2008 Lunar Ventures Competition

The 2008 Lunar Ventures university competition held by the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines is running. This is a business plan competition for students (mainly, but not exclusively, graduate students in business and engineering, and science) that have space-related business plans. Typically the business plans have current applicability to the Earth, too, quite aside from any space application. I probably repeat it too often, but space businesses (or even government programs) with near-term applicability to people on Earth tend to have a much better chance of success. From the Guidelines:

Each Lunar Ventures business plan proposal is to identify business opportunities that either (a) employ existing space technology in products with near-term terrestrial market potential, or (b) provide solutions for near-term terrestrial markets by employing technology which, when developed further, will lead to products with space applications.

The prizes are significant:

The Lunar Ventures 2008 Grand Champion will receive a $25,000 cash award, in-kind services, and an invitation to compete in the Global MOOT CORP Competition for $100,000 in prizes. The other three Finalists will receive cash awards of $2,000 each.

I have a couple of old posts on the 2007 competition here and here.

Most of it is on other subjects altogether, but I originally developed this article from a hint at a guest Selenian Boondocks post.

Lunar Ventures with Earth Applications

CNBC has a press release about this year's Lunar Ventures student competition for space business concepts. Businesses with immediate application on Earth are encouraged. A lot of the press release covers last year's winner, Lumedyne Technologies, called Omega Sensors at the time they won $25,000 in the 2007 competition. Lumedyne's product is a small accelerometer with a number of Earth, and potentially space, applications. CEO Brad Chisum states:

Not only was Lunar Ventures instrumental in helping refine our business model, 8C made it possible for us to get an audience with the new Space Angels funding network and Space Investment Summit 3, resulting in $1 million in funding just one year after winning Lunar Ventures.

Prize Roundup: Google Lunar X PRIZE, MoonROx, Space Entrepreneur Meetings

There's lots about the Google Lunar X PRIZE for today's roundup:

EVA Interviews Will Pomerantz - EVA Interviews

EVA Interviews Will Pomerantz about the Google Lunar X PRIZE - Out of the Cradle - This is the actual intervew. According to the interview, we can expect interviews of the Google Lunar X PRIZE teams, too!

Interview with SpaceFellowship.com - White Label Space on the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page

@ARCAspace - Everybody from Romania, behold: http://www.arcalunar.com/, our new website describing our Google Lunar X Prize mission. English version soon:)

@OmegaEnvoy - just had a great meeting with the UCF Venture Lab to help with our business model. http://www.venturelab.ucf.edu/

@odysseymoon - resend] Odyssey Moon Chief Scientist Paul Spudis leads LRO, Chandrayaan-1 search 4 lunar water 2day http://bit.ly/3UiK8o

It's all about the $$FUNDING$$ and Recent interview with Space Fellowship - LunaTrex on the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page

Moon Base One – Base Camp – Sundown - Micro-Space on the Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page

Here are a few items to round out the roundup:

@Pomerantz - Some #NGLLC news coming down the pipeline soon (e.g. next couple of days). Stay tuned, #NASA and #newspace fans!

First Meeting of Suborbital Researchers Group Focuses on Innovative Research & Education Missions - Commercial Spaceflight Federation - Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge teams are mentioned.

@PeterDiamandis - just arrived in DC on redeye. meetings for X PRIZE and Space Adventures board meeting.

having dinner with Eric Anderson, Richard Garriott and Robert Walker in DC.

@RichardGarriott - @Space Adventures BOD meeting. The future of Private Spaceflight looks bright!

@ec_anderson - About to have dinner with @peterdiamandis and @richardgarriott should be fun!

From the NASA Centennial Challenges history page:

Lunar Oxygen Production or MoonROx - Now Expired ... This first-to-demonstrate challenge expired on June 1, 2009 with no winner. The challenge had been extended by an additional year in 2008.

