GADGET - Thank you, Conrad Foundation

We just wanted to say thanks to the Conrad Foundation and all of the wonderful people that we met last weekend! We are still very excited from winning Second Place and plan to continue our project. It is comforting to know that there are so many bright people that will help illuminate our future. -Team GADGET

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DCs Army - The Final Countdown

A la Rocky III, we are making some last minute changes and finishing our presentation before going to be. See you at NASA in a few hours...

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Harwell Asturias Labs - Preparations for Summit

Our presentation is complete, and we are practicing ceaselessly. We gave a presentation at our school, and received many great questions and suggestions from our teachers and friends alike. The insight has helped better our presentation, and we cannot wait for the Innovation Summit!

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DCs Army - The Final Countdown

Ala Rocky II, we are finishing everything up for the Innovation Summit. We are working to finish up the presentation and will see you all Thursday!

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Energy Electrified - Competition is Nearing

Sorry, we have not been able to update the blog on an ongoing basis. Nevertheless, the team feels it might be beneficial for a slight update. We are putting final touches on our design. We have received several appreciated criticisms concerning the pragmatism of design and whether the mechanism is viable. We are currently implementing revisions to make the plan more feasible. The aforementioned will be unveiled at the conference. Best of luck to all the teams!

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The Los Altos Academy of Engineering - Only a few days left

John Chen has finished the primer part of the model and today, we are rehearsing our our presentation. We plan to leave Thursday morning.

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Seattle Instruments - Finalizing

Well the presentation is nearly set in stone. Our model is nearing completion, and Lamond and I are once again hitting the FIRST Robotics Field in Seattle. Our team is doing really well and it has been great so far. Tomorrow we will fight for our place in the finals and hopefully win again like we did in Portland. Gracious Professionalism!!! WE are ecstatic about seeing every ones products in San Francisco.

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TJ ALPHA - 3D Model

Team TJ Alpha is pleased to announce that for the innovation summit, we will have a 3D model of our concept available. This model will be made using a 3D plotter and we hope that it will help everyone to better visualize our idea. More updates on the model to follow! Team TJ Alpha

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Final Frontier Apparel - Final Preparations!!!

We are now tirelessly working on our final preparations, including a new video, powerpoint, prototype, and other aspects of our full presentation. We look forward to presenting our project which we have worked so hard on for so long in front of everyone, and we truly hope that the full potential of our concept is realized. We look forward to meeting each and everyone of you and are sure the Innovation Generation Summit will prove to be a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience. See you all there! Final Frontier Apparel.

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BioH - Position of Power

So, we have been talking to our coach and discussed hooking up our product to the power grid, so consumers of our product could be getting paid. This affects not only the range of consumers, but also our exit strategy. We are looking into this idea. Thought I would update you guys! Thanks, BioH

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BioH - Time is Winding Down

Hey guys! Recently we have been busy working on looking into using fuel cells in the bioreactor rather than combustion. This would produce pure water which in turn could be used to feed the photobacteria we are using. Also, the lack of combustion makes the entire system more efficient and safer. Also we are looking into developing an alternative exit strategy invoving the sale of our venture to an existing utility company. Sorry for late entry! Thanks, BioH

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APEX - Sidenote: Logo

Hello again, we have a new logo up, too. What do you think of it, with regards to it's relevance to the solar-energy theme of our project?

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APEX - Second Update

Hello all, Sorry we've neglected blogging for the past...while...but we've been busy ironing out details in our concept (which we've updated). But we think we've got it mostly ironed out now--mostly thanks to our wonderful coach--and have reflected our new design above. Please do let us know of questions or suggestions for improvements you may have! Accordingly, we have had to revise our graphical representation, and will be uploading that along with a video very shortly. Excited to see you all at the Summit soon! Oh, and best of luck on the forthcoming college decisions, eh? Best, Sam and Darren

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The Los Altos Academy of Engineering - Thanks

We would like to thank the National Space Biomedical Rearch Institute for their support.

Today, we received patches and stickers from National Space Biomedical Rearch Institute. We decided to place the patches on the sleeves. As for working on the model, John Chen has finished the first layer onto the vehicle. Now we have to sand it. Vivian and Eduardo are working revising the presentations.Stephanie is working on calling our mentors.

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We Miss Pluto - "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything one learned in school."

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything one learned in school."

-Albert Einstein

So, just one full week until the Innovation Summit and team We Miss Pluto is ready to go. We've been finishing up our presentation to give at the Summit and just received our schedule for the weekend. Our team just uploaded our second to last video, this one on aspects of the lunar rover design, so look for that to be on our site soon. As well, we will attempt to complete our final video on our business plan and upload it before the Summit.

As always, check out our profile and we look forward to seeing everyone at the Summit,

Joe, Drew, Tyler, and Chase

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GADGET - Aeroponics Video

Find more videos like this on GADGET
We have completed a video on aeroponics! The information in it is very interesting and valuable regarding the MRVE Growing Chamber. Unfortunately, our video camera was laggy, and we had to do some cutting, so it sounds much better than looks. Please watch our video and make some comments.

