2012-2013 National Student Solar Spectrograph Competition – Registration Deadline Sept 30, 2012

Enter the National Student Solar Spectrograph Competition

The National Student Solar Spectrograph Competition is the Montana Space Grant Consortium’s Education Program for NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, mission. IRIS will use spectrography and imaging in ultraviolet wavelengths to reveal the dynamics of the sun’s chromospheres and transition region.

This yearly competition is open to undergraduate interdisciplinary teams from colleges and universities across the U.S. Teams are challenged to design and build a working ground-based solar spectrograph and demonstrate the capabilities of the spectrograph as defined by their science goal. Typical teams have three to six students and must have a faculty advisor.

Both substantial scholarship prizes and travel prizes will be given in four categories: best design, best build, best science observations and best presentation of results. Teams may apply for funding of $2,000 per team for project materials. Priority for build funds will be given to minority-serving institutions, community colleges and institutions with less aerospace activity.

Applications for build awards and registrations are due on Sept. 30, 2012.

The competition will be held in Bozeman, Mont., in May 2013. For more information and to register online, visit http://www.spacegrant.montana.edu/IRIS/index.html

Humans in Space Art Contest – Deadline October 21, 2012

Enter the Humans in Space Youth Art Competition by October 21, 2012

How will humans use science and technology to explore space, and what mysteries will we uncover?

Students age 10-18 are challenged to answer this question through art. Create your musical, literary, visual or video artwork and submit it by midnight U.S. Central Standard Time, October 21, 2012.

Learn more at the Humans in Space Youth Art Competition website:
Humans in Space Art Contest

NASA Earth Day Video Contest 2012 – Deadline May 31, 2012

NASA's Earth Day Video Competition

To mark Earth Day 2012, NASA presents the Earth Day Video Contest 2012. For the second year in a row, NASA is challenging the public to create a compelling video vision of NASA’s exploration of Earth — The Home Frontier.

To enter, produce a short video that captures what you find inspiring and important about the unique view and understanding of Earth provided by NASA science. Upload your video to YouTube and tag it using the instructions found on the contest website. NASA will feature the best entry — chosen by a panel of NASA scientists and communicators — on the NASA website. And, the winner will receive a behind-the-scenes look at the next rocket launch of a NASA Earth-observing satellite.

Submissions will be accepted until May 31, 2012.

For more information, official contest rules and to see the winning video from last year, visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/earthday-vid-2012.html.

If you have any questions about this contest, please email Patrick Lynch at Patrick.Lynch@nasa.gov.

Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge – Begins March 28, 2012

Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge

Tournament Details.

Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge

NASA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT’s Space Systems Laboratory are offering the opportunity to design experiments that will be tested in space aboard the International Space Station.

The Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge is a programming tournament that uses bowling ball-sized spherical satellites aboard the International Space Station. These Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES, are used inside the space station to test maneuvers for spacecraft performing autonomous rendezvous and docking.

This challenge opens the SPHERES satellite research platform to the general public for the first time. The goal of the tournament is to write a computer program to control a satellite to dock with a space object that may be tumbling through space. The best algorithm submissions from simulation competitions will be tested in microgravity on real SPHERES satellites aboard the International Space Station.

The Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge is open to anyone 13 years of age or older who meets eligibility requirements. Participants may work individually or in teams of up to 50 members to write their own algorithms to fly the satellites in the station.

The contest runs March 28 – April 25, 2012. Registration is now open and teams must join the competition by April 20, 2012. For more information, visit http://www.zerorobotics.org/web/zero-robotics/tournament-details?tournamentId=6.

The Zero Robotics project, a component of the ISS National Laboratory Education Project, or NLEP, is facilitated by MIT, TopCoder and Aurora Flight Sciences, continues the science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, focus of the SPHERES facility. The Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge expands on a pilot program performed in 2009, 2010 and 2011. By making the benefits and resources of the space program tangible to high school and college students, Zero Robotics is designed to inspire future scientists and engineers. Students will have the opportunity to push their limits and develop skills in STEM. This program builds critical engineering skills, such as problem solving, design thought process, operations training, team work and presentation skills.

MIT’s Space Systems Laboratory started operations of SPHERES in 2006 to provide DARPA, NASA and other researchers with a long-term test bed for validating technologies critical to the operation of future satellites, docking missions and satellite autonomous maneuvers. The satellites provide opportunities to test a wide range of hardware and software at an affordable cost.

For additional information about NASA and MIT’s Zero Robotics program, visit http://www.zerorobotics.org.

For additional information about DARPA, visit http://www.darpa.mil.

Join the 2012 Hubble’s Hidden Treasures Competition | ESA/Hubble

Enter the Hubble's Hidden Treasures Competition by May 31, 2012

Join the 2012 Hubble’s Hidden Treasures Competition | ESA/Hubble.

Over two decades in orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope has made a huge number of observations. Every week,  new images are published on the ESA/Hubble website.

But hidden in Hubble’s huge data archives are still some truly breathtaking images that have never been seen in public. We call them Hubble’s Hidden Treasures — and we’re looking for your help to bring them to light.

