies.
Astrobotic to pursue NASA data purchase offer - RLV News
First Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Prizes Announced At AirVenture - Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Prize (LEAP) - You can find out about this year's prizes at the link. There is also some information about next year's prizes:
LEAP announced that in 2011, LEAP prizes will be awarded at Aero-Friedrichschafen in Germany as well as at AirVenture.
Fueling Innovation (100 MPGe at a time) - Energy Blog (Department of Energy)
See much, much more about the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE here.
And the winner is… Offering a cash prize to encourage innovation is all the rage. Sometimes it works rather well - The Economist
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Weekend Roundup Part 2 - The Non-Twitter Side
Stephen Hawking to Accept Cosmos Award in Cambridge, England - The Planetary Society - Note that the award presentation was a week ago (the linked press release is from February 24).
Greetings From Space Up in Sunny San Diego! - The Planetary Society reviews the unconference, including photos of people and hardware from Unreasonable Rocket and Masten Space Systems.
Masten Space Systems Update - NASASpaceflight.com - Jon from Masten links to another picture from the unconference in this discussion.
Let's put robots AND humans in space - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Astrobotic's David Gump considers NASA's new budget proposal. Much of the debate over this budget concerns a controversy over whether NASA should use its own systems, commercial systems, or both to give NASA astronauts access to space. This article focuses on a less-debated, but essential, part of the new plan that goes beyond the old astronauts-vs-robotics debate: a new line of robotic astronaut precursor missions to do things like travel to the Moon's surface and demonstrate production of rocket propellant from lunar ice.
NASA Wants to Fund Centennial Challenges at $10 Million Per Year - Parabolic Arc
Bankrupt Sea Launch Gets More Financing – Heinlein Prize Trust Involved - Parabolic Arc
Centennial Challenges gathering… - The Space Elevator Blog
“One of the problems we had last year was wind-induced oscillation…” - The Space Elevator Blog points to some video clips from Bitter Jester Creative, Inc.
Announcing the Artsutanov and Pearson awards - The Space Elevator Blog
Marshall hosts the 2010 Great Moonbuggy Race - Lunar Networks
Ted Southern - Eyebeam Art + Technology Center
You can see more photos of Ted's astronaut glove at his Glove & Hands page. From there you can also get to his other projects.
A wry report on regolith removal - RLV News
Explore Mars, Inc. opens - Space for All:
... We are pleased to announce the formation of Explore Mars, Inc. (exploremars.org). ... In the first half of 2010, Explore Mars will launch a series of technology development challenges relating to Mars exploration, with prizes ranging from $10,000 - $100,000. ... the first of these challenges will focus on in situ resource utilization - technologies that will allows us to "live off the land" on other planets. ... collaborating with Aerojet and NASA's Spaceward Bound, we will be creating the Mars Education Challenge that will challenge educators to design new and innovative Mars curriculum. ... Explore Mars plans to announce details of at least two prizes in the first half of 2010. The Explore Mars team includes individuals such as Apollo 11 Astronaut, Buzz Aldrin; NASA Planetary scientist, Dr. Chris McKay; Space historian, Andy Chaikin; former Biosphere 2 director of science and research, Bruno D.V. Marino; and many others.
Aero Club of Atlanta presents Epps Award - GeneralAviationNews.com:
... Huffman has inspired students who later become astronauts, including two students from Henderson High School, the only known school in the world to graduate two NASA astronauts. ... She is the founder of the SEMAA (NASA’s Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy) LINKS Engineering team and sponsored the Wild Blue Wonders Team America Rocketry Challenge. ...
The latest NewSpace News links to an article by Peter Diamandis, Beam Power team LaserMotive, and information about the 2010 Space Access conference that includes numerous space prize teams.
Johns Hopkins Engineering - Winter 2010 - One of the features in this article is on the JHU Robotics Team. The team participates in the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle competition and the International Aerial Robotics competition.
Working on Blue and.... - Unreasonable Rocket
Volanz Aerospace Thanks Secor Strategies - Secor Strategies
Greetings From Space Up in Sunny San Diego! - The Planetary Society reviews the unconference, including photos of people and hardware from Unreasonable Rocket and Masten Space Systems.
