Category Archives: Contests and Games

Activism, Contests and Games, Education

“Orbital Debris Mitigation Competion” – Sponsored by NSS and partners

A new university student competition:

The First Enterprise In Space
Competition to Tackle Space Debris Launched
by Enterprise In Space & Kepler Space Institute

Washington, DC – December 6, 2016: Enterprise In Space (EIS), a non-profit program of the National Space Society (NSS), and the Kepler Space Institute have partnered with Global Aerospace Corporation (GAC) to launch the “Orbital Debris Mitigation” competition. In order to drive innovation forward in technology to remove the space debris orbiting Earth, EIS and its partners are offering university student teams a chance to propose experiments for space debris mitigation.

To enter the contest, university student teams may submit a white paper in either one of two competition categories. Category one is to design an experiment that fits on a CubeSat to detect, track or collect orbital debris. The second is to design an experiment to help evaluate the performance of GAC’s Gossamer Orbit Lowering Device (GOLD) that will de-orbit a CubeSat.

“Currently, there are over 500,000 pieces of space debris orbiting the Earth and traveling up to 17,500 miles per hour, potentially causing serious damage to any satellite or spacecraft,” said Kerry Nock, President of GAC. “At GAC, we have invented a device for removing this debris called the Gossamer Orbit Lowering Device, or GOLD. GOLD uses a lightweight, continuously inflated envelope to increase the drag area and accelerate the natural orbital decay process of antiquated satellites and large orbital debris by orders of magnitude.”

Up to three members of the grand prize winning team will receive complimentary registration to present their white papers at the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference® (ISDC), May 25-29, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. Grand prize winners will have their experiment results paper will be published in Ad Astra magazine and an industry trade journal for orbital space debris mitigation and remediation. One member of the grand prize team will also receive an R.S. Kirby Memorial Scholarship, valued at $5,000, from the Kepler Space Institute to be applied towards a full certificate program. The R.S. Kirby Memorial Scholarship aims to encourage space advocates the world over.

To learn more about the Orbital Debris Mitigation Competition or to enter, visit the contest page at enterpriseinspace.org/space-debris and become a part of NewSpace future.

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About Enterprise In Space: The National Space Society’s Enterprise In Space (EIS) is the world’s first NewSpace education program. EIS provides access to STEAM education to all through the open online EIS Academy and an artificial intelligence tutor under development named Ali. The program’s first Academy-wide project is the design, launch, and retrieval of a 3D-printed spacecraft carrying 100+ active and passive experiments from K-postgrad student teams from all around the world.

About Kepler Space Institute: Kepler Space Institute (KSI) is dedicated to providing educational programs, research solutions, and publications to the public, industry, and governmental organizations in support of continuing Space Exploration, Commercialization, and Colonization. Through cutting edge research, exploration and development of space resources, KSI helps facilitate the expansion of human civilization from Earth into Space, with the primary goal of benefiting humans everywhere on Earth and beyond.

About Global Aerospace Corporation: Global Aerospace Corporation (GAC) was founded in 1997 by former NASA/JPL engineers and scientists as a commercial research and development firm. GAC maintains its corporate office in Irwindale, California, where it develops prototypes and works its projects in a 4,300 sq. ft. R&D office/industrial space. These facilities are used to conduct task engineering work, assembly, integration, and testing of hardware as it is prepared for flight, as well as project meetings and report writing. Our facilities meet Federal, California, and Los Angeles County environmental laws and regulations. Our corporate activities include technical analysis and research, aerospace mission and system concept development, aerospace technology research and development, deep ocean systems research and development, and system design, prototyping, and demonstration. Our corporate team is highly qualified with over 400 years of cumulative aerospace experience.

About the National Space Society: NSS is an independent nonprofit educational membership organization dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring civilization. NSS is widely acknowledged as the preeminent citizen’s voice on space, with over 50 chapters in the United States and around the world. The Society publishes Ad Astra magazine, an award-winning periodical chronicling the most important developments in space. To learn more, visit www.nss.org.

