J.D. Harrington / Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241/1979
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov/michael.j.braukus@nasa.gov
Lynnette Madison
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-1089
Lynnette.b.madison@nasa.gov
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-113
STUDENTS BUILD SPACE HABITATS AT NASA'S JOHNSON SPACE CENTER
HOUSTON -- University students are helping NASA develop potential
habitats for future space missions. Three teams from across the
country will visit NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston during June
to show off the inflatable space lofts they've designed and built for
the inaugural eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation
Challenge.
One of the habitats will be chosen to participate in NASA's annual
Desert Research and Technology Studies (Desert-RATS) field test in
September, where it will be tested as part of a simulated astronaut
mission to an asteroid. The winning team will receive $10,000 to
offset costs associated with its participation.
The three university teams will each spend one week in Houston setting
up their habitat for judging. News media representatives are invited
to see the student innovations from 2 to 4 p.m. CDT during the next
three Thursdays. The schedule is:
-- June 9: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater
-- June 16: University of Maryland, College Park
-- June 23: University of Wisconsin, Madison
To RSVP for any of these opportunities, reporters must contact
Lynnette Madison at lynnette.b.madison@nasa.gov by 5 p.m. on each
preceding Wednesday.
In June 2010, NASA invited university teams to submit inflatable loft
concepts for the X-Hab Challenge. Three competing universities were
chosen, and those teams received $48,000 of seed funding to assist
with their projects.
The competition is designed to engage and retain students in science,
technology, engineering and math disciplines, which in turn will help
develop the next generation of innovators and explorers. It could
also result in new concepts and solutions that NASA could apply to
later exploration habitats.
X-Hab is sponsored by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
and the Innovative Partnerships Office in the Office of the Chief
Technologist at agency headquarters in Washington. For more
information about the X-Hab competition, and for updates about the
designs of each school, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/analogs/xhab_challenge.html
For more information about D-RATS, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/desertrats
Updates about the activities will also be available via Twitter at:
https://twitter.com/DESERT_RATS
-end-
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