Regolith Excavation Challenge on May 12
Fast on the heels of the Astronaut Glove Challenge, the NASA
Centennial Challenges Regolith Excavation Challenge is scheduled to be
held on May 12, 2007 (just a few days). The ROBOChallenge for students
is also planned at the same time. Here is the NASA press release. This
has more information, including some about the teams that plan to
compete: "Teams from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Livermore, Calif.,
Berkeley, Calif., Fulks Run, Va., Rolla, Mo., Berkley, Mich.,
Milwaukee, and Vancouver, British Columbia, have registered to
participate in the challenge."
The ever-reliable RLV News already gave us a reminder on the challenge
a couple days ago. The California Space Authority, which is running
the competition for NASA, has posted some interesting information
about the challenge (recently, I think).
The agenda shows some major speakers at the event. Pete Worden
(Director of NASA Ames and achiever of many other NASA and Air Force
and probably other accomplishments) will give a talk there, and Col.
Stephen Tanous (Commander, 30th Space Wing of the U.S. Air Force, ie
Vandenberg Air Force Base) will also give a talk. Here's a press
release on the speakers.
They also show on the sponsors page a few more sponsors, including
interestingly Launch Magazine. I've been thinking about subscribing to
Launch, and now I'll have to think about it more actively. Santa Maria
Fair Park, where the event will be held, has a glittering events page
with the Regolith Challenge (currently) on the list.
See the "regolith challenge" label below for more posts on this event.
Posted by Ray at 4:34 PM
Labels: events, regolith challenge, space innovation prizes
Rotary National Award for Space Achievement
Spaceref posted a press release on the Rotary National Award for Space
Achievement. Money is raised during the ceremony and donated to
aerospace education organizations. Check out the article and the RNASA
site - you will recognize the winners. Many other space awards are
also given at this event.
Posted by Ray at 10:43 AM
Labels: events
X PRIZE Cup with an Air Show
Personal Spaceflight has an article on the combination of the X PRIZE
Cup and the Holloman Air Force Base air show. One concern discussed in
the article and the comments is whether the space aspect of the show
will be overwhelmed by the air show. I guess we will all have to go
there and find out.
Posted by Ray at 10:40 AM
Labels: events, X PRIZE Cup
more on NASA Ads for Centennial Challenges
The Wall Street Journal Online has a short article on Representative
Ken Calvert's proposal to have NASA fund the Centennial Challenge
prizes with advertising revenue. This article was mentioned in the
Space Frontier Foundation's April NewSpace News compilation. RLV News
reports that JP Aerospace doesn't like the idea of having to compete
with NASA for advertising business. In the Space Politics comments
from a few weeks ago (linked by the RLV News post) I was concerned
that companies like JP Aerospace would lose business if NASA went with
this plan as is. I'm not sure how one might adjust the advertising
plan in such a way as to address this concern and still bring in the
money for Centennial Challenges. Anonymous on the Space Politics
comments suggested that Congress should just fund the tiny Centennial
Challenges program adequately the normal way.
Posted by Ray at 10:22 AM
Labels: Ads for Centennial Challenges, Politics, space innovation
prizes
Zero G flight student prize
NASA has a student competition for "Zero G" experiments. The winners
of the competition get to go on NASA's "Zero G" plane to perform the
experiments. Check out the video alongside the article. This article
comes courtesy of a sci.space.policy post, where the poster suggested
that NASA should be using currently available commercial services (ie
Zero Gravity Corporation's plane) for the actual flight.
Posted by Ray at 10:13 AM
Labels: space innovation prizes, student prizes
New Competitor for Genome X PRIZE
From the X PRIZE Foundation site's news ticker comes an article about
a new competitor, Reveo Inc, for the Archon Genomics X PRIZE. Other
competitors include VisiGen Biotechnologies, Inc, the Foundation for
Applied Molecular Evolution, and 454 Life Sciences. Check the article
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