Monday, June 04, 2007
Mars Garden Prize
I don't often post about flower shows, do I? In this case I have to make an exception. Hey, I like flowers, as long as I don't have to do any back-breaking gardening work! Universe Today has a post about a special winner of a flower show: a simulated Mars garden won the Chelsea Flower Show. Check out the link for the details on the Mars connections, and to see a nice picture of the garden.
Google Earth Models at X Prize Cup
RLV News posts about a section of the X PRIZE Cup page showing Google Earth space-related models. These are made using SketchUp, an impressive modeling program that already had some Google Earth tie-ins when Google bought the company a year or 2 ago. When I looked into SketchUp last year, people were making entire SketchUp campuses and cities, and finding all sorts of other applications using it with Google Earth.
There are a lot of space connections within Google, including Google Earth, a huge model of SpaceShip One at Google headquarters, support for the X PRIZE Foundation, family members in NASA, and collaboration with NASA Ames. In fact, it's easy to find a prize-related connection with Google, too! Here it is: Google is licensing remote sensing technology from the Stanford DARPA Challenge team to supplement their SketchUp offerings for Google Maps and Google Earth! (Yes, Stanford is the Alma Mater of the 2 founders of Google, but the Stanford team also won the original DARPA Challenge).
I'm pretty sure at least some of the models were there during the 2006 X PRIZE Cup, but a lot of the content is new.
There are a lot of space connections within Google, including Google Earth, a huge model of SpaceShip One at Google headquarters, support for the X PRIZE Foundation, family members in NASA, and collaboration with NASA Ames. In fact, it's easy to find a prize-related connection with Google, too! Here it is: Google is licensing remote sensing technology from the Stanford DARPA Challenge team to supplement their SketchUp offerings for Google Maps and Google Earth! (Yes, Stanford is the Alma Mater of the 2 founders of Google, but the Stanford team also won the original DARPA Challenge).
I'm pretty sure at least some of the models were there during the 2006 X PRIZE Cup, but a lot of the content is new.
Armadillo Lunar Lander Challenge test flights
RLV News has all the links you need to check out the videos, messages, and descriptions of Armadillo's test flights that show they can win the level 1 version of the Lunar Lander Challenge event. Now they just have to make sure they can reproduce the feat reliably, just like they would have to in a real lunar lander. Check out all the links because it's quite impressive and interesting. When you get to John's notes on the tests, follow up on the pictures, too - among other things you'll see pictures of the modular vehicle being made.
Personal Spaceflight also has a good post on the tests. Follow the "Armadillo Aerospace" category link to see more information about the modular vehicles. Also, here's an earler post from New Scientist magazine.
Personal Spaceflight also has a good post on the tests. Follow the "Armadillo Aerospace" category link to see more information about the modular vehicles. Also, here's an earler post from New Scientist magazine.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Blogger Thoughts on the Automotive X PRIZE
DigitalCrusader has some interesting thoughts and links on the Automotive X PRIZE, some of which may have a space angle in addition to the obvious one that the success or failure of the Automotive X PRIZE affects the X PRIZE Foundation that manages the Lunar Lander Challenge, X PRIZE Cup, and potentially future space X PRIZEs.
One discussion is on Tesla Motors, which is making a fuel-efficient car that is also sporty. This is another company like SpaceX that Elon Musk is financing. They need high-performance batteries for their cars, and are now finding that it makes sense to market the batteries to other companies. This is the kind of dual-use approach that may be needed by many space startups, including the ones competing to win prizes.
Another discussion compares the Automotive X PRIZE with the SAE Supermileage Competition, which is mainly for high-mileage vehicles, whereas the AXP strives for high mileage, but not so much that consumer market applicability is forgotten. Both competitions have their merits, but the AXP approach is needed to address their goals, one of which is to start real markets with 100 mpg vehicles. Similar thoughts have to go into space-related prizes and how to design them to achieve their goals.