Masten Space Systems Update - NASASpaceflight.com - Jon from Masten links to another picture from the unconference in this discussion.
Let's put robots AND humans in space - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Astrobotic's David Gump considers NASA's new budget proposal. Much of the debate over this budget concerns a controversy over whether NASA should use its own systems, commercial systems, or both to give NASA astronauts access to space. This article focuses on a less-debated, but essential, part of the new plan that goes beyond the old astronauts-vs-robotics debate: a new line of robotic astronaut precursor missions to do things like travel to the Moon's surface and demonstrate production of rocket propellant from lunar ice.
NASA Wants to Fund Centennial Challenges at $10 Million Per Year - Parabolic Arc
Bankrupt Sea Launch Gets More Financing – Heinlein Prize Trust Involved - Parabolic Arc
Centennial Challenges gathering… - The Space Elevator Blog
“One of the problems we had last year was wind-induced oscillation…” - The Space Elevator Blog points to some video clips from Bitter Jester Creative, Inc.
Announcing the Artsutanov and Pearson awards - The Space Elevator Blog
Marshall hosts the 2010 Great Moonbuggy Race - Lunar Networks
Ted Southern - Eyebeam Art + Technology Center
You can see more photos of Ted's astronaut glove at his Glove & Hands page. From there you can also get to his other projects.
A wry report on regolith removal - RLV News
Explore Mars, Inc. opens - Space for All:
... We are pleased to announce the formation of Explore Mars, Inc. (exploremars.org). ... In the first half of 2010, Explore Mars will launch a series of technology development challenges relating to Mars exploration, with prizes ranging from $10,000 - $100,000. ... the first of these challenges will focus on in situ resource utilization - technologies that will allows us to "live off the land" on other planets. ... collaborating with Aerojet and NASA's Spaceward Bound, we will be creating the Mars Education Challenge that will challenge educators to design new and innovative Mars curriculum. ... Explore Mars plans to announce details of at least two prizes in the first half of 2010. The Explore Mars team includes individuals such as Apollo 11 Astronaut, Buzz Aldrin; NASA Planetary scientist, Dr. Chris McKay; Space historian, Andy Chaikin; former Biosphere 2 director of science and research, Bruno D.V. Marino; and many others.
Aero Club of Atlanta presents Epps Award - GeneralAviationNews.com:
... Huffman has inspired students who later become astronauts, including two students from Henderson High School, the only known school in the world to graduate two NASA astronauts. ... She is the founder of the SEMAA (NASA’s Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy) LINKS Engineering team and sponsored the Wild Blue Wonders Team America Rocketry Challenge. ...
The latest NewSpace News links to an article by Peter Diamandis, Beam Power team LaserMotive, and information about the 2010 Space Access conference that includes numerous space prize teams.
Johns Hopkins Engineering - Winter 2010 - One of the features in this article is on the JHU Robotics Team. The team participates in the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle competition and the International Aerial Robotics competition.
Working on Blue and.... - Unreasonable Rocket
Volanz Aerospace Thanks Secor Strategies - Secor Strategies
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Space Prize Roundup: Elevator Postponed, GLXP LEGO MoonBots, NASA Lunabotics Mining, Conrad Award & AIAA, AUVSI, Apophis Round 2?, NGLLC, GLXP
Here are a few items that happened while I was away:
Space Elevator Contest Held Up - Aviation Week - A technical issue with a helicopter cable system is forcing the Spaceward Foundation to postpone the Space Elevator Power Beaming Challenge Games originally scheduled for this summer at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. ... the problems cropped up during tests of the helicopter-mounted cable system last week.
Review: Space Tethers and Space Elevators - The Space Review (article by Jeff Foust)
Some Regolith Excavation team updates... - Green Cheese Solutions - This post mentions updates from Team Waldbaum, SpaceMiners, and Terra Engineering, which plans to test the BFD (Big Freewheeling Bigger) this upcoming weekend.
@Regolith_Chal - Posted a diagram for the provided communications link, check the FAQ for details. http://regoltih.csewi.org/faq
NASA Announces Lunar Exploration Competition for Students - SpaceRef
NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition - The Lunabotics Mining Competition will be similar to the Regolith Excavation Challenge NASA Centennial Challenge.
