KSC Challenge Winners Selected to view MAVEN Launch in November 2013
Around the world, 87 teams attempted one of three Kennedy Space Center challenges for the International Space Apps Challenge April 20-21: Deployable Greenhouse, Bootstrapping of Space Industry (Moonville), and Kennedy Space Center 2040. The 87 teams came from locations such as Scotland, Morocco, Italy, Mexico, Bolivia, Greece, Canada, Bulgaria, Chile, Turkey, Ukraine, Germany, India, France, Macedonia, New Zealand, Colombia, England, Indonesia, Cyprus, Nepal, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Argentina, Netherlands, and across the United States.
Of these 87 teams, sixteen from the Deployable Greenhouse challenge and three from the Bootstrapping of Space Industry (Moonville) challenge created 2 minute videos explaining their projects in the weeks after the Space Apps Challenge (see end of post for links to videos). The teams that created these videos became eligible for the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) launch viewing opportunity prize. For each challenge, a panel of judges from KSC reviewed the eligible projects and selected a winning project.
Deployable Greenhouse
1st – Space Veggies
2nd – Green on the Red Planet and Terrafarming (tie)
For the Deployable Greenhouse challenge, the winning project was Spaceveggies. Most of the team worked out of the Tampere, Finland location during the Space Apps Challenge, though several of the team members connected virtually from other parts of Finland and Germany.
Project Description: “We believe the brave astronauts living on Mars deserve and need more than a tin can for their habitat. So we designed a greenhouse, or actually a garden, for them. In addition to working as a life-support system, our design will provide scenery, variety in food and rewarding work and therefore, a decent environment from mental perspective as well. It is scalable, self-deploying, self operating and later on modifiable to better suit being a part of the astronauts' living environment.”
Bootstrapping of Space Industry (Moonville)
1st – Moonopoly
2nd – Moon Settler
3rd – Launchpad Moon
For the Bootstrapping of Space Industry (Moonville) challenge, the winning project was Moonopoly. This team was an entirely virtual collaboration, with members coming from the Netherlands, Indonesia, Nepal, Germany, Panama, Puerto Rico (a Kennedy Space Center intern), Texas and more locations around the world.
Project Description: “Moonopoly, a turn-based strategy game simulating a self-sufficient, profitable moon industry.
Three milestones to pursue:
Make profit by exporting to other space industries, use it to import resources from earth
Self-sufficiency by producing all resources on the moon
Megaproject, the pinnacle of your moonbase, wins the game
Three types of buildings:
Generators supply power
Mines excavate resources
Processors create new materials
Buildings can be constructed in any desired quantity, but only become active with enough power and input resources. Constructing too many buildings, or in a wrong order, can cause power or resource depletion.”
The first and second place teams were offered the opportunity to each selected up to seven members of their team to receive the KSC launch viewing opportunity prize. The designated team members plus one guest each will be invited to the Kennedy Space Center for viewing a future NASA launch as NASA invited guests.
Kennedy Space Center has designated the launch that the teams will be invited to see: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission. This orbiter destined for Mars is currently scheduled for November 18, 2013. Since it is a planetary mission, there is a limited timeframe it can launch (between November 18 and the end of December). Launch windows to Mars come around about every 26 months, due to the orbits of the two planets.
MAVEN Mission Page
Mars in a Minute: How Do You Get to Mars?
Deployable Greenhouse
All Projects
YouTube Video Playlist of Eligible Projects
Vimeo Videos of Eligible Projects:
http://vimeo.com/65448487 https://vimeo.com/65191634 https://vimeo.com/65148284 https://vimeo.com/65265892
Bootstrapping of Space Industry (Moonville)
All Projects
YouTube Video Playlist of Eligible Projects
Kennedy Space Center 2040
All Projects