Also check out the Automotive X PRIZE Discussion Forums. They have discussion groups on the draft rules, helping people that want to work on teams find a suitable team, and other useful subjects. This type of discussion board seems to be very useful in helping the teams produce, helping manage the competition, and generating public interest in the challenge. I wonder if there is some way that other groups, such as the Centennial Challenges Affiliated Organizations, could make similar discussion boards, or collaborate with the XPF to make something like the AXP boards?
Update: Here's more on the Automotive X PRIZE:
Car Body Design.com on the Velozzi electric car entry to the upcoming AXP contest
Velozzi on their AXP entry, and what you might get if your business sponsors them
AutoBlogGreen interviews Neal Anderson, Automotive X PRIZE representative
One discussion is on Tesla Motors, which is making a fuel-efficient car that is also sporty. This is another company like SpaceX that Elon Musk is financing. They need high-performance batteries for their cars, and are now finding that it makes sense to market the batteries to other companies. This is the kind of dual-use approach that may be needed by many space startups, including the ones competing to win prizes.
Another discussion compares the Automotive X PRIZE with the SAE Supermileage Competition, which is mainly for high-mileage vehicles, whereas the AXP strives for high mileage, but not so much that consumer market applicability is forgotten. Both competitions have their merits, but the AXP approach is needed to address their goals, one of which is to start real markets with 100 mpg vehicles. Similar thoughts have to go into space-related prizes and how to design them to achieve their goals.
Also check out the Automotive X PRIZE Discussion Forums. They have discussion groups on the draft rules, helping people that want to work on teams find a suitable team, and other useful subjects. This type of discussion board seems to be very useful in helping the teams produce, helping manage the competition, and generating public interest in the challenge. I wonder if there is some way that other groups, such as the Centennial Challenges Affiliated Organizations, could make similar discussion boards, or collaborate with the XPF to make something like the AXP boards?
Update: Here's more on the Automotive X PRIZE:
Car Body Design.com on the Velozzi electric car entry to the upcoming AXP contest
Velozzi on their AXP entry, and what you might get if your business sponsors them
AutoBlogGreen interviews Neal Anderson, Automotive X PRIZE representative
An Idea for a Robotic Lunar Mission
RLV News points to a story by Mark Whittington in the Houston Chronicle about giving the MSFC Lunar Robotics Office a new mission, now that it no longer has the job of managing a large lunar lander project. The problem: as things currently stand, the Office will soon not have much to do, but will be kept open anyway, at a fairly large cost. There are various changes that could be made, and the one that Mark suggests is to create a Centennial Challenge - essentially a new twist on a "Lunar Lander Challenge II", managed by this Office, to give private industry an incentive to create a lunar lander mission that returns data specified by NASA.
There are a few comments in the RLV News post, including one by the manager of the current Centennial Challenges program, that are also important to read when considering this proposal.
Update: Also see the discussion on Space Politics.
There are a few comments in the RLV News post, including one by the manager of the current Centennial Challenges program, that are also important to read when considering this proposal.
Update: Also see the discussion on Space Politics.
Diamandis interview with PSU Mars Society
While checking out the Penn State Mars Rover video I ran across this interview of Peter Diamandis by the same video poster. It apparently was filmed a couple days after the winning Ansari X PRIZE flights, and goes into some of the concerns of university students and how they can participate in the type of space activity the X PRIZE was inspiring.
University Rover Challenge continued ...
... but no word yet on the results. Nevertheless, here's more on the Mars Society University Rover Challenge that was held yesterday.
First up, there are pictures from the Daily Herald of BYU student team setup at a media briefing here and here and here.
Here's another article with a picture of the BYU rover from desertnews.com at the Mars Society Mars Desert Research Station from the day of the challenge. It includes some details about the BYU rover instruments and some comments by Kevin Sloan, who is running the challenge.
The Daily Herald also has a video news report about the BYU team and the tasks they will need to perform at the challenge.
Youtube has a video of the Penn State rover from the Penn State Mars Society.
Select "Mars Society" below to select earlier posts on the contest.
First up, there are pictures from the Daily Herald of BYU student team setup at a media briefing here and here and here.
Here's another article with a picture of the BYU rover from desertnews.com at the Mars Society Mars Desert Research Station from the day of the challenge. It includes some details about the BYU rover instruments and some comments by Kevin Sloan, who is running the challenge.