Announcing Our 5th Payload, a British Science Instrument... - Odyssey Moon on the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams site - Moonlink has signed up with the International Space School Educational Trust (ISSET) to set aside one kilogram of payload capacity on Odyssey Moon’s “MoonOne” lunar lander, to be launched to the Moon in late 2012. Moonlink will be heading up a county wide competition driving innovation in schools, universities, and local industry in the form of a competition to design, build, and fly an experiment to the Moon.
Looking Back, Hopping Forward - Draper Laboratory showcases Google Lunar X-Prize project at Apollo celebration. - MIT Technology Review
NEO News (07/30/09) Impact on Jupiter - Planetary Defense - The prize part of this post is from the Planetary Society. Here's an excerpt: Apophis Mission Design Competition: Last year's successful competition designed ways to tag and track this asteroid. The next step might be to design a mission to send human investigators to explore and characterize a threatening object, such as Apophis.
“Moonbots” Challenges Parent-Child Teams to Conduct Google Lunar X Prize Missions With Lego Robots - Press release from the X PRIZE Foundation - The X PRIZE Foundation, Google Inc., LEGO Systems, National Instruments, and Wired’s GeekDad will announce “MoonBots: A Google Lunar X PRIZE LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Challenge” today at National Instruments NIWeek 2009. The new contest will challenge small teams comprised of children and adults to design, program, and construct robots that perform simulated lunar missions similar to those required to win the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE ...The competition will encourage the participants to use free software tools such as Google’s SketchUp, LEGO’s Digital Designer, National Instruments LabVIEW, and Google’s YouTube platform to delineate how their entry will be constructed and how their team will function.
moonbots.org - for upcoming information on the competition
@MoonBots - twitter
Enter This Contest and Race to the Moon - GeekDad
AUVSI 2009 International Aerial Robotics Competition Videos and JAUS - I Heart Robotics
SMCPS Receives $100,000 Stem Grant - Southern Maryland Online - The elementary "STEM for ALL" portion of the grant will provide all elementary schools with LEGO Robotics Kits and the resources necessary to offer all interested students a chance to participate on a robotics team at their school. Additionally, an engineering challenge will be designed integrating concepts from the science and mathematics curriculum for third grade students. ... For the STEM 10 engineering course, funds will be used to allow students to participate and compete in the Team America Rocketry Challenge and the Botball Educational Robotics program.
Government Prize Money for Smart Ideas and Technology - Allgov.com - This post points out the following report: Federally Funded Innovation Inducement Prizes (by Deborah D. Stine, Congressional Research Service) (PDF)
Conrad Foundation Announces AIAA As The Official Aerospace Partner Of The 2010 Pete Conrad Spirit Of Innovation Awards - California Space Authority
Masten Space test flights video - RLV News
From Unreasonable Rocket:
Update...
Observations from the fireing
This camera gave its life to provide you with this video
Space Elevator Contest Held Up - Aviation Week - A technical issue with a helicopter cable system is forcing the Spaceward Foundation to postpone the Space Elevator Power Beaming Challenge Games originally scheduled for this summer at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. ... the problems cropped up during tests of the helicopter-mounted cable system last week.
Review: Space Tethers and Space Elevators - The Space Review (article by Jeff Foust)
Some Regolith Excavation team updates... - Green Cheese Solutions - This post mentions updates from Team Waldbaum, SpaceMiners, and Terra Engineering, which plans to test the BFD (Big Freewheeling Bigger) this upcoming weekend.
@Regolith_Chal - Posted a diagram for the provided communications link, check the FAQ for details. http://regoltih.csewi.org/faq
NASA Announces Lunar Exploration Competition for Students - SpaceRef
NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition - The Lunabotics Mining Competition will be similar to the Regolith Excavation Challenge NASA Centennial Challenge.
Announcing Our 5th Payload, a British Science Instrument... - Odyssey Moon on the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams site - Moonlink has signed up with the International Space School Educational Trust (ISSET) to set aside one kilogram of payload capacity on Odyssey Moon’s “MoonOne” lunar lander, to be launched to the Moon in late 2012. Moonlink will be heading up a county wide competition driving innovation in schools, universities, and local industry in the form of a competition to design, build, and fly an experiment to the Moon.
