Create an Innovative Product for use in Aerospace Exploration

The Aerospace Exploration category encompasses a wide variety of topics ranging from vehicles to spacesuits to planetary exploration to satellites, and many other related subjects including space medicine.

Planetary exploration is related to exploration of the Moon or other planetary bodies, such as Mars. Unmanned spacecraft (such as the Mars Rovers or the Cassini-Huygens mission) are often the current explorers the great unknown, but future missions involving humans are on the horizon.

In the meantime, human spaceflight is currently taking place on the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle (U.S.), the Soyuz (Russia), and the Shenzhou (China). The U.S. government is currently developing vehicles and infrastructure to return to the Moon. And commercial space vehicles, both suborbital and orbital, are also undergoing development and testing to begin carrying passengers in the near term. One commercial company is even testing inflatable modules for future space tourism and research use. There is much opportunity for innovative ideas and solutions to the many challenges involved with space exploration.

The satellite industry has become an extremely important and profitable business worldwide. GPS, satellite television, cell phones, and high-resolution, high altitude imagery are all reliant upon the hundreds of satellites orbiting the earth. Satellites are also used to collect important data about the Earth's environment, and allows scientists to monitor any changes.

As human spaceflight becomes more and more prevelant as does space biomedicine. In effort to bring new innovative products, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute will be awarding one team with a grant for the best aerospace related human helath product. Please refer to the awards page for more information regarding this special award.

August, 2009 – Registration opens

December 15, 2009 – Team Product Submissions Due

January 8, 2010 – Finalist Teams Selected and Notified

February 19, 2010 – Finalist Teams Matching Grant Fundraising Deadline

March 26, 2010 – Finalist Teams’ Deliverables Due

March 29, 2010 through April 9, 2010 – Public Voting

April 8, 2010 through April 12, 2010 – Innovation Summit & Final Competition to Select Winning Laureates

April 12, 2010 – Laureate Teams Selected and Announced

September 17, 2010 – Laureate “Phase A” Reports Due

Items that must be submitted to the Conrad Foundation during the course of this program:

Team Product Submissions (due 12/15/09) – to be selected as a finalist team (see Section 2 Rules)

• Technical concept report
• Business plan
• Graphic representation

Finalist Deliverables Submissions (due 3/26/10) – to be selected as a laureate team

• Innovation Summit Presentation
• Finalist acknowledgement form
• Next step plan
• Team video
• Team logo
• Team profile information
• Blog posts

Laureate Requirements – items required as part of the Laureate programs

• Laureate acknowledgement form
• Portal request
• Phase A report (due 9/17/10)

Semi-Finalists – teams recognized for significant progress (selected January 8, 2010)

• Recognition Certificate

Finalists – top teams invited to participate in the final competition (selected January 8, 2010)

• $1000 matching grant (pending matching funds raised by the team)
• Recognition certificates
• Promotional media opportunities
• Invitation to the Innovation Summit and final awards competition

Laureates – top teams chosen from finalists (selected April 12, 2010)

• $5000 Next Step grant.
• Access to online fundraising tools
• Recognition medallions
• Promotional media opportunities
• Conrad Portal selection consideration.
• AIAA student membership.
• Sigma Xi Associate membership.

National Space Biomedical Research Institute-

• $5,000 National Space Biomedical Research Institute Prize for Innovation in Space Exploration Health Care will be awarded to one team for the best aerospace-related human health product.

AIAA Awards-

• Each of the winning student-up to 30- will receive a 1 year student membership to AIAA.
• The teacher will receive an Educator Associate membership, which will qualify them for a $200 grant, if not previously received and participation in all AIAA programs
• The winning teams will be invited to participate in the Space 2010 Conference and Exhibit Education Alley September 27-29 2010 in Anaheim, CA. In addition, they will be invited to present to the Space Technical Committees meeting during the Space Conference. Note: no travel funding is included in this award.

SECTION 1: Registration Eligibility Rules (8/1/09-12/15/09)

1. Entrant teams can be composed of no more than 5 students.
2. Entrant teams must have 1 official adult supervisor above the age of 18.
3. All team members must be enrolled in high school, 9th - 12th grade (or the equivalent in their country or home schooling level) for the fall 2009 semester.
4. No team member can have reached their 19th birthday as of the submission deadline, December 15, 2009.
5. The Conrad Foundation reserves the right to disqualify a team at any point in the registration, submission, or judging process if it does not meet one or more of these rules.
6. Students may compete in multiple categories but can only belong to 1 team per category.