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Asteroids & Comets, Contests and Games, Space participation

Space mining CEO & OSIRIS-REx scientist to host Google Hangout to talk about asteroids and Xtronaut game

Chris Lewicki of the  asteroid mining company Planetary Resources and Prof. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona and a scientist on the OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission (see earlier posting) will host a Google Hangout at 11:00 am PT (2:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm GMT) on Friday: Chris Lewicki & Dante Lauretta talk about asteroids, launches, and Xtronaut: The Game of Solar System Exploration! – Google+.

Do you like playing board games? Do you like STEM education? Have you ever wanted to plan your own mission to space? Then you will love this!

You are invited to a Google Hangout on Air to learn about an amazing new game that mixes fun, STEM and space all together on one board.

Xtronaut: The Game of Solar System Exploration captures the challenges and fun of planning a space mission and combines real rocket science with mission planning, strategy, politics, and interactive play. We have been playing this game in the office and can assure you it is JUST like planning a real mission!

The game was envisioned by Planetary Resources advisor, Dante Lauretta, Ph.D. Dante is a Professor at the University of Arizona, Principal Investigator of the NASA OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission, and founder of Xtronaut.

During the hangout, our President and CEO Chris Lewicki will challenge Dante to a game, and discuss the exciting developments in asteroid science and exploration with the upcoming launches of OSIRIS-REx and our Arkyd 6.

Sign up to participate: RSVP for the Hangout by clicking here.

You can also purchase Xtronaut: The Game of Solar System Exploration on Amazon.com.

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Contests and Games, Mars, Simulators

NASA rover game released to mark Curiosity’s 4 year anniversary on Mars

Check out NASA’s free Rover Game:

NASA Rover Game Released for Curiosity’s Anniversary

As Curiosity marks its fourth anniversary (in Earth years) since landing on Mars, the rover is working on collecting its 17th sample. While Curiosity explores Mars, gamers can join the fun via a new social media game, Mars Rover.

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On their mobile devices, players drive a rover through rough Martian terrain, challenging themselves to navigate and balance the rover while earning points along the way. The game also illustrates how NASA’s next Mars rover, in development for launch in 2020, will use radar to search for underground water.

“We’re excited about a new way for people on the go to engage with Curiosity’s current adventures on Mars and future exploration by NASA’s Mars 2020 rover too,” said Michelle Viotti, manager of Mars public engagement initiatives at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “Using social networks, the user can share the fun with friends. The interest that is shared through gameplay also helps us open a door to deeper literacy in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”

JPL collaborated with GAMEE, a network for game-players, for development of the game, called Mars Rover.

For more information about how the Mars Rover game relates to exploration by NASA’s Mars rovers, visit:

mars.nasa.gov/gamee-rover

Meanwhile, on Mars the real rover has driven to position for drilling into a rock target called “Marimba,” to acquire rock powder for onboard laboratory analysis. The rover has begun a multi-month ascent of a mudstone geological unit as it heads toward higher and progressively younger geological evidence on Mount Sharp, including some rock types not yet explored.

The mission is examining the lower slopes of Mount Sharp, a layered mountain inside Gale Crater, to learn more about how and when ancient environmental conditions in the area evolved from freshwater settings into conditions drier and less favorable for life. Six of the mission’s 13 drilled rock-samples so far, and two of its four scooped soil samples, have been collected since the third anniversary of landing. In its four years, Curiosity has returned more than 128,000 images and fired its laser more than 362,000 times. As of the fourth anniversary, Curiosity has driven 8.43 miles (13.57 kilometers).