That's unfortunate, because ISRU of all sorts is an important "force multiplier" for ambitious space ventures. However, it does raise the question of what happens to the funds that were set aside for the MoonROx Challenge prize.

Space Business Plan Competition

This one is from Space for All: The 8th Continent Project at the Colorado School of Mines is going to have a Space Business Plan competition in 2009. In past years this was called the "Lunar Ventures" competition.

8th Continent Project Announces Business Plan Competition - Space 2.0 Blog

As with Lunar Ventures:

the competition focuses on developing viable space-related business plans for technologies that have real-world potential. The 8th Continent Project Business Plan Competition challenges students in business, engineering and science to collaborate in creating business ventures related to space, but with immediate application on Earth. Teams should consist primarily of graduate students, although undergraduate participation is welcome. Prizes for the winner include up to $50,000 in cash and in-kind services.

2009 Business Plan Competition Video

Lunar Ventures Competition Results

I'm a bit late, but here's a post on the results of the University of Colorado's Lunar Ventures 2007 Competition. The winner of $25,000 is the Omega Sensors team from San Diego State University. The announcement of the winners shows some of the reasons why they won the space business plan competition:

"San Diego State University entry OSI offers an improved sensor technology for navigation systems and robotics as well as satellite, rocket and space shuttle navigation. Here on Earth, the technology has immediate applications. In the oil industry, it has the capability to increase oil well output through strategic drilling -- both in locating oil and fewer dry wells. Additionally, the devices have significant potential in structure and equipment monitoring."

Space applications with business applicability on Earth were strong in the competition, a point that shouldn't be lost on today's space entrepreneurs.

Lunar Ventures Winners

The Lunar Ventures space business competition announces the 2008 winners and runners-up. The highest-ranked competitors all had business plans that involved space businesses that also had Earth applications, or space technology applied to Earth businesses. Denver Business News has more on the winner.

Mixing Together Some Lunar Prizes

Here are some quick updates related to 3 lunar prizes:

Heading for the Moon - The Google Lunar Xprize - Mark Posen from RPC Telecommunications announces that RPC Telecommunications has joined up with "InterPlanetary Ventures", a multinational team being formed to enter the Lunar Xprize challenge. Personally, I'm taking on the task of looking after the regulatory and licencing aspects for the IPV team, and will also work with the communications team in designing the Earth-moon communications links.

Interplanetary Ventures hasn't officially registered, but they haven't kept their intentions secret.

Some serious thinking at the Southern California Selene Group - SCSG on GLXP Teams site (link and comments from RLV News) - they are having doubts about launch costs rising, getting a sponsor, and the manned spaceflight vision of the X PRIZE Foundation. On the last point, I'd say what's important is what the team wants to accomplish, not the XPF's spaceflight vision. If they're interested in making robotic missions to moons more feasible (a goal I'm quite sympathetic to, being mainly interested in robotic missions myself unless/until human spaceflight gets a major enabling overhaul such as what XPF hopes for), they should make sure that's what their effort does.

N.C. team shoots for moon in $30M contest - WRAL.com - an article about the new local GLXP team STELLAR

FLOOD! - This was on April 25, but I missed it then, and I don't know how it turned out. It affects unofficial Regolith Challenge team ACME Robotics.

May 2008 Update - Masten Space Systems (Jon Goff) - link from RLV News - This is a major MSS update that covers all sorts of hardware and software work, pictures, design changes, interactions with other LLC teams Paragon and Armadillo, revamping workspaces, igniter sales from Space Access, other potential MSS products and services, team members leaving and new ones arriving, internships available, and business we may hear about later. They're not sure if they'll be able to go for the Lunar Lander Challenge this year.

Google Lunar X PRIZE Team SYNERGY MOON

Carnival of Space #92 - The Launch Pad:

The biggest news over in our neck of the woods, though, was the announcement of a new competitor to the Google Lunar X PRIZE. Team SYNERGY MOON, which we wrote about earlier today, has proposed a pretty cool looking rover design, and we can't wait to see more from them. Check out the official press release, and then head over to their forum to wish them good luck.