Categories:

1. 1. Aerospace Exploration – create an innovative product for use in aerospace exploration.
   2. Space Nutrition – design and manufacture a nutrition bar for consumption in spaceflight.
   3. Renewable Energy – create a new, clean product that uses renewable energy to change everyday life.
   4. Green Schools - assess the environmental impact of your school, and create or improve upon a system to generate a healthier, higher performance learning environment.
2. Each team advisor must acknowledge that they have read and understand the terms and conditions set forth in the competition rules in order for the team to be eligible for any awards.
3. The competition is open internationally; there are no geographic restrictions on eligibility.
4. Students who have competed in the past:
   1. May compete again so long as they still meet the above criteria.
   2. And won any awards may only submit the same product if significant advancements or changes are demonstrated.

SECTION 2: Team Product Submission Rules (12/15/09 Deadline)

1. Each student AND each team must be registered on the Spirit of Innovation Awards website.
2. Submissions must be entirely the work of the student team members. The team’s supervisor may guide the team but may not do any writing of the submissions, and may not have excessive influence on the concept design. (The determination of excessive influence is the sole discretion of the award management team).
3. Submissions must not copy or use other materials without properly citing the source.
4. Submissions will be judged based upon a 25 point matrix with 5 categories: Innovation, Practicality, Completeness, Marketability, and Relevance. Details of the scoring criteria are explained in Section 5 below.
5. Teams must submit the following three items electronically via the Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award website no later than midnight Eastern Standard Time, December 15, 2009:
   1. “Technical Concept Report” – An explanation of the concept’s technical and scientific details.

A. Overall Format:

• • • • PDF, or MS Word compatible format.
      • No less than 10 point font with ¾ inch margins.
      • Max. 10 single space pages and 2 single space pages of appendices.
      • Facts must be supported by references that are properly cited.

B. Content:

• • • • Executive summary – brief outline of the concept. (max. 1 single spaced page.)
      • Need statement – information and resources on why the concept is important and how it will be used in the selected industry. (max. 2 single spaced pages.)
      • Concept details – detailed description of the concept’s conceived function, operations, proposed development, and any other information about the technical or scientific knowledge that will make this product successful. (max. 7 single spaced pages.)
      • Appendix – charts, images, bibliography, etc. (optional max. 2 single spaced pages.)
  • “Business Plan” – An explanation of the concept’s market, expected development costs, and sales strategy.

A. Overall Format:

• • • • PDF, or MS Word compatible format.
      • No less than 10 point font with ¾ inch margins.
      • Max. 6 single space pages.
      • Facts must be supported by references that are properly cited.

B. Content:

• • • • Market – who the concept will be sold to, and how it will be sold.
      • Financials – Details should include profits and benefits to all associated parties, breakdowns of product development costs and selling price. If the concept has multiple parts, a financial analysis for each part should be provided.
      • Selling points – a set of key points that explain what makes their concept unique and better than anything similar that is on the market.
      • Competitive Reference - an assessment of if there is anything similar to what they are doing already in the marketplace. If so, what, and how is the team product different/better.
      • Exit Strategy – if the concept were to become viable in the commercial marketplace, what is the exit strategy for the team (for example, selling IP rights to a larger entity, creating a company, etc).
  • “Graphic Concept Representation” - This can be from a computer graphic program (CAD, Photoshop, etc…), drawing, 3-d computer model, or photographs of an actual prototype or model. The final product must be uploaded as a part of the team’s submission documents. It must be in a JPEG, GIF, TIFF, or PDF format.
• A Team’s initial submission will only be considered if all three files (Technical Concept Report, Business Plan, and Graphic Representation) have been uploaded by the submission deadline.
• The Conrad Foundation will post each team’s name, members, city and state to the website. Each team has the option of posting their submission details to the public profile sections of the Conrad Award website. It is the responsibility of each team to determine how much detail about their concept is publicly viewable. The Conrad Foundation accepts no responsibility for any damages due to publicly posting a team’s concept information.