Curiosity landed inside Mars’ Gale Crater on Aug. 6, 2012, EDT (evening of Aug. 5, PDT), with a touchdown technique called the sky-crane maneuver. During the rover’s first Earth year on Mars, the mission accomplished its main goal when it found and examined an ancient habitable environment. Researchers determined that a freshwater lake at the “Yellowknife Bay” site billions of years ago offered the chemical ingredients and energy favorable for supporting microbial life, if life has ever existed on Mars.

NASA’s orbiters and rovers at Mars enable continued scientific discoveries and prepare the way for future astronauts to explore the Red Planet.

More information about NASA’s Journey to Mars is available online at: www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars

For more information about Curiosity, visit:

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Astronomy, Contests and Games, Multiple media

Video: Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition shortlists finalists

The annual Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year Competition, which is run by the Royal Museums Greenwich, had over 4500 entries this year from amateur and professional astrophotographers from around the world. The RMG just announced this week that they have shortlisted the entries from which the final winners will be announced on September 15th:

Here is a video about the 2016 competition:

Here is last year’s winning image in the aurora category was Silk Skies©  by Jamen Percy:

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Contests and Games, Space participation, Space Systems

Team Miles wins top tier prizes in Ground Tournaments 1& 2 in NASA CubeQuest Challenge

Here’s a message from the Miles Space Project, which has won $50k in prize money so far in NASA’s CubeQuest Challenge competition to design, build, and fly small satellites “capable of advanced operations near and beyond the moon”.

Team Miles brings home another top finish
in the NASA CubeQuest Challenge

Tampa, FL – March 17, 2016. Today, NASA announced that Team Miles, the leading contestant in the NASA CubeQuest Challenge, has once again secured a top tier position in Ground Tournament 2. As the 1st place winner of Ground Tournament 1, Team Miles was already eligible to secure a place on the SLS Exploratory Mission Launch scheduled for 2018. With this second win, they have now accumulated $50,000 in prize money.

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Wes Faler, team lead for Miles stated,

“I’m very proud of my team. I know we still have a long, hard road ahead of us. I’ve seen the competition and we know how qualified they are. We’ll continue to forge ahead and not take anything for granted. Our team has a daring mission plan and I’m thrilled that NASA has recognized our capabilities with two consecutive ground tournament victories.”

According to Alex Wingeier, Digital Janitor for Team Miles,

“I believe the win came as a result of the many structural improvements based on feedback from the NASA Safety Team as well as the continued successful testing and implementation of the ConstantQ thrusters provided by Fluid & Reason, Inc. and the R.A.C.P. boards from Yosemite Space.”

Team Miles is the only non-university team to earn a prize in Ground Tournament 2. As a team of citizen scientists and engineers, they came together initially through Tampa Hackerspace, a community, non-profit workshop located in Tampa, FL. The team soon expanded to include experts in radiation, communications, software development, and project management.

The NASA Cube Quest Challenge is a competition to build space-ready, small satellites capable of advanced communication and propulsion near and beyond the moon. Teams strive for high-speed data communications, navigation, and survival in lunar orbit or deep space, competing for an unprecedented $5.5 million prize purse in NASA’s first ever in-space challenge. Cube Quest is part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program which accelerates technology by engaging non-traditional sources in competition.

The Miles spacecraft is a 6U satellite, about the size of a breadbox, that will be capable of navigating to the Moon, establishing Lunar orbit, conducting its mission, and then navigating to a final orbit near Mars. The entire mission will be flown autonomously by a sophisticated onboard computer system and powered by evolutionary plasma thrusters.

In addition to the $50,000 in prize money the team has won so far, their efforts have also been supported by strategic partnerships with Fluid and Reason (http://fluidandreason.com/),  Yosemite Space (http://yosemitespace.com/), The DRI (http://thedri.com/), Piedmont Precision Aeroculture (http://ppaeroculture.com/), Brainloop (http://www.brainloop.com/), Basecamp (https://basecamp.com/), Thermal Management Technologies (http://tmtsdl.com/), and Sabalcore (http://www.sabalcore.com/).