The NewSpace Business Plan Competition Changes Format for 2014 and Offers $30k in Prizes
The 2014 edition of the NewSpace Business Plan Competition, a Space Frontier Foundation project, has changed its format. This years competitors will compete in a “Lightning Pitch” event with $30,000 in cash prizes sponsored by ATK.
Companies interested in the event had until June 7th to summit their executive summaries. Yesterday the competition released the 8 finalists.
The finalists will compete for the cash prize money at the annual NewSpace conference being held between July 24-26 in San Jose.
On the first day of the conference during the NewSpace Business Plan Competition session, each finalist will give a 4 minute speech followed by a 3 minute question and answer session from what the competition calls the “Shark Tank” Judges. Competition management and oversight will be provided by the NewSpace Business Plan Competition management team and the Space Frontier Foundation.
Then that evening at special reception hosted by the Heinlein Prize Trust the prizes will be awarded. The breakdown of the prizes is a follows:
1st Place- $20,000
2nd Place- $7,500
3rd Place- $2,500
Competing for the prizes are:
Accion Systems, Boston, Massachusetts
The Accion team of MIT PhDs is transforming the small satellite industry with its propulsion systems based on innovative ion beam technology.
Web: http://www.accion-systems.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AccionSystems
Cubecab, Mountainview, California
CubeCab: tiny rockets for CubeSats to LEO. No rideshare, months not years, your own orbit. Do space for cheap, scale to BYO constellations.
Web: http://cubecab.com/
Cuberstation, Palo Alto, California
Cubersation, a California based startup, provides dedicated ground services to nano/micro satellite operators, with its global network.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CubersationInc
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cubersation
Elysium Space, San Francisco, California
Elysium Space combines experience from major NASA space missions and deep-rooted funeral business knowledge to offer affordable memorial spaceflight services.
Web: http://elysiumspace.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elysiumspace
Twitter: https://twitter.com/elysiumspace
Hive, Phoenix, Arizona
Hive delivers small satellites to orbit, en masse, through a patent-pending dispensing module.
RockZip, Michigan City, Indiana
Rockzip designs and builds highballoons that everyone can afford to launch. Start YOUR space program today – fly high and fly often!
Web: http://www.rockzip.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/highballoons
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Highballoons
Space Resources Extraction Technology, Hunstville, Alabama
We will Microwave the moon to extract water from the polar permafrost to produce rocket propellant for exploration of the space frontier.
Terran Sciences Group, Orlando, Florida
TSG is a small company with revolutionary ideas- like safe havens on the Earth, moon, or Mars built from local regolith and a big laser!
Web: http://terransciencesgroup.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terransciencesgroup
