Sunday, December 05, 2010

Prize Roundup: Free Trips, Launch or Fizzle?, Zephyr Aurora, LEGO ISS Challenge?, NASA Crowdsourcing

Win a Free Trip to Space - Discovery News

Space Tourism: Will it go far or fizzle out? - NewSpace Magazine - This is an overview that features several companies involved with space prizes in one way or another.

NASA Launches Innovative Approach to Solve Old Challenges - NASA Ames shows how NASA is using crowdsourcing and InnoCentive internally to solve 3 challenges:

"NASA InternSpace" ... NASA Ames is considering developing a customized social networking and new media communications platform for use by NASA interns, mentors, and managers. ...
"Low Impact Robotic Sensor Platform for Land Survey" ... This challenge is seeking brainstorms and "eureka moments" for alternative sensor platforms. ...
"Measuring Gas Concentrations in Microliter Samples" ... Suggestions are being sought for a new small device (<10 cm3) capable of measuring key gas concentrations in small volumes (10-500 microliters) of gaseous samples.

Team Phoenicia has some new photos:
I'm curious what the LEGO ® Challenge (coming soon) featured on the NASA International Space Station National Laboratory page sidebar is about.  Any more hints?