Looking Back, Hopping Forward - Draper Laboratory showcases Google Lunar X-Prize project at Apollo celebration. - MIT Technology Review
NEO News (07/30/09) Impact on Jupiter - Planetary Defense - The prize part of this post is from the Planetary Society. Here's an excerpt: Apophis Mission Design Competition: Last year's successful competition designed ways to tag and track this asteroid. The next step might be to design a mission to send human investigators to explore and characterize a threatening object, such as Apophis.
“Moonbots” Challenges Parent-Child Teams to Conduct Google Lunar X Prize Missions With Lego Robots - Press release from the X PRIZE Foundation - The X PRIZE Foundation, Google Inc., LEGO Systems, National Instruments, and Wired’s GeekDad will announce “MoonBots: A Google Lunar X PRIZE LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Challenge” today at National Instruments NIWeek 2009. The new contest will challenge small teams comprised of children and adults to design, program, and construct robots that perform simulated lunar missions similar to those required to win the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE ...The competition will encourage the participants to use free software tools such as Google’s SketchUp, LEGO’s Digital Designer, National Instruments LabVIEW, and Google’s YouTube platform to delineate how their entry will be constructed and how their team will function.
moonbots.org - for upcoming information on the competition
@MoonBots - twitter
Enter This Contest and Race to the Moon - GeekDad
AUVSI 2009 International Aerial Robotics Competition Videos and JAUS - I Heart Robotics
SMCPS Receives $100,000 Stem Grant - Southern Maryland Online - The elementary "STEM for ALL" portion of the grant will provide all elementary schools with LEGO Robotics Kits and the resources necessary to offer all interested students a chance to participate on a robotics team at their school. Additionally, an engineering challenge will be designed integrating concepts from the science and mathematics curriculum for third grade students. ... For the STEM 10 engineering course, funds will be used to allow students to participate and compete in the Team America Rocketry Challenge and the Botball Educational Robotics program.
Government Prize Money for Smart Ideas and Technology - Allgov.com - This post points out the following report: Federally Funded Innovation Inducement Prizes (by Deborah D. Stine, Congressional Research Service) (PDF)
Conrad Foundation Announces AIAA As The Official Aerospace Partner Of The 2010 Pete Conrad Spirit Of Innovation Awards - California Space Authority
Masten Space test flights video - RLV News
From Unreasonable Rocket:
Update...
Observations from the fireing
This camera gave its life to provide you with this video
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Quick Holiday Weekend Roundup - May 24, 2009
January 2009 Paroramio Photo Contest winners - The image I picked for its other-worldly feel (my impression) is one of the honorable mention ones. Somehow it reminds me of the mobile islands in Hyperion (SF novel).Here are some additions to the Twitter List:
4frontiers - 4Frontiers Corporation is an emerging space commerce company focused on the settlement of Mars.
the2suit - the (unofficial) real 2suit - as seen on History Channel The Universe - humanity is colonizing the universe in 2s ... Zero-G or Earth ultimate geek gadget FLY!
NewHorizons2015 - The First Space Mission to Explore Planet Pluto and the Kuiper Belt
The Planetary Society has a number of guest bloggers scheduled for the next couple months. Here's one that ends with a note on suborbital RLVs (which, as a member, I hope the Planetary Society gets more into, if not for the important reason Dr. Stern describes, then at least for the Planetary Society's traditional science reasons including its new Earth orbservation goals) : "My First Reaction Was to Look Away From It....It Was Too Beautiful" - Alan Stern -
So I'm looking forward to the dawn of suborbital travel opening up this view to so many more of us. And not by the hundreds, but by the thousands and thousands who will see it in the 20-teens for themselves, simply because they choose to. Perhaps among those who fly in such large numbers will be a few who can describe what they see with justice.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Apophis Winners at Planetary Defense Conference
Apophis Mission Design Competition at the Planetary Defense Conference - Planetary Society blog (Bruce Betts) -
What has been striking to see at this conference is the staying power of the competition. We had hoped for this, and have ourselves been working with space agencies, advocating for consideration of the mission designs. It has been wonderful to see all three winners of the open competition are represented here. Note that all three of the prize winners were considered excellent proposals. Though the prize assignments were unanimous in our review panel, the discussions that led to the line up were long and thorough. In other words, all three were very viable mission designs.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Reporting from the NEO Law and Policy Conference
NEO CONFERENCE - Analysis of proposed NEO mitigation methods - Secure World Foundation -
Agnieszcka Lukaszczyk presented on the subject of "Move an Asteroid 2008 Competition" sponsored by the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). ... Lukaszczyk also introduced the Move an Asteroid 2009 Competition.