The Daily Herald also has a video news report about the BYU team and the tasks they will need to perform at the challenge.
Youtube has a video of the Penn State rover from the Penn State Mars Society.
Select "Mars Society" below to select earlier posts on the contest.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
more Space Elevator posts
With all of the recent Astronaut Glove, Regolith Challenge, and Lunar Lander Challenge activity lately, I haven't posted much on the Space Elevator Games. Part of the reason for that is there is already a Space Elevator blog that already does a much better and more comprehensive job than I would. Just check there! Here are the recent posts at that blog that pertain to the Beam Power and Tether Challenges. If you're also interested in Space Elevators in general, check the blog because there are a lot more posts there.
From spaceelevatorblog.com:
University of Saskatchewan’s Space Design Team featured in an article on an innovation gallery. Here's more on the USST team from the On Campus News.
discussion on where and when the 2007 Space Elevator Games will be held (current answer: TBD)
Eurospaceward formed to promote Space Elevator activities, including helping with the German Space Elevator games. Here is the Eurospaceward site, under construction at the time of this post.
23 teams registered for 2007 Space Elevator Games, recently including SnowStar. The post includes a breakdown of teams for the Beam and Tether challenges.
10 things you can do to build a space elevator - 1 recommendation from the post (which is about the post on the list) is for National Space Society people interested in Space Elevators, and the recommendation is for them to form a Space Elevator Game team.
Also, from the spaceelevator.com site, among other posts are:
German Space Elevator Games anticipated in 2008
Eurospaceward climber and tether design workshop, which is meant to address the NASA Centennial Challenges and German space elevator competitions. The idea is not only to discuss the technical challenges of the competitions, but also to help potential team sponsors and teams meet.
From spaceelevatorblog.com:
University of Saskatchewan’s Space Design Team featured in an article on an innovation gallery. Here's more on the USST team from the On Campus News.
discussion on where and when the 2007 Space Elevator Games will be held (current answer: TBD)
Eurospaceward formed to promote Space Elevator activities, including helping with the German Space Elevator games. Here is the Eurospaceward site, under construction at the time of this post.
23 teams registered for 2007 Space Elevator Games, recently including SnowStar. The post includes a breakdown of teams for the Beam and Tether challenges.
10 things you can do to build a space elevator - 1 recommendation from the post (which is about the post on the list) is for National Space Society people interested in Space Elevators, and the recommendation is for them to form a Space Elevator Game team.
Also, from the spaceelevator.com site, among other posts are:
German Space Elevator Games anticipated in 2008
Eurospaceward climber and tether design workshop, which is meant to address the NASA Centennial Challenges and German space elevator competitions. The idea is not only to discuss the technical challenges of the competitions, but also to help potential team sponsors and teams meet.
Masten updates
Like Unreasonable Rocket, Masten Space Systems has been posting a number of updates and videos. Just crank up the volume before viewing, please.
pictures
earlier engine test video
engine test video - throttling
more engine test videos - looks like 2, and from a different angle
No 3-engine test yet, but another test video is shown
pictures
earlier engine test video
engine test video - throttling
more engine test videos - looks like 2, and from a different angle
No 3-engine test yet, but another test video is shown
Unreasonable Rocket Chamber failure analysis
Update (June 25): It's come to my attention that through the Information Retrieval mysteries of search engines lots of people that are looking for the main page of the Unreasonable Rocket web site are getting here. For those people, just click here.
If you want all my Unreasonable Rocket-related posts, click the "Unreasonable Rocket" tag at the bottom. If you want all my Lunar Lander Challenge-related posts, click the "Lunar Lander Challenge" tag at the bottom. If you're on the main Space Prizes page, you'll see links on the right side to all of the Lunar Lander Challenge teams, as well as to the X PRIZE Cup site. And now back to the original post:
Here's more on the work being done at Unreasonable Rocket:
First, here's how to get to the RLV News post that gets you to the beginning of this chamber pressure post series. Then, continue with:
simulating chamber failure
Chamber failures explained
Here's more:
FAA Permit Application and associated cover letter ... sounds boring, right? Well, part of the idea is to make this step easier for everyone in the future by showing how it's done. Not only that, but it's actually interesting because you get to see what the vehicle is going to look like (assuming it is completed), what it will do, and where it will do it. Most of it actually seems like things that ought to be designed and recorded anyway for the benefit of the designer. I had imagined a lot more "documentation of documentation layers".