SECTION 3: Finalist Submission Rules (1/8/10-4/12/10)

Teams selected as finalists (notified by January 8, 2010) must abide by the following rules in order to participate in the final competition to be selected as a Spirit of Innovation Awards Laureate:

1. Finalist Acknowledgement Form – (due March 26, 2010) all finalist team supervisors must submit completed Finalist Acknowledgement Forms to the Conrad Foundation.
2. Next Step Plan (due March 26, 2010) – finalists must create and submit a Next Step Plan that outlines how they intend to use the $5000 Laureate Grant toward the commercialization of their product over the following summer ($1000 of the grant will go to the team’s coach, $1000 to the team’s school/organization, and $3000 to be used to pursue the next step plan). Industry advisers will assist the teams in the refinement of their product and the creation of a viable Next Step Plan. Specifically, the plans must include:
   1. Statement of Work: a description of the team’s action plan and goals.  What will the team achieve? A series of experiments? A working prototype? A market study?
   2. R&D Process: factual details such as identification and quantity of materials needed, quantifiable labor needed, intended research and experiments, and process for development of a prototype;
   3. Itemized Budget: itemization of the cost of each individual item described in the R&D process including any labor, materials, facilities, or other costs.
   4. Timeline: deadlines for each step of the stated R&D process (to be completed by September 2010).
3. Video (due March 26, 2009) – Each finalist team must upload at least one video to their Conrad Awards profile. Videos will be displayed on the team’s website profile and should be no more than 5 minutes in length. Include any information that will help the public understand the concept. Any videos posted with inappropriate content will be immediately removed and will result in the disqualification of the team.
4. Logo (due no later than March 26th) – each finalist team must upload an official team logo. This can be a pre-existing image, or one that is created specifically for this competition. This logo will represent the team in all future competition materials and be displayed on the team’s web profile.
5. Team Profile Information (due no later than March 26th) – each finalist team must ensure that there is an overview (in 200 words or less) of their team and product posted to their website profile.
6. Blog Posts (due no later than March 26th) – each team is required to post at least 3 blog posts to their team profile. Blogs can discuss anything that the team would like to mention in connection with their journey through the Spirit of Innovation process.
7. Attend & Present at the Innovation Summit (April 8-12, 2010, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California) – each team will have a 10 minute presentation of their product and 10 minute question and answer session from the judges. Presentations should explain both the technical and business aspects of the team’s concept.

SECTION 4: Laureate Team Rules

All award Laureates will be selected by a combination of public vote and judging at the Innovation Summit (see section 5). Laureates will be announced at the closing ceremony of the Summit. Each Laureate team is required to complete the following:

1. 1. Laureate Acknowledgement Form (due prior to receiving the Laureate Grant) – the team’s supervisor must complete the Laureate Acknowledgement Form to certify that they understand the rules and terms of receiving the Laureate grant.
   2. Portal Request (due prior to receiving the Laureate Grant) – the team’s supervisor must complete a portal request stating whether or not they would like their team to be considered for entry into the Conrad Foundation’s Portal program. The Conrad Portal is an opportunity for the team to gain educational experience in business and industry by working with professional advisers to help commercialize their product.
   3. Phase A Report (due by September 17th, 2010) – each laureate team must write a “Phase A” report outlining what they have achieved during their summer project. Reports should include results of their summer work, and expected next steps in their product development.

SECTION 5: Judging Rules

Submissions will be judged in two rounds:

1. Round 1: Selecting Finalists. Teams with the highest scores out of a total of 25 points will be selected as finalists and invited to participate in the Innovation Summit. An expert judging panel will judge all eligible electronic submissions and select the finalists. Finalist teams will be chosen on the sole discretion of this judging panel. Other teams not selected as finalists but receiving high scores will be recognized as semi-finalists and receive honorable mention recognition. Round 1 submissions will be evaluated from 1 to 5 (1 being poor, 5 being best) in each of these five categories:
   1. Innovation – how new or unique is the idea? Does the product already exist?
   2. Practicality – is the idea based on sound principles? Does it work?
   3. Completeness – how complete is the idea, have any major areas been overlooked?
   4. Marketability – How well does the team understand the market for their idea? Would anyone want to buy the product? How effective is the team’s proposed marketing plan?
   5. Relevance – How important is the idea to the industry? Does the product represent a substantial improvement in its industry?

