Museum of Science Fiction Partners with Universities for Competition to Build and Launch CubeSat
The Museum of Science Fiction, the world’s first comprehensive science fiction museum, in partnership with NASA and Cornell University, is excited to announce a global CubeSat competition for high school students with the winning proposals to be built and put on orbit by a future NASA mission. Students will have until January 31, 2016 to submit their proposals. The winners will be announced on April 15, 2016 with an award ceremony at Escape Velocity in Washington, DC on July 2, 2016.
“In space, small is beautiful. Micro-spacecraft will help open the solar system to exploration by small groups, universities, and regular human beings,” remarked David Brin, author of The Postman, Earth, and Existence and member of the Museum of Science Fiction’s Board of Advisors.
CubeSats are small, grapefruit-size spacecraft that use commercially available space technologies and simple logistics for launch and operation. CubeSats usually have a volume of about one liter (a 10 cm cube) and a mass of no more than 1.33 kilograms. While launch services can be purchased from private companies such as XCOR and Nanoracks Inc., NASA offers free launch services through its CubeSat Launch Initiative for educational projects such as the Museum’s competition.
“The core of the Museum of Science Fiction’s mission is education, particularly in the STEM fields,” said Mason Peck, member of the Museum of Science Fiction’s Board of Advisors, Associate Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University, and the Director of Cornell’s Space Systems Design Studio. “Advances in low-cost, high-performance consumer electronics and the rise of Do-It-Yourself technologies bring launching a spacecraft within reach of all of us. With this new opportunity in mind, we propose a competition in which high school students compete to offer the most compelling concept for a new CubeSat, to be implemented, built, and launched by the Museum and its partners.”
Each winning high school team will be paired with a university capable of creating the technology to realize their science fiction visions. Participating universities include: Cornell University, Oregon State University, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the University of Idaho, the University of Kentucky, the University of Vermont, and Arizona State University.
For a full list of contest rules and eligibility requirements, please visit:
http://www.museumofsciencefiction.org/cubesat
More information about this and other activities are available here:
www.museumofsciencefiction.org
escapevelocity.events
About the Museum of Science Fiction
The nonprofit Museum of Science Fiction will be the world’s first comprehensive science fiction museum, covering the history of the genre across the arts and providing a narrative on its relationship to the real world. The Museum will show how science fiction continually inspires individuals, influences cultures, and impacts societies. Also serving as an educational catalyst to expand interest in the science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) areas, the Museum uses tools such as mobile applications and wifi-enabled display objects to engage and entertain. For a full press packet on the Museum of Science Fiction’s vision and other information, please visit: www.museumofsciencefiction.org/presspacket
About the Space Systems Design Studio at Cornell University
The Space Systems Design Studio is part of the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. The Studio seeks ways to take advantage of spacecraft physics to improve space capabilities. For more information on the Space Systems Design Studio, please visit: https://cusat.cornell.edu Media queries and requests should be directed to the Cornell University Media Relations Office: http://mediarelations.cornell.edu
About Escape Velocity 2016
The Museum of Science Fiction and NASA are partnering to bring Escape Velocity 2016 to Washington, DC. The event will be like a micro futuristic world’s fair to promote STEAM educational activities within the context of science fiction using the fun of comic cons and fascination of science and engineering festivals. Escape Velocity 2016 seeks to make a measurable positive impact to boost informal learning on the more conceptually challenging academic areas. Escape Velocity’s mission is to re-invigorate the interest of our young people in science, technology, engineering, art, and math by producing and presenting the most compelling, exciting, educational, and entertaining science festival in the United States using science fiction as the primary engine. Escape Velocity will achieve orbit on July 1 – 3, 2016 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Metropolitan Washington, DC. For a full press packet on Escape Velocity, please visit: escapevelocity.events/press-media