Update from the Conference on NEO Law and Policy - The Planetary Society Blog - Louis D. Friedman
More from the Conference on NEO Law and Policy - The Planetary Society Blog - Louis D. Friedman
Of course the Planetary Society ran the Apophis Mission Design Competition. Do they have anything similar in store for the future? A no-deadline prize for discovering large Earth impactors has always struck me as a good idea for a number of reasons.
Agnieszcka Lukaszczyk presented on the subject of "Move an Asteroid 2008 Competition" sponsored by the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). ... Lukaszczyk also introduced the Move an Asteroid 2009 Competition.
Update from the Conference on NEO Law and Policy - The Planetary Society Blog - Louis D. Friedman
More from the Conference on NEO Law and Policy - The Planetary Society Blog - Louis D. Friedman
Of course the Planetary Society ran the Apophis Mission Design Competition. Do they have anything similar in store for the future? A no-deadline prize for discovering large Earth impactors has always struck me as a good idea for a number of reasons.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Armadillo on Planetary Society Radio; Planetary Society and Commercial Space
The Planetary Society got a lot of criticism from advocates of commercial space (among others) during the release of its Roadmap for human space exploration. There's no doubt that their main focus is on scientific exploration, but it seems to me that they've gradually been paying more attention to, and becoming more active with, commercial and other private space efforts over the years. There are many examples of this trend, some of which I've posted about here. Here's another, where they introduce a commercial space entrepreneur to the space science community:
Armadillos in Space - Planetary Radio for the Week of December 15, 2008 - Armadillo Aerospace just won the biggest NASA Centennial Challenge yet, but Vice President and co-founder Neil Milburn tells us the tiny rocket company has other ambitious goals.
On a non-prize note, while I'm on the subject, here are some old items related to the Roadmap and commercial space. The current Roadmap doesn't spell out these points; hopefully they are still in there and the Society will bring them, or measures like them, to the forefront as a compliment and aid to their main science goals as expressed in the Roadmap.
Congressional Testimony of Shuttle Astronaut Kathryn Thornton - Planetary Society:
One of the roles of entrepreneurial space ventures should be to help NASA get out of the business of routine transportation to LEO for cargo and crews as soon as practical. ...
As long as NASA is the owner, operator and sole customer of transportation services to LEO in this country, there is no competition for services and limited access to space. However, the emerging entrepreneurial space industry projects growing demand for access to space by foreign governments who want to get into the space business, from multinational corporations and from tourists. NASA is investing in commercial space transportation services through the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services project (COTS) for cargo to the ISS, and eventually crew transport as well. Bigelow Aerospace and Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services are engaged in discussions on the Atlas 5 as the launch vehicle to provide crew and cargo transportation services to a Bigelow-built space complex in the near term.
As NASA refocuses on exploration, commercial ventures that will replace NASA as the sole US human space transportation system should be encouraged and incentivized by NASA and by Congress. Assurances that NASA would become a customer, not a competitor, in LEO would strengthen the business case for companies who are investing in this venture.
Space Leaders Work To Replace Lunar Base With Manned Asteroid Missions - Aviation Week:
The alternative vision would also include far greater private-sector incentives for participation at all levels, an area public surveys cite as very important. Missions to asteroids and Lagrangian points, for example, are likely to carry along Bigelow-type commercial inflatable modules. A recent informal space program survey by The New York Times found substantial public frustration about NASA's doing what entrepreneurs could do better.