From the press release:

The team, comprised of 48 members from 15 countries across the globe, is sponsored by eSpaceTickets.com, the world’s oldest space tourism contest organization. SYNERGY MOON has also partnered with rocket manufacturer Interorbital Systems (IOS), which competed in the historic 2004 ANSARI X PRIZE $10 MM Race to Space.
...
The SYNERGY MOON team was created through the collaboration of three interrelated organizations: InterPlanetary Ventures (IPV), a private sector space promoter; the Human Synergy Project (HSP), a multi-national sustainable projects group; and Interorbital Systems’ rocket team, led by Roderick Milliron.
...
As part of SYNERGY MOON’s efforts to raise awareness of their efforts and participation in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, they’ve organized a variety of global promotional events, including space-themed concerts, art festivals, space-related fashion shows, and breathtaking core technology demonstrations including rocket engine hot firings, suborbital and orbital hardware testflights, and ultimately their X PRIZE lunar missions.
...
To learn more about SYNERGY MOON’s sponsors and partner organizations, visit www.eSpaceTickets.com and www.interorbital.com.
...

synergy moon - brian's blog: astronaut for hire -

Back in late 2007, some members of Interplanetary Ventures approached me via Facebook and asked if I'd be interested in discussing options for their proposed lunar project. I agreed and ended up suggesting several possible science targets for the mission. Over time, the team designated me as Science Officer and is now calling me Principal Investigator. ... Another unofficial press release from a couple of weeks ago is available here.

Space Prize Roundup - December 9, 2008

I've been a bit busy, so I'll just offer some quick links and comments today:

Rocketeers cleared for lift-off with new FAA rules - New Scientist (Henry Spencer) - Implications for Lunar Lander Challenge teams and similar ventures are mentioned.

Griffin’s commercialization legacy - The Space Review covers Griffin's speech at the Armadillo Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge ceremony. One of the sections of the article is "the value of prizes".

If I had 10 million dollars - Geordi Calrissian

Silicon Valley Space Tweetup - Sunday Decembr 14 - The Launch Pad - During the next Google Lunar X PRIZE Team Summit:

... we're having a little impromptu get-together for the local space community. ... The event will be Sunday, December 14, at St. Stephen's Green in Mountain View, CA. The event is open to the public. Food and beverage are NOT provided, but are available in abundance.

We Need Your Help for Teachers in Space - Space Frontier Foundation - I think it's a recent post (they don't have timestamps). Some Lunar Lander Challenge teams are supporters.

2nd International Conference on Space Elevator and CNT Tether Design - Space Elevator Blog - The abstracts from the conference featured a lot of talks about, or by people involved with, the Space Elevator Games.

One Year Anniversary of first Google Lunar X PRIZE Team Announcement (Odyssey Moon) - Lunar C/I

Masten Space update - RLV News - This includes videos, pictures, and internship news.

Best of the Moon

Best of the Moon 2008 - Out of the Cradle - A number of Lunar Library "Best Of"s are selected. It features a lot of competitions related to the Moon, including Lunar Ventures, the calendar from the NSS Space Settlement Art Contest, the International Space Settlement Design Competition, the 2009 NASA Art Contest, the Return to Luna short story compilation, and the International Atlas of Lunar Exploration” by frequent Google Lunar X PRIZE Forum poster Philip Stooke. (link from RLV News)

March 20 Lunar X PRIZE and Lunar Lander Challenge Update

Here's the latest on the Moon-related prizes:

RLV News catches 2 articles on the Google Lunar X PRIZE, one from Cosmic Log that mentions that some of Arthur C. Clarke's hair may be sent to the Moon in a memorial capsule on a GLXP flight, and some thoughts by Jeff Krukin on who the real winners of the GLXP will be, and why, beyond the prize money and spotlight, they'll be winners.