Learning Curve/Frustrations interacting with vendors
Unreasonable Rocket T-shirts now available
If you want all my Unreasonable Rocket-related posts, click the "Unreasonable Rocket" tag at the bottom. If you want all my Lunar Lander Challenge-related posts, click the "Lunar Lander Challenge" tag at the bottom. If you're on the main Space Prizes page, you'll see links on the right side to all of the Lunar Lander Challenge teams, as well as to the X PRIZE Cup site. And now back to the original post:
Here's more on the work being done at Unreasonable Rocket:
First, here's how to get to the RLV News post that gets you to the beginning of this chamber pressure post series. Then, continue with:
simulating chamber failure
Chamber failures explained
Here's more:
FAA Permit Application and associated cover letter ... sounds boring, right? Well, part of the idea is to make this step easier for everyone in the future by showing how it's done. Not only that, but it's actually interesting because you get to see what the vehicle is going to look like (assuming it is completed), what it will do, and where it will do it. Most of it actually seems like things that ought to be designed and recorded anyway for the benefit of the designer. I had imagined a lot more "documentation of documentation layers".
Learning Curve/Frustrations interacting with vendors
Unreasonable Rocket T-shirts now available
June 2007 Centennial Challenges Listserv Message
Yesterday I got the following message from NASA Centennial Challenge's Ken Davidian to the CC Listserv. I have this listserv directed to my school email account, and since I'm not at school this summer, I didn't see it right away. However, RLV News did, so if you want to post any comments about it, check it out over there. Update: Ken has posted a comment at the RLV News post that may be of interest to you if you have any well thought out prize ideas or if you have any Centennial Challenges questions you'd like to see answered in the next listserv message.
The message has a lot of similar material to Ken's recent ISDC interview, so if you like listening instead of reading, go there. For everyone else, here's the full message:
June 2007 Message to the Centennial Challenges Listserv Community
Hello Everybody!
Below is a quick note of what's been going on in the world of Centennial Challenges this past month. Ever since I did the radio interview withDr. David Livingston of The Space Show on Feb 11, 2007, I've been directing people to his web page (the interview URL is www.thespaceshow.com/detail.asp?q=668) I've been encouraging people to listen to that because it gives all the background information you could want on the program. Lastly, and just in case you don't have the 90-minutes required to listen to my entire interview, you can always check out the Centennial Challenges website, www.centennialchallenges.nasa.gov, for more information.
Ken Davidian
Program Manager, Centennial Challenges
NASA HQ
P.S. I'll try to do better at getting messages out to this list...Thanks for your patience!
CURRENT EVENTS
May 2007 was quite a month for Centennial Challenges and there are no signs of things slowing down! Here's a quick overview of what's been going on:
1. The 2007 Astronaut Glove Challenge was held on May 2-3 at the NewEngland Air Museum in Windsor Locks, CT. Volanz Aerospace was the Allied Organization administering and executing the event, with special sponsorship assistance from Hamilton-Sundstrand and ILC Dover. Three teams participated in the competition and one of them, led by PeterHomer, took home the $200,000 purse for the bladder-restraint portion of the competition! (A $50,000 purse was offered for a Mechanical Counter Pressure glove category, but nobody showed up with that type of glove.) The final report of the competition has been written and i tshould show up on the competition web page (www.astronaut-glove.us) soon. Details for the 2008 Astronaut Glove Challenge will be made available as the revised rules and competition time and place are finalized in the coming months. Check the competition web page, www.astronaut-glove.us, from periodically for the latest information.