Armadillos in Space - Planetary Radio for the Week of December 15, 2008 - Armadillo Aerospace just won the biggest NASA Centennial Challenge yet, but Vice President and co-founder Neil Milburn tells us the tiny rocket company has other ambitious goals.
On a non-prize note, while I'm on the subject, here are some old items related to the Roadmap and commercial space. The current Roadmap doesn't spell out these points; hopefully they are still in there and the Society will bring them, or measures like them, to the forefront as a compliment and aid to their main science goals as expressed in the Roadmap.
Congressional Testimony of Shuttle Astronaut Kathryn Thornton - Planetary Society:
One of the roles of entrepreneurial space ventures should be to help NASA get out of the business of routine transportation to LEO for cargo and crews as soon as practical. ...
As long as NASA is the owner, operator and sole customer of transportation services to LEO in this country, there is no competition for services and limited access to space. However, the emerging entrepreneurial space industry projects growing demand for access to space by foreign governments who want to get into the space business, from multinational corporations and from tourists. NASA is investing in commercial space transportation services through the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services project (COTS) for cargo to the ISS, and eventually crew transport as well. Bigelow Aerospace and Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services are engaged in discussions on the Atlas 5 as the launch vehicle to provide crew and cargo transportation services to a Bigelow-built space complex in the near term.
As NASA refocuses on exploration, commercial ventures that will replace NASA as the sole US human space transportation system should be encouraged and incentivized by NASA and by Congress. Assurances that NASA would become a customer, not a competitor, in LEO would strengthen the business case for companies who are investing in this venture.
Space Leaders Work To Replace Lunar Base With Manned Asteroid Missions - Aviation Week:
The alternative vision would also include far greater private-sector incentives for participation at all levels, an area public surveys cite as very important. Missions to asteroids and Lagrangian points, for example, are likely to carry along Bigelow-type commercial inflatable modules. A recent informal space program survey by The New York Times found substantial public frustration about NASA's doing what entrepreneurs could do better.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Where is Commercial Space in the Planetary Society Roadmap?
GLXP vs. The Planetary Society (aka "Jupiter-Size Potholes In The Planetary Society's Space Exploration Roadmap" - Jeff Krukin from STELLAR on the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams site - I agree with Jeff that the Planetary Society should feature commercial space more in its roadmap. I also think it should do so in its programs (perhaps in partnership with suborbital ventures). However, I also think they've been slowly getting more and more interested in commercial and private space over the years. For example, they're a Google Lunar X PRIZE supporter (see Planetary Society Joins Private Effort for Moon Mission from SpaceRef), they've worked on their own private space missions, they've held the Apophis Mission Design Competition that SpaceWorks and SpaceDev won, they've featured the Regolith Excavation Challenge and the White Knight 2 rollout in their radio and web programs, and more.
To me that seems like a positive change in emphasis compared to the Planetary Society of 10 or 15 years ago. I don't expect them to completely change overnight. Certainly I think they should keep their planetary emphasis, with private space as an important means to achieve their goals (as opposed to, say, the Space Frontier Foundation, which already exists to support private space as a defining goal). I think it's up to groups like STELLAR to demonstrate the private space efforts can play a more central role in the type of exploration the Planetary Society advocates as much as it's up to the Planetary Society to encourage such private efforts.
As for the Roadmap, I certainly would like to see commercial space featured more prominently where appropriate. However, in contrast with NASA's Constellation program, I actually do see at least the possibility of commercial participation in the Roadmap. The Roadmap emphasizes more detailed lunar robotic exploration before any human landings, which potentially could fit quite well with Google Lunar X PRIZE teams like STELLAR. The initial emphasis on Lagrangian point observatory servicing missions for the human program allows the opportunity for commercial modules according to Aviation Week (on an earlier meeting as the Roadmap was being developed):
The alternative vision would also include far greater private-sector incentives for participation at all levels, an area public surveys cite as very important. Missions to asteroids and Lagrangian points, for example, are likely to carry along Bigelow-type commercial inflatable modules. A recent informal space program survey by The New York Times found substantial public frustration about NASA’s doing what entrepreneurs could do better.