The Space Fellowship has some news from William Pomerantz to any Google Lunar X PRIZE teams that would be considering registering soon and that would be interested in taking part in a big press event.

On the Lunar X PRIZE Teams site, Courtney Stadd of Quantum3 discusses being at the

Arthur C. Clarke Foundation's awards event where Peter Diamandis, cofounder of the X PRIZE Foundation and the Zero-G Corporation, among other ventures, received the Sir Arthur Clarke Innovator's Award.

Also at the Teams site, Deborah Castleman of SCSG tells us about new team members, design decisions, propulsion system engineering tradeoffs, and meetings. This post also mentions a note Arthur C. Clarke wrote praising one of the SCSG team members for pioneering communications satellite work.

For the Lunar Lander Challenge, RLV News has the latest data, and a purple-tinged video, from Unreasonable Rocket.

Lunar Concrete

Utah State Today presents the school's Lunar Ventures 2008 team. Their business plan involved

Lunar Concrete, a proposed product that would eliminate the infamous dust hazards on the lunar surface, while dually decreasing the amount of water required for concrete formation on Earth.

Space Investment Summit 5

Space Investment Summit 5 update - RLV News - I picked out a couple prize-related items from the agenda:

10:30 am - 11:30 am: Business Plan Presentations and Investor O & A: XCOR Aerospace, iShoe, Celestis Inc - As I recall, at one point XCOR offered a Steam Engine Prize for a rocket engine component (which was won). iShoe won the Lunar Ventures prize for space business/technology applications with Earth angles. Celestis is working with Google Lunar X PRIZE competitor Odyssey Moon.

11:30 am - 12:30 pm: Business Plan Presentations and Investor O & A: One of the presentations is by Google Lunar X PRIZE competitor Astrobotic, Inc.

Colorado School of Mines Lunar Ventures Competition

Here's another one from Space for All. The Colorado School of Mines is sponsoring a student lunar business plan competition focused on lunar businesses. There is the potential for a large investment for a good enough business plan. Also planned for the winning team are $25,000 and services. Three other teams will get $3000, and all 4 teams will be able to present their plans to space industry and government leaders. The goal of the competition is to foster teams of engineers, scientists, and business people to work together to make viable space businesses. The final round of the competition will be next weekend (ie May 19-21 2007). Here is how the presentations and judging are expected to go.

The experience is intended to be like that of a start up seeking investment funding. The businesses are intended to be near-term ones - perhaps businesses that can start on Earth but also be applicable to the moon.

Since I'm reporting on this competition well after its start, the list of finalist teams and descriptions of their business plans is available. You can see that most if not all of the business plans involve businesses on the Earth that can also be used on the moon. See the Space for All post or Out of the Cradle for a link to a news article on the finalist teams. Here's an article specifically on the finalists from Colorado.

Ambitious Lunar X PRIZE Teams

RLV News has more on the CMU Lunar X PRIZE team, including some comparisons of launch costs that teams like this have to consider.

Wired has been publishing lots of articles on the Lunar X PRIZE teams the last few days. Here's one that concentrates on the advertising and media angles of the GLXP:

Presenting at the Space Investment Summit in San Jose, London said the company was seeking $75 million of funding, but that they expected to return 5 to 10 times that amount of money to their investors via selling the media rights to their HD footage of the moon.

I've expanded the list of links on the right for Lunar X PRIZE teams. We'll see how well I keep up if lots more teams are announced. Interplanetary Ventures is one of the teams. If you look on their discussion forum, you'll see that their team roster includes Bob Steinke from Lunar Lander Challenge competitor SpeedUp as a Technical Advisor/Consultant. They also list some potential competitors there (and I've seen others in my web surfing), but I'm waiting to learn more about them before including them.

Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams, Many Showing Hardware

Space Disco Vidcast Covers New Teams - The Launch Pad

ARCA Unveils Haas Launch Vehicle - The Launch Pad
Haas, ARCA's orbital rocket launcher unveiled today - ARCA on Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams site

Jaluro's First Test Drive - Frednet on Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams site

Solid rocket engine mockup for lunar rover - Selene 0n Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams site

Layered chassis mold - Astrobotic on the Teams site
Renowned CMU roboticist sets his sights on the moon - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (link from X PRIZE Foundation)

InterPlanetary Ventures - Joining the Human Synergy Moon Project - The Space Fellowship

Prize Roundup - September 22, 2008

More Unreasonable tethered test flights - RLV News

India announces New Moon Mission - Googlokhod (not yet registered GLXP Team) - After all those years of a roverless Moon, there is now government competition for the private GLXP Teams ...

SAGAS OF SCIENCE AND SOCIETY - Cosmic Log - The topic is this year's crop of award-winning science sagas, as selected by the National Association of Science Writers. ... The winners, who were chosen by a panel of their peers, will be honored on Oct. 26 during the association's annual meeting in Palo Alto, Calif. This year's awards carry a cash prize of $2,500.

The power of wireless - neXt PRIZE (X PRIZE Foundation future prizes) - They explain: One of the many areas that the Global Development team is looking to build a Global Development X PRIZE in is the wireless space. ...

Update (September 22 2008 evening):

Mike from the X PRIZE Foundation is looking for a translation for an article in Russian about, and linked by, Googlokhod.

The GLXP Teams page has a lot of interesting posts today. I'm not generally covering it here because of volume and time considerations (since you can just go there!), but today I'll make an exception.

Former NASA Kennedy Space Center Director Jay Honeycutt Announced As President of Odyssey Moon U.S. Operations - Odyssey Moon

Team Retreat - LunaTrex

Astrobotic has several commented pictures; in my haste I won't link each one (see the GLXP Teams page). However, I will pass this along: 20 yrs of undergraduate research - Students work on Lunar X prize project - The Tartan, Carnegie Mellon University's student newspaper

Google Lunar X PRIZE at IAC (International Astronautical Congress) - Becky Ramsey at the XPF's Launch Pad - She mentions recruiting for new GLXP teams, but it could also be a good way to get professionals interested in signing up with existing teams.

Space 2.0 in-depth part IV - Space 2.0 Blog, Official Blog of the 8th Continent Project - This post features a runner-up in the Lunar Ventures competition, and their business with concurrent space and Earth applications:

ViraTag, comprised of Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University students, is able to solve an important health care demand with their space-derived technology. The company has developed in-vitro diagnostic virus detection kits for quick, efficient, cost-effective, and extremely accurate identification of viruses. ViraTag’s applications derived from the need to monitor the health of astronauts in space.

First Google Lunar X PRIZE Compilation of the Year

In the spirit of compilations (and quickly catching up on posting after my time off), here are some collected updates on the Google Lunar X PRIZE.

• Is this rover going to the Moon? (From Hacked Gadgets DIY Blog).
• Popular Mechanics has 9 questions on robotics for Matthew Mason, robotics expert from CMU. The Lunar X PRIZE is only mentioned briefly (as is the DARPA Urban Challenge), but it gives some perspective on how CMU, and perhaps therefore the Red Whittaker Lunar X PRIZE team, sees robotics.
• The Space Fellowship has an interview with Interplanetary Ventures. (link from RLV News)
• The Space Show has an interview with Odyssey Moon's Robert Richards.

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.

Student Prize Roundup - April 15, 2009

Up … Up … and Away! - GM Today.com (Greater Milwaukee) -

On Sunday, the trio of Washington County 4-H Rocketry team members will launch a 31-pound rocket at the Student Launch Initiative in Huntsville , Ala. In 2007, the group earned a spot in the top 25 teams and finished in 15th place in the Team America Rocketry Challenge. ... The team has been working on the project for almost three months, and because it need FAA flight clearance to launch, it had its first trial run at the Quad City Rocket Challenge in Princeton , Ill. on April 4.