We’re inviting the public into Hubble’s vast science archive to dig out the best unseen Hubble images. Find a great dataset in the Hubble Legacy Archive, adjust the contrast and colours using the simple online tools and submit to our Hubble’s Hidden Treasures Contest Flickr group, and you could win an iPod Touch in our Hubble’s Hidden Treasures Competition.

For an extra challenge, why not try using the same software that the professionals use to turn the Hubble data into breath-taking images? Download the data from the Hubble Legacy Archive, process using powerful open-source software such as the ESO/ESA/NASA FITS Liberator and make a beautiful image for our Hubble’s Hidden Treasures Image Processing Contest Flickr group. And you’ll be in with a chance to win an iPad.

Both parts of the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures competition close May 31, 2012.

The best datasets that you identify will also be featured as future pictures of the week and photo releases on spacetelescope.org.

For more information, watch Hubblecast 53, and visit the Hidden Treasures webpage at http://www.spacetelescope.org/hiddentreasures

National Spaced Out Sports Design Challenge – Deadline March 16, 2012

Students in grades 5-8 can compete to create a game for the International Space Station astronauts to play in space.

Students in grades 5-8 throughout the United States are invited to participate in Spaced Out Sports, a national design challenge that applies Newton’s Laws of Motion by designing a game for the International Space Station astronauts to play in space. The goal is for students to learn the science behind the game on Earth and in microgravity.

Students will submit game demonstrations via a playbook and video. Submissions will be accepted from schools, home school groups, after-school or enrichment programs. Awards include: First Place — NASA school-wide or program-wide celebration (U.S. teams only); top three teams — games played on the space station and recorded for a future broadcast; all contributing schools and programs — opportunity to participate in a Digital Learning Network webcast with astronauts on the space station.

Entries are due March 16, 2012.

Spaced Out Sports student and educator resources include posters, bookmarks, curriculum guides, career videos and Digital Learning Network modules. All include NASA astronauts, engineers and celebrity sports figures engaging students in relevant space-sports connections by explaining and demonstrating the science behind their work and/or games. Featured are: former astronaut and NASA Associate Administrator for Education Leland Melvin and astronaut Nicole Stott; Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin; NASCAR’s Juan Pablo Montoya; basketball’s Temeka Johnson; football/Super Bowl champions New Orleans Saints; and hockey’s Ryan O’Reilly and the Colorado Avalanche.

Spaced Out Sports is managed by NASA’s Stennis Space Center Education through the Teaching From Space Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston.

For more information and to register for the challenge, visit http://education.ssc.nasa.gov/spacedoutsports

Discovery Channel Seeking America’s Top Inventors, Machinists, and Engineers to Compete for a Huge Grand Prize! – Apply by March 7, 2012

Apply by March 7, 2012 to participate in the Discovery Channel's new show, Top Engineer!

(this just in from Pilgrim Studios!)

Are you a designer who can build? Are you a machinist who can design?

The Discovery Channel is looking for America’s most creative and daring techies, machinists, inventors, and engineers to design, build, and BLAST their way to a grand prize on a new competition TV show called TOP ENGINEER.

A handful of lucky men and women will be chosen to take on exciting challenges from various engineering filed a the state-of-the-art WET Design facilities in California (http://www.wetdesign.com).

No, you don’t need to have an engineering degree to compete on this show, but you MUST be able to design, build, test, and integrate an idea into a final product that WORKS. These will be fast-paced, hands-on, VISCERAL challenges! If your experience is strictly behind the keyboard, then this show is NOT for you.

We are looking for visual effects experts, accomplished home shop machinists, contractors, and engineers with backgrounds in electrical, civil, structural, or mechanical engineering.

If you have an outgoing personality and are ready to get your hands dirty for the chance to win a grand prize and the title of TOP ENGINEER, then we want to hear from you.

APPLY TODAY! Deadline March 7, 2012

email topengineercasting@gmail.com with your name, age, location, phone number, a recent photo and a brief explanation of why you are perfect for this competition show.

Deadline to submit is MARCH 7. 2012. Applicants must be US citizens or residents at least 21 years of age. For more information, please visit http://www.pilgrimstudios.com/casting/topengineer

2012 Army-Navy Bridge Design Challenge – Deadline March 1, 2012

The U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy are proud to announce the first-ever Army-Navy Bridge Design Contest. This competition is a special edition of the national West Point Bridge Design Contest, created specifically for 6th- and 7th-grade students. The contest provides students with a realistic introduction to engineering through an engaging, hands-on design experience.

Students may work as individuals or in teams of two. There’s no cost to enter the competition. Contestants may compete on behalf of either the Army or the Navy. Students must enter this contest through a teacher sponsor. No individual submissions will be accepted.

Design submissions are due March 1, 2012. Top designs will advance to semifinal competitions. The top Army semifinalist and the top Navy semifinalist will compete in a final round competition at West Point in May 2012.

For more information about this competition, visit http://bridgecontest.usma.edu/armynavy.htm
Questions about this competition should be directed to wpbedc1@gmail.com.