1. Round 2: Selecting Laureates. Laureates will be selected by a combination of an expert judging panel at the Summit (90 points) plus the score from public voting on the Spirit of Innovation website (10 points). The teams with the highest overall scores (perfect score = 100 points) will be selected as Spirit of Innovation Laureates. The judging matrix is as follows:
   1. Innovation Summit Judging Panel
      1. Presentation: Technical
         1. Internal factor review: how well does the team explain how their product works (10 points)
         2. External factor review: how well does the team understand any potential external factors that may impact their product? (10 points)
         3. Industry need – Has the team sufficiently demonstrated a high level of industry need for and benefit from their product? (10 points)
      2. Presentation: Business
         1. Design – how well designed is the concept? Will it be easy to market? Are their any technical flaws that could lead to poor business returns? (10 points)
         2. Costs – How well does the team understand the cost of creating their concept? (10 points)
         3. Market – Does the team understand their target audience and the market for their product? What would the cost be to the consumer? Who are their potential competitors? How many products would they expect to sell? What is the sales strategy? (10 points)
         4. Overall Presentation of Concept – how well does the team present? Are they able to show that theirs is a good business concept? (10 points)
      3. Next Step Plan:
         1. Practicality: is the team’s plan something that can be achieved within budget and in the time frame suggested? (10 points)
         2. Results: are the results of the team’s plan something that will move them closer to a commercial product? (10 points)
   2. Voting Public
      1. 1. Any member of the public will be able to vote for their favorite team through the Spirit of Innovation Website between March 26, 2010 and Midnight April 11, 2010.
         2. Votes will be scored by the percentage of the largest number of votes received in their category. A maximum of 10 points is provided to the team with the most public votes. Other teams will receive a percentage of that based on their number of votes.
            1. Example: if Team A, B, and C are all in the same category, and Team A gets 100 votes and has the most votes out of all the finalist teams in their category, and Team B gets 70 votes, and Team C gets 30 votes, their scores for the public vote will be:

Team A = 100/100 = 100% = 10 points

Team B = 70/100 = 70% = 7 points

Team C = 30/100 = 30% = 3 points

1. 1. 1. 1. Public votes will also be counted toward the “People’s Choice Award.” This Award will be given to the team with the single highest number of votes in each category of the Spirit of Innovation program.

SECTION 6: Team Fundraising, Sponsorship, and Portal Rules

All registered teams are provided resources and opportunities to acquire sponsors and funds to support their team’s product development work in addition to any award money that may be provided through the competition. These tools include:

1. For all Registrants (August 2009 through January 8, 2010)
   1. Profile Donations – each registered team will have an online profile that will accept 501.c.3 tax deductible donations earmarked for the team. If the team is NOT selected as a finalist, these donations will be provided to the team within 30 days of the finalist notification date (January 8, 2010). Any money donated must be used by the team or their school/organization to encourage excellence in science and technology.
   2. Team Sponsors – there is an opportunity for a team to recognize any sponsors on their online profile.
2. For Finalists (January 9, 2010 – April 12, 2010)
   1. Profile Donations – each finalist team will continue to be able to raise money through their profile donation page. Money raised through February 19th, 2010 will be applied to the Matching Grant from the Conrad Foundation (See SECTION 7 for more details). Use of this money is restricted for the purpose of the team’s participation in the Innovation Summit, and continuing the development of their product.
   2. Team Sponsors – there is an opportunity for a team to recognize any sponsors on their online profile.
   3. The Conrad Portal – a team may have the opportunity to join the Conrad Foundation’s Portal program. If selected to join, the Portal can serve as an agent to the team and assist them in pursuing commercial opportunities for their product.

1. For Laureates
   1. Profile Donations – each Laureate team will continue to be able to raise money through their profile donation page. Money raised will be able to be applied to the continued development of the team’s product, or if the team has taken the product as far as they wish to go, any additional funds will be distributed to the team’s school to enhance continued excellence in science and technology.
   2. Team Sponsors – there is an opportunity for a team to recognize any sponsors on their online profile.
   3. The Conrad Portal – a team may have the opportunity to join the Conrad Foundation’s Portal program. If selected to join, the Portal can serve as an agent to the team and assist them in pursuing commercial opportunities for their product.