Student Launch Initiative 2008-2009 - Washington County 4-H Rocketry - This includes photos and video of the rocket (including an innovative rocket retrieval mechanism), as well as design information. The experiment:

Our payload/science experiment is to reclaim as much power as possible from 3 wind turbines located in tube fins. Each turbine will use a different blade design or configuration but with an identical Igarashi DC motor. The goal is to see which blade design is the most efficient. In addition, a thermoelectric generator will be mounted to the motor casing. Heat from the motor will be converted directly into electricity. The goal is to see how much, if any, electricity can be generated from heat.

Student Launch Initiative - NASA Student Launch Initiative page -

2009 Launch Dates: April 15-20, 2009
Bragg Farms, Toney, AL

2008 - 2009 SLI Teams:
--Boy Scout Troop 143, Giddings, Texas
--Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.
--Denmark High School, Denmark, Wis.
--Frenship High School, Wolfforth, Texas
--Harvard-Westlake School, North Hollywood, Calif.
--Krueger Middle School, San Antonio, Texas
--Madison West High School Team 1, Madison, Wis.
--Madison West High School Team 2, Madison, Wis.
--Mulberry Grove High School, Mulberry Grove, Ill.
--Plantation High School Team 1, Plantation, Fla.
--Plantation High School Team X, Plantation, Fla.
--W.G. Enloe High School Green Team, Raleigh, N.C.
--W.G. Enloe High School Gold Team, Raleigh, N.C.
--Washington County 4-H, Slinger, Wis.

University Student Launch Initiative - NASA - This one also lists the teams, this time at the University level.

Rocket team preps for national competition - Al.com (The Huntsville Times)

Rocket Boys ready for Challenge - Al.com

Cansat Competition - SEDS India National Conference - SEDS India blog

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Partnership - Omega Envoy (Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams page)

Mars Rover Demonstration - Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium -

The Oregon State University Robotics Club’s 2009 University Rover Challenge Team will host a demonstration of their new rover design on Saturday, April 25. The team will test their new rover design while performing tasks in biology, geology, soil analysis, emergency navigation and construction.

Mavric - Mars Analog Vehicle for Robotic Inspection and Construction - This is the blog from one of the 2009 University Rover Challenge teams - this one from Iowa State University. Today's update from the blog: Construction Update #3

MDRS Crew 79 Final Commander Report - Mars Society - Part of the report covers work done in association with the Georgia Tech URC team.

Microgravity Research Competition Finalists - These are the finalists for the SpaceX/Heinlein Trust/Rice Alliance competition for a spot on a DragonLab flight.

... A finalist competition will be held on April 17 at Rice University and the winner will be announced on April 18.

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston -- Decoupling Diffusive Transport Phenomena

Universities Space Research Association -- Low-Gravity Colloidal Engineering

Durham VA Medical Center/Duke University -- Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus

In addition to this finalist competition, the Rice Business Plan Competition will be held April 16-18. That includes $80,000 in "specialty" prizes to be awarded by NASA.

Meanwhile, the 8th Continent Business Plan Competition (formerly Lunar Ventures) schedule includes:

Round 2: Semi-Finalist Teams Only
Step 5: Upload Full Business Plan by 4/10/2009
Step 6: Present your Venture at 8th Continent Business Plan Competition on 4/24-26/2009

2009 What if Competition winners - The 2009 winners were scheduled to be part of the Conrad Award Innovation Summit held a couple weeks ago.

Earth Day Photo Contest for Grades 5-8 - Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium - This is held by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies:

... a trusted leader in Earth and space science education, communication and outreach, and in fostering national and international cooperation in global Earth observations.

Cornell 100 MPG Car Design Team to Participate in Int’l Competition - The Cornell Daily Sun -

At its inception approximately two years ago, there were six students in the 100+ MPG Team. Now, headed by William “Trey” Riddle grad, the team boasts a membership of approximately 90 students, both undergraduate and graduate, and three faculty advisors...