Past Finalists
Michael and Talia - First Place Winner - created a pair of sunglasses that, while blocking the solar radiation prevalent throughout space, also non-invasively monitor vital signs. Their product would allow for a simpler medical monitoring system for space travelers.
GadAstro - Second Place Winner - created "Magnetorheologicalvisco-elastic" (or MVRE) technology. This material uses magnetic and electric fields to automatically detect any punctures in space materials. This material would be useful in space suits, habitats, and numerous other functions in space travel.
PenguinED - Third Place Winner - arranged a new educational program connecting students directly with space exploration. Their program designs a new space education curriculum taking the top students to the International Space Station and allowing for others to participate in real space exploration through internet connections.
Team SUDDS created the Space Utility Deionization, Deodorization and Sanitation (SUDDS) system. This is a compact washer and dryer appliance designed for use in low-gravity environments such as the Moon. It makes use of sophisticated, space-age technology to be light-weight, mobile, and efficient.
The Las Cruces Civil Air Patrol Cadets created the Space Multisport Belt that provides a space explorer the ability to play Earth sports in space.The Space MultiSports Belt contains multiple gyroscopes that measure your momentum and then sends that information to the CPU. When you rotate your legs to the left, the SMSB will turn you to the left using the power of gyros to counteract your motion to keep you facing the correct direction; when you rotate your legs to the right, you will turn to the right; when you pull your legs up, you will rotate back; and when you bring your legs back, you will rotate forward. The SMSB would encourage development of new recreational facilities in space and allow Astronauts additional ways to counter the negative health effects of micro-gravity.
SEDS-UCF designed the Infinity Space Settlement as a premier center of space exploration. It would serve as a gateway to the infinite reaches of outer space. This settlement would be the chief manufacturing center of technology and the primary scientific research outpost of our solar system. Serving as the gateway to the future of humanity, Infinity will be a permanent base for a unique community of inhabitants, a lavish resort for tourists, and the commercial and financial nucleus of the galaxy. Infinity will be built to remain self-sufficient and conduct varied business ventures, so that it will be infinitely profitable for the settlement's financiers. Chief concerns of the settlement are that the station be built efficiently, in an appropriate amount of time, and provide a safe living environment its inhabitants.
Aerospace Concepts created the Personal Exploration & Discovery Suit, or PEDS. This is a personalized space suit that provides flexibility and comfort to anyone. An important aspect of the suit is that it can be used, and adapted to any environment in space. This suit will provide comfort and full mobility to tourist or astronauts on the moon, mars, or even low-Earth orbit. Compared to the EMU used by NASA, PEDS is several million dollars cheaper, less bulky and lighter, which is a major concern for future space travel. With the personalized features built into the suit, anyone will enjoy and feel more comfortable traveling into space for the first time.
Team Tangent created a solid fuel rocket motor equipped with a convergent to divergent nozzle but influenced with electromagnetism. This concept may solve one of the greatest nuisances that aerospace companies and defense contractors face; shock vibration. The concept includes a properly designed and manufactured convergent to divergent choked flow nozzle (aka Laval Nozzle) and a properly designed electromagnetic field around the motor casement and the nozzle.
The Royals created the Atmospheric Re-entry Generator. This device extracts energy from plasma created as a spacecraft enters the atmosphere, and stores that energy for future use. With the advent of the personal spaceflight industry, for the first time consumers will be spending money for a trip miles above the Earth. Re-entry is a phase of the spaceflight in which the energy used to get out of the atmosphere is utterly wasted, being absorbed back into the atmosphere. If we could recover even a portion of the energy used in the launch stage, it would help compensate for any expended energy during the flight after launch.
Three Tekna Theos Girls developed STAR (Space Traveler's Activity Recorder). This is an accoutrement specifically designed to chronicle the journey of any space traveler. STAR is a small, yet high powered still/video camera attached to the ear piece of a wireless microphone with an LCD (liquid crystal display) screen. Being the first of its kind, STAR enables space tourists of the future to capture amazing pictures of their memorable trip into space.