SECTION 7: Award Rules

Awards are provided to Finalist and Laureate teams to help gain recognition, connections, and resources to continue the development of their product. These awards include:

1. For Semi-finalists (Announced January 8, 2010) – any team recognized as having achieved significant progress in developing a viable product, but not having gone far enough to participate in the final awards competition).
   1. Recognition Certificate – each student is officially recognized as a Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Awards Semi-Finalist.
2. For Finalists (Announced January 8, 2010)
   1. $1000 matching grant – on February 19, 2010, the Conrad Foundation will provide each Finalist team with a grant in the amount equal to what they have raised through their online profile up to $1000.
   2. Recognition certificates – each student will be provided a certificate officially recognizing them as a Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award Finalist.
   3. Promotional media opportunities – Finalist teams will be provided assistance in connecting with local/regional media outlets to help promote their team.
   4. Invitation to the Innovation Summit and final awards competition – each finalist team is invited to the Innovation Summit held at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California on April 8 – 12, 2010. The team will have the opportunity to compete for the final awards.
   5. Portal Consideration – each Finalist team will be considered for the Conrad Portal, a mentoring and educational program designed to assist teams grow as individual innovators, businesspeople and scientists through the practical development of their product ideas.
3. For Laureates (Announced April 12, 2010)
   1. $5000 Next Step Grant – each Laureate team will receive a $5000 Next Step Grant to continue the development of their product. Grant money will be divided for the following use:
      1. $1000 Team coach stipend
      2. $1000 Team school or organization stipend.
      3. $3000 Next Step Plan summer project, restricted for use as outlined in the team’s submitted Next Step Plan.
   2. Recognition medallions – each Laureate team member will receive a Conrad Medallion and certificate officially recognizing them as a Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Awards Laureate.
   3. School Plaque – one recognition plaque will be given to each Laureate team to recognize the team’s accomplishment at their school.
   4. Promotional media opportunities – Laureate teams will be provided assistance in connecting with local, regional, and national media outlets. Additional presentation opportunities will be available to Laureates through partner events and activities.
   5. Presentation Invitations – each Laureate team will be invited to present their products at various Conrad Foundation partner events.
   6. Portal Consideration – each Laureate team will be considered for the Conrad Portal, a mentoring and educational program designed to assist teams grow as individual innovators, businesspeople and scientists through the practical development of their product ideas.
   7. AIAA student membership – All Laureates will be provided one year student membership to AIAA.
   8. Sigma Xi Associate membership – All Laureates will be provided one year associate membership to Sigma Xi.

The Conrad Foundation reserves the right to use all information including but not limited to team concepts, videos, pictures, and names on any promotional materials. The Foundation will not use team information for any purpose other than promoting the competition without consent of the team.

The Conrad Foundation reserves the right to update competition rules at any time for any reason. All registered teams will receive notice of any changes to the rules.

Its been over 4 decades since man last stepped on the Moon; however, there is a growing interest in returning among commercial companies and national space agencies like NASA. We challenge high school teams to develop their own lunar enterprise. What business would you create around a lunar mission? What would you do? How would you pay for it? Sign up to compete in this program by showing us that you have the best lunar business enterprise.

Resources

Moon site mapping the entire moon - http://www.google.com/moon/

Information about past, present and future of moon exploration - http://www.lip.usra.edu/expmoon/

NASA Missions home - http://www.nasa.gov/missions/index.html

Ask Polaris - http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=821

Ask an Engineer - http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=214

Future personal spaceflight participants may also fly aboard suborbital transportation vehicles, produced by companies such as Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Armadillo Aerospace, XCOR Aerospace, EADS Astrium, and/or Rocketplane Limited.

Would you rather orbit the Earth? Other than Space Adventures, which currently arranges trips to the ISS, private companies such as SpaceX, Excalibur Almaz, and Bigelow Aerospace are developing spacecraft which would support orbital personal spaceflight in the future.

The Personal Spaceflight Federation - http://www.personalspaceflight.org/

NASA Living in Space homepage - http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/living/

Introduction to living in space - http://www.spacefuture.com/habitat/living.shtml

Living in the International Space Station - http://www.pbs.org/spacestation/station/living/htm

The Spirit of Innovation Awards is an opportunity for teams of 1-5 students to create products that will solve real world problems, from challenges in aerospace exploration and space nutrition to renewable energy and sustainable schools. By combining education, innovation and entrepreneurship, not only can you create a product, you will, if selected, be invited to attend the Innovation Summit where you will present your ideas to world level venture capitalists, angel investors, business leaders, and scientists. Selected teams will receive funding to continue the development of their products and may go on to participate in The Portal where they may choose to patent their product and have an opportunity to enter the commercial marketplace.

Take a look at some of your competition in the Aerospace Exploration category below, and then Sign-up Your Team to compete today!. You can also Search for your Friend's Team here.