If nothing else a NASA switch to the Roadmap plan might stir up Constellation a bit, which I consider a feature. Even if Constellation were kept, having a non-LEO mission for Ares 1/Orion in the near(er) term (the Lagrangian point mission) might make it more politically possible for commercial space to take care of the ISS crew and cargo transportation role. I also see a possible role for propellant depots in the Roadmap, and these could be run and/or serviced by commercial space. Finally, the Roadmap's emphasis on satellite Earth observations adds a potentially huge opportunity for traditional and New commercial space participation with small satellites, satellite launches, hosted payloads, and Google-Earth style data processing.
Of course most of these opportunities are not spelled out as such in the Roadmap. It would take a lot of business and political work to make such a Roadmap, if adopted by NASA, realize the potential mutually beneficial increased commercial space emphasis I see possibly being enabled. Hopefully the Planetary Society will communicate about opportunities for private space to participate in their Roadmap as part of this process.
To me that seems like a positive change in emphasis compared to the Planetary Society of 10 or 15 years ago. I don't expect them to completely change overnight. Certainly I think they should keep their planetary emphasis, with private space as an important means to achieve their goals (as opposed to, say, the Space Frontier Foundation, which already exists to support private space as a defining goal). I think it's up to groups like STELLAR to demonstrate the private space efforts can play a more central role in the type of exploration the Planetary Society advocates as much as it's up to the Planetary Society to encourage such private efforts.
As for the Roadmap, I certainly would like to see commercial space featured more prominently where appropriate. However, in contrast with NASA's Constellation program, I actually do see at least the possibility of commercial participation in the Roadmap. The Roadmap emphasizes more detailed lunar robotic exploration before any human landings, which potentially could fit quite well with Google Lunar X PRIZE teams like STELLAR. The initial emphasis on Lagrangian point observatory servicing missions for the human program allows the opportunity for commercial modules according to Aviation Week (on an earlier meeting as the Roadmap was being developed):
The alternative vision would also include far greater private-sector incentives for participation at all levels, an area public surveys cite as very important. Missions to asteroids and Lagrangian points, for example, are likely to carry along Bigelow-type commercial inflatable modules. A recent informal space program survey by The New York Times found substantial public frustration about NASA’s doing what entrepreneurs could do better.
If nothing else a NASA switch to the Roadmap plan might stir up Constellation a bit, which I consider a feature. Even if Constellation were kept, having a non-LEO mission for Ares 1/Orion in the near(er) term (the Lagrangian point mission) might make it more politically possible for commercial space to take care of the ISS crew and cargo transportation role. I also see a possible role for propellant depots in the Roadmap, and these could be run and/or serviced by commercial space. Finally, the Roadmap's emphasis on satellite Earth observations adds a potentially huge opportunity for traditional and New commercial space participation with small satellites, satellite launches, hosted payloads, and Google-Earth style data processing.
Of course most of these opportunities are not spelled out as such in the Roadmap. It would take a lot of business and political work to make such a Roadmap, if adopted by NASA, realize the potential mutually beneficial increased commercial space emphasis I see possibly being enabled. Hopefully the Planetary Society will communicate about opportunities for private space to participate in their Roadmap as part of this process.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Killer 'Roids
Space Explorers Plead With UN to Prepare for Killer Asteroids - Discover Magazine - This article briefly mentions the Planetary Society's Apophis Contest.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Regolith Challenge on Planetary Society Radio Show
Like last year, the Planetary Radio show from the Planetary Society covers the Regolith Excavation Challenge. That part of the show is in the middle of the broadcast, but the beginning is on another Lunar topic, so there's no need to skip ahead.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Even 007 Doesn't Play Roulette on this Scale
The New York Times Dot Earth site posts on a game you don't want to play: Solar System Roulette. The Planetary Society's Apophis Mission Design Competition and the Space Generation Advisory Council asteroid deflection contest are featured.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Move an Asteroid
Planetary Society Press Conference on Arecibo - Planetary Defense - The Planetary Society press release in this post notes the 100 year anniversary of the Tunguska event, and Arecibo's role in tracking NEOs. The Apophis Competition (which Planetary Defense played a role in) is mentioned. Planetary Defense had a couple other Planetary Society/NEO posts today.
