Moon Mission Challenge – project at Innovate Our World, sponsored by Astrobotic

The Innovate Our World education non-profit organization has created the Moon Mission Challenge
project, with sponsorship from Astrobotic Technology, Inc.  They have a crowdfunding effort underway for it at Students … To The Moon! – Indiegogo. The Challenge is described as follows:

Student teams will design a payload that could fly on an Astrobotic mission to the Moon’s surface. Astrobotic engineers have identified three possible mission scenarios:

• Apollo Rediscovery Mission
• Lunar Polar Mission
• Lava Tube Exploration Mission

Before working together to design a payload, students will learn about the Moon’s characteristics and environment by studying the lunar surface and using scientific information from NASA experts and other sources, understand how space technology has been used to study the Moon from orbit and land humans and spacecraft on its surface, and learn about the Moon from history, economics, politics, and social sciences, all using our Common Curriculum lesson plans and resources. Educators will receive free training to lead their teams.

Teams will proceed through mission planning and design in order to present their concept to project sponsors in a presentation at our June 2014 conference. Students will learn lunar science, spacecraft technology, mission planning, and payload design as an integrated team and work directly with experts from Astrobotic, Penn State Lunar Lions, and other aerospace organizations. Teams will be expected to use STEM disciplines, project management, systems engineering, communications, and marketing skills in an integrated manner to evaluate, prepare, and present their mission publicly to a panel of judges from NASA, industry, colleges, and other professionals. Winning teams will receive cash prizes and an opportunity to work with IOW experts if they decide to enter the Conrad Foundation Spirit of Innovation Awards competition (www.conradawards.org).

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