2. The 2007 Regolith Excavation Challenge was held on May 11-12 at the Santa Maria Fairpark Convention Center in Santa Maria, CA. The California Space Education and Workforce Institute (CSEWI, a sister organization to the California Space Authority, CSA) was the Allied Organization administering and executing the event, with special sponsorship assistance from Diaini Building Corporation and Empirical Systems Aerospace. Four teams participated in the competition but none were able to excavate the required amount of JSC-1a to win any of the purses. By searching youtube.com for the words "regolith excavation"you should be able to find compilation videos from a couple of different sources, including the 640x480 videos taken with my little Nikon digital camera. Despite the fact that no money was won, this competition score a number of "firsts" in the regolith excavation community which are still proving that value is achieved even if nobody wins, including the first large-scale "sandbox" of JSC-1a *ever*, and also the first time full-scale equipment was used to excavate JSC-1a (which took place*after* the event was over and Diani had to get the simulant out of the box and back into the bags by using a bobcat "Earth"-mover!). As withthe Astronaut Challenge, details for the 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge will be made available as the revised rules and competition time and place are finalized in the coming months. Check the competition web page, www.californiaspaceauthority.org/regolith, from periodicallyfor the latest information.
3. I've been giving presentations about these competitions and about CC in general, both inside and outside NASA. The Monday following the two competitions, I presented the results to the management of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, including Associate Administrator Scott Horowitz. It's amazing to see how much excitement these events generate within NASA and it's a great tribute to the high quality of work being done by all the teams that participate in the competitions. I'm just the messenger between the great accomplishments and the decision-makers, and I would be lying if I said this wasn't the greatest satisfaction of the job! NASA management loves what is being accomplished with this program!
4. I presented the results of the two competitions at the National Space Society's International Space Development Conference in Dallas, Texas onMay 27. This was basically a compilation of the presentations I gave to the ESMD management and it was the first public forum to which I presented this information.
That's pretty much what's been going on with Centennial Challenges in May 2007. In addition, I had a new set of cards printed up to reflect the reallocation of purse money amongst the seven competitions that are currently active. I hope to get a new (not update, not different, just new) set of History cards printed soon and then I'll have them all collated and shrink-wrapped so I don't have to collate and rubber-band all the cards myself!
BUDGET QUESTIONS
When I speak with people who follow CC, the question of prize budget always comes up. Here's the scoop on this subject: the President's budget requests $4M per year starting with 2008, the current budget under consideration. As funding is appropriated to CC, new competitions will be initiated. What those competitions will be and how they will be administered (presumably, using the same Allied Organization model as all the rest) will be decided at that time. We've been collecting ideas from multiple sources, and we are continuing to collect new ideas for future prize competitions. As always, if you have a prize idea, please don't hesitate to send it to us (me) at ccideas@nasa.gov.
COMING EVENTS
The following are the competitions that are planned for the rest of the calendar year:
Aug 4-12: Personal Air Vehicle Challenge, run by the CAFE Foundation. Go to www.cafefoundation.org for more details.
Sept-Oct: Beam Power and Tether Challenges, run by the Spaceward Foundation. Exact date and place are TBD. Go to www.spaceward.org or www.elevator2010.org for more details.
Oct 26-28: Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, run by the X PRIZE Foundation, at the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, NM. Go to www.xprize.org/xprizecup for more details.
The message has a lot of similar material to Ken's recent ISDC interview, so if you like listening instead of reading, go there. For everyone else, here's the full message:
June 2007 Message to the Centennial Challenges Listserv Community
Hello Everybody!
Below is a quick note of what's been going on in the world of Centennial Challenges this past month. Ever since I did the radio interview withDr. David Livingston of The Space Show on Feb 11, 2007, I've been directing people to his web page (the interview URL is www.thespaceshow.com/detail.asp?q=668) I've been encouraging people to listen to that because it gives all the background information you could want on the program. Lastly, and just in case you don't have the 90-minutes required to listen to my entire interview, you can always check out the Centennial Challenges website, www.centennialchallenges.nasa.gov, for more information.
Ken Davidian
Program Manager, Centennial Challenges
NASA HQ
P.S. I'll try to do better at getting messages out to this list...Thanks for your patience!