Move An Asteroid 2008 Technical Paper Winners Annouced - Planetary Defense - From the post:
The Space Generation Advisory Council, the world’s largest group representing youth perspectives on space exploration to the United Nations and national space programs today announced the winners of an international youth technical paper competition to develop unique and innovative concepts for how to deflect an asteroid or comet that could impact the Earth (referred to as mitigation).
...
First place in the competition is awarded to Mary D'Souza of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Queensland in Australia for her paper entitled “A Body Solar Sail Concept for the Deflection of 99942 Apophis.” Ms. D'Souza’s concept involves wrapping an asteroid in a reflective film (referred to as a “body” solar sail).
...
Second place is awarded to Mr. Andrew Bacon of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath in Bath, United Kingdom for his paper entitled “The Use of Electromechanical Resonators for the Mitigation of Earth Threatening Asteroids and Comets.”
Here's the Move an Asteroid site.
Move An Asteroid 2008 Technical Paper Winners Annouced - Planetary Defense - From the post:
The Space Generation Advisory Council, the world’s largest group representing youth perspectives on space exploration to the United Nations and national space programs today announced the winners of an international youth technical paper competition to develop unique and innovative concepts for how to deflect an asteroid or comet that could impact the Earth (referred to as mitigation).
...
First place in the competition is awarded to Mary D'Souza of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Queensland in Australia for her paper entitled “A Body Solar Sail Concept for the Deflection of 99942 Apophis.” Ms. D'Souza’s concept involves wrapping an asteroid in a reflective film (referred to as a “body” solar sail).
...
Second place is awarded to Mr. Andrew Bacon of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath in Bath, United Kingdom for his paper entitled “The Use of Electromechanical Resonators for the Mitigation of Earth Threatening Asteroids and Comets.”
Here's the Move an Asteroid site.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Target Earth
Target Earth: How Prepared Are We? - The Planetary Society - The Planetary Society reminds us of the 100 year anniversary of the Tunguska event the upcoming Monday. They've started an effort called Target Earth to address this risk. The Apophis Mission Design Competition is one part of this effort. Other efforts include the Gene Shoemaker Near-Earth Object Grants and an advocacy effort to save the Aricebo telescope, which among other things tracks NEOs. They're also involved with the show Asteroid Trackers, a Discovery Canada show planned for the 100 anniversary date.
Briefs: Smallsat Conference; NEOSSat - In part of this post RLV News points out a low-cost Canadian smallsat that's designed to track NEOs: Canadian-led space project designed to spot planet-killer asteroids - Canada.com - An excerpt:
A one-of-a-kind, $12-million satellite mission to be launched by the Canadian Space Agency in 2010 will track at least some of the tens of thousands of large asteroids within striking distance of Earth.
...
Briefs: Smallsat Conference; NEOSSat - In part of this post RLV News points out a low-cost Canadian smallsat that's designed to track NEOs: Canadian-led space project designed to spot planet-killer asteroids - Canada.com - An excerpt:
A one-of-a-kind, $12-million satellite mission to be launched by the Canadian Space Agency in 2010 will track at least some of the tens of thousands of large asteroids within striking distance of Earth.
...
NEOSSat is one of a new generation of "microsatellites" filling a niche in space exploration. It will be the size of a large suitcase, weigh less than 75 kilograms and be designed and built in three years.
Not only will the satellite help detect asteroids, it will also observe other satellites to prevent collisions between them.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Asteroid Contests
Animation of Foresight: A Radio Beacon Mission to Asteroid Apophis - Planetary Defense (A.C. Charania) - Spaceworks Engineering has a video depiction of their mission plan to Apophis that won the Planetary Society contest.
Move An Asteroid 2008 - technical paper competition - Space for All - posts a reminder from A.C. Charania about the "Move An Asteroid 2008": International Technical Paper Competition. Entries are due by June 9.
Move An Asteroid 2008 - technical paper competition - Space for All - posts a reminder from A.C. Charania about the "Move An Asteroid 2008": International Technical Paper Competition. Entries are due by June 9.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Apophis Competition on Planetary Radio
The feature segment on the Planetary Society's Planetary Radio broadcast for March 3 covers the Apophis Mission Design Competition.
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