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Fifty-four students, teachers and mentors participated in the South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã Space Design Competition at South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University March 8-9 with the top students advancing to the world championship at Kennedy Space Center in July.

Students came from high schools in South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã, Iowa and Minnesota. Participants were matched with other students they did not know in order to add to the communications challenge.

Working as teams, students were tasked with developing a request for proposals for a settlement in space. The contest focused on initial settlements and beginning economic activity near and on Mars, so it was a good chance for students to exercise creativity and gain knowledge about what it takes to live in space.

Six of the 18 members from the winning team, RockDonnell, were chosen to advance. They included robotic builders and drivers, asteroid mining, space manufacturing, lunar and Mars landing vehicles and orbital resorts.

Another six students qualified to compete at the world championship based on either their quiet leadership or creative vision.

Jenny Bickett, events coordinator with the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering, said, “The students continue to amaze me with their creativity and all the hard work they put into completing their project. They were working with complete strangers, lack of sleep and on a short deadline. They left with new lifelong friends. They should all be extremely proud of what they accomplished in a short time.â€�

The contest is part of an international event sponsored by Industry Simulation Education, which has been designing aerospace engineering contests since 1984, and was hosted in South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã by the Lohr College of Engineering.