CURRENT EVENTS
May 2007 was quite a month for Centennial Challenges and there are no signs of things slowing down! Here's a quick overview of what's been going on:
1. The 2007 Astronaut Glove Challenge was held on May 2-3 at the NewEngland Air Museum in Windsor Locks, CT. Volanz Aerospace was the Allied Organization administering and executing the event, with special sponsorship assistance from Hamilton-Sundstrand and ILC Dover. Three teams participated in the competition and one of them, led by PeterHomer, took home the $200,000 purse for the bladder-restraint portion of the competition! (A $50,000 purse was offered for a Mechanical Counter Pressure glove category, but nobody showed up with that type of glove.) The final report of the competition has been written and i tshould show up on the competition web page (www.astronaut-glove.us) soon. Details for the 2008 Astronaut Glove Challenge will be made available as the revised rules and competition time and place are finalized in the coming months. Check the competition web page, www.astronaut-glove.us, from periodically for the latest information.
2. The 2007 Regolith Excavation Challenge was held on May 11-12 at the Santa Maria Fairpark Convention Center in Santa Maria, CA. The California Space Education and Workforce Institute (CSEWI, a sister organization to the California Space Authority, CSA) was the Allied Organization administering and executing the event, with special sponsorship assistance from Diaini Building Corporation and Empirical Systems Aerospace. Four teams participated in the competition but none were able to excavate the required amount of JSC-1a to win any of the purses. By searching youtube.com for the words "regolith excavation"you should be able to find compilation videos from a couple of different sources, including the 640x480 videos taken with my little Nikon digital camera. Despite the fact that no money was won, this competition score a number of "firsts" in the regolith excavation community which are still proving that value is achieved even if nobody wins, including the first large-scale "sandbox" of JSC-1a *ever*, and also the first time full-scale equipment was used to excavate JSC-1a (which took place*after* the event was over and Diani had to get the simulant out of the box and back into the bags by using a bobcat "Earth"-mover!). As withthe Astronaut Challenge, details for the 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge will be made available as the revised rules and competition time and place are finalized in the coming months. Check the competition web page, www.californiaspaceauthority.org/regolith, from periodicallyfor the latest information.
3. I've been giving presentations about these competitions and about CC in general, both inside and outside NASA. The Monday following the two competitions, I presented the results to the management of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, including Associate Administrator Scott Horowitz. It's amazing to see how much excitement these events generate within NASA and it's a great tribute to the high quality of work being done by all the teams that participate in the competitions. I'm just the messenger between the great accomplishments and the decision-makers, and I would be lying if I said this wasn't the greatest satisfaction of the job! NASA management loves what is being accomplished with this program!
4. I presented the results of the two competitions at the National Space Society's International Space Development Conference in Dallas, Texas onMay 27. This was basically a compilation of the presentations I gave to the ESMD management and it was the first public forum to which I presented this information.
That's pretty much what's been going on with Centennial Challenges in May 2007. In addition, I had a new set of cards printed up to reflect the reallocation of purse money amongst the seven competitions that are currently active. I hope to get a new (not update, not different, just new) set of History cards printed soon and then I'll have them all collated and shrink-wrapped so I don't have to collate and rubber-band all the cards myself!
BUDGET QUESTIONS
When I speak with people who follow CC, the question of prize budget always comes up. Here's the scoop on this subject: the President's budget requests $4M per year starting with 2008, the current budget under consideration. As funding is appropriated to CC, new competitions will be initiated. What those competitions will be and how they will be administered (presumably, using the same Allied Organization model as all the rest) will be decided at that time. We've been collecting ideas from multiple sources, and we are continuing to collect new ideas for future prize competitions. As always, if you have a prize idea, please don't hesitate to send it to us (me) at ccideas@nasa.gov.
COMING EVENTS
The following are the competitions that are planned for the rest of the calendar year:
Aug 4-12: Personal Air Vehicle Challenge, run by the CAFE Foundation. Go to www.cafefoundation.org for more details.
Sept-Oct: Beam Power and Tether Challenges, run by the Spaceward Foundation. Exact date and place are TBD. Go to www.spaceward.org or www.elevator2010.org for more details.
Oct 26-28: Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, run by the X PRIZE Foundation, at the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, NM. Go to www.xprize.org/xprizecup for more details.
