Why should Elon Musk have all the fun?
Yesterday at South By Southwest, DIYROCKETS and Sunglass announced a new competition for an “Open Source 3D Printed Rocket Engine” that would be capable of sending nano-satellites into orbit. The competition starts tomorrow and runs through June. Here’s more information from DIYROCKETS and Sunglass:
“The competition opens for registration at South By Southwest (SXSW) on March 9, and challenges makers, designers and space entrepreneurs to create open source rocket engines that will serve the growing market for small payload delivery into low earth orbit and ultimately, disrupt the space transportation industry.
Although several companies have recently made strides in showcasing the power of the private sector in space exploration, DIYROCKETS is taking this a step further by creating the first of many competitions that encourages the fusion of creativity, technology and collaboration by people across the globe. Utilizing Sunglass’s cloud-based platform to visualize, collaborate, manage versions and exchange feedback on each design with team members and the public from anywhere on the globe, the contest aims to dramatically drive down design costs, while creating innovative technology for all types of space hardware and parts, ranging from space propulsion to space medical sensors. Teams will have the freedom to work in a 3D design environment of their choice such as SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, Rhino or CATIA, while syncing their project to the Sunglass cloud.
DIYROCKETS’ strategic partnership with Sunglass is the first step in making space design open and collaborative, as the company is offering full usage of its collaborative design platform to all contestants. As the leading prize sponsor of the challenge, Sunglass will award a total of $10,000 in prizes for the winning designs, focusing on technical aspects as well as collaborative teamwork.
Shapeways.com, the world’s leading 3D Printing marketplace and community, will also be providing $500 in free 3D printing to help create each of the top two designs, which will be judged by legendary inventor, Dean Kamen, TED Senior Fellow and Crew Commander of the NASA-funded HI-SEAS Mars simulation, Angelo Vermeulen, and a panel of industry experts hailing from NASA, MIT, TED among others.”
You can learn more about the competition here.
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