Friday, June 01, 2007
MoD Grand Challenge Update
The British Ministry of Defense had a briefing on the MoD Grand Challenge in March. A 3-page list of people attended, many from British universities and aerospace companies. Different presentations described the rules, registration process, and practical military views on urban warfare and the kinds of environment the competitors should consider in their designs (terrain, weight a soldier can carry, threats, etc). The winners should be able to enter an area and identify a variety of types of threats.
There are interesting commentaries here and here.
See more here.
There are interesting commentaries here and here.
See more here.
ISDC Centennial Challenges Interview
Space Task Force has a (voice, not text) interview with Centennial Challenge's Ken Davidian at the 2007 ISDC. The interview covers the Lunar Lander Challenge, the Regolith Challenge, the Astronaut Glove Challenge, and the Space Elevator Games (Tether and Beam Power Challenges).
If all of the Lunar Lander Challenge money is won at this year's X PRIZE Cup, Ken would like to have some kind of follow-on competition for the X PRIZE Cup. Of course the Challenges will need additional funding to allow something like that to happen, and they haven't gotten any for a long time. NASA is asking for $4M this year for Centennial Challenges, but it remains to be seen how the budget will work out.
Ken noted that although the Challenges aren't an "outreach" or "educational" program, the outreach just happens by itself. People are just interested in seeing real hardware flying and operating. Also, the Allied organizations are all adding educational components to the prizes they manage.
If all of the Lunar Lander Challenge money is won at this year's X PRIZE Cup, Ken would like to have some kind of follow-on competition for the X PRIZE Cup. Of course the Challenges will need additional funding to allow something like that to happen, and they haven't gotten any for a long time. NASA is asking for $4M this year for Centennial Challenges, but it remains to be seen how the budget will work out.
Ken noted that although the Challenges aren't an "outreach" or "educational" program, the outreach just happens by itself. People are just interested in seeing real hardware flying and operating. Also, the Allied organizations are all adding educational components to the prizes they manage.
CNN on Automotive X PRIZE
CNN has an article featuring Peter Diamandis on the Automotive X PRIZE. The video on the left of the page has much the same information, but you have to get past the commercial to get to the pictures (including autos and gas pumps of course, but also Space Ship One and Zero-G flights).
By the way, the Automotive X PRIZE draft rules were released on April 2 for a 60-day comment period, so I suppose the comment period, so we must be getting to the end of that period (if I could remember which months have 31 days I could say for sure...)
By the way, the Automotive X PRIZE draft rules were released on April 2 for a 60-day comment period, so I suppose the comment period, so we must be getting to the end of that period (if I could remember which months have 31 days I could say for sure...)
University Rover Challenge This Weekend
The Mars Society's University Rover Challenge is scheduled to start today with briefings for the competing teams. The actual challenge is planned for June 2. A new post was issued a few days ago at the challenge site.
A Penn State group of Mars Society members is one of the teams going to the challenge, according to a recent news release by the school. The challenge is at the Mars Desert Research Station, and the team expects to follow the MDRS protocols as if they were on Mars.
Another group of students from Brigham Young University also plans to participate.
This press release also notes that there will be teams from UCLA, Nevada–Reno and Ferris State, although this teams site's list is 1 team shorter.
More on the challenge from the Mars Society URC site:
sponsor opportunities
logistics (this page notes that 5 teams are expected to travel there)
FAQ
Some news articles:
Daily Herald news focused on BYU team
older announcement from Space Daily
A Penn State group of Mars Society members is one of the teams going to the challenge, according to a recent news release by the school. The challenge is at the Mars Desert Research Station, and the team expects to follow the MDRS protocols as if they were on Mars.
Another group of students from Brigham Young University also plans to participate.
This press release also notes that there will be teams from UCLA, Nevada–Reno and Ferris State, although this teams site's list is 1 team shorter.
More on the challenge from the Mars Society URC site:
sponsor opportunities
logistics (this page notes that 5 teams are expected to travel there)
FAQ
Some news articles:
Daily Herald news focused on BYU team
older announcement from Space Daily
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