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Final Frontier Apparel - New photos up, check it out!!!

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NCSSM Unicorns - Update

Hi everyone! We just got in touch with our team coach, Steve Visco, who started his own business in California called Polyplus. Polyplus is a privately held company that has made a breakthrough in lithium metal battery chemistry. Dr. Visco was very knowledgeable on our topic of piezoelectric batteries, and was able to help us calculate the energy output of one of our proposed batteries. He also pointed us in perhaps exploring another direction with the use of our batteries, on the slightly smaller scale of electronics, perhaps with an application to medicine. From this conversation, we have come up with greater variety of uses for our batteries - the most interesting technology we were able to brainstorm was a nanogenerator - high capacity lithium-ion coupled system that can be used to power a pacemaker for an "infinite" amount of time. We are currently working on contacting a sources in order to perhaps start a collaboration in building this coupled battery-generator system and applying it to the world of medicine... Until next time, Team NCSSM Unicorns

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ALGAE
(Advanced Lunar Greenhouse Air Exchange) - College Road Trip

Hey everyone it's Stephen. I just got back from a college road trip with the National Honors Society at my school. The trip was three days long and we got to visit five different schools in Florida. It was a great experience for me and gave me an idea of the college I want to go to.

I look foward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks at the Innovation Summit.

Stephen

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The Los Altos Academy of Engineering - One full week left

On our agenda today, we are working on a video and have to practice our presentation. The model will be done today. We have to make changes to our presentation.

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GADGET - We Finally Figured Out How to Post Our Documents Online!

Team GADGET

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Harwell Asturias Labs - Question about CAD image

Mr. Neubert asked us to describe the CAD image of our MoTGEN. Coincidentally, I was working on a description of the MoTGen for the final presentation when I saw this question. The copper colored layered plates are the heat exchangers. Most visible are the outside cold set which will release the heat to the ocean water. Note: the heat will not affect the ocean temperature, as all of the heat carried in the hydrothermal fluid as it exited the earth was already being dumped into the cold ocean water- our system does not change this. Not as visible are the two inside the dark gray tube, which will pick up heat from the hydrothermal fluid. In the center is the dark gray vent channel, which is situated over the vent and contains the fluid until it has passed both hot heat exchangers. The vent channel will also anchor the MoTGen in place and make a tight seal with the vent so that no heat is lost. Everything (except the heat exchangers) would be covered in insulation, to prevent unwanted heat losses.

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Energy Solutions Group - Omni -Engine Uses

The Omni-engine can be adapted for many uses. The engine can supply electricity, produce heat, provide propulsion and rotational motion. These multiple capabilities make the Omni-engine useful for a variety of applications. For example, some of the applications could be on the lunar surface for operating a moon buggy, lunar rover, jet pack for personal transportation, stove for cooking or a heater. It can also be attached to an auger for drilling and digging. This would increase its usefulness for small scale mining and planting. The availability of electricity is vital for a multitude of instances, such as for lighting operating small tools and other appliances.

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The Renewables - San Francisco Here We Come

Hi Everybody,

We have finally figured out our travel plans for the trip to California. Unfortunately, we can only afford to send two out of the five members of our team. Our conceptual animation is finally finished and should be uploaded shortly. Right now, we are finalizing our concept and fine-tuning the numbers. Those of us who are able to go are really excited about the trip to California.

-Kintin & Jacob

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Final Frontier Apparel - Photos up!!!

Here's the link...View some photos of us here.
We just put up a link under our Team Description from which you can view some pictures of our team in order to get to know us as a team before we meet all of you in person at the Innovation Summit. See you all there, and until then, Final Frontier Apparel

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Final Frontier Apparel - First prototype parts here!!!

Surprisingly, Our first component parts for our prototype arrived today, earlier than expected, which was a very nice surprise. With these first parts in, we will begin working on our prototype and gradually add to it as the parts come in. It's going to be great fun and I hope everyone enjoys seeing and even demoing the finished product. Until then, Final Frontier Apparel

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GADGET - Aeroponic Growing System Example

Here is a video detailing the benefits of growing plants via an aeroponic system on earth. Our system utilizes this technology to diminish water consumption, and grow larger and more full plants.

In regards to a competitive reference to our MRVE Growing Chamber, in 1999, NASA completed the low-mass Inflatable Aeroponics System (AIS). This system is similar in many aspects to our system, but it contains many flaws. Primarily, the system lacks a computer system that accurately monitors the nutrient levels in both the solution and in the air inside the system. Secondly, the system is not completely sealed like the MRVE Growing Chamber. By not being completely sealed, a positive and sustainable pressure level cannot be achieved. This positive pressure gradient is the key in fast plant growth. The pressure aids in faster water and nutrient uptake by the plants. This essentially "forces" plants to absorb higher levels of nutrients than they would in the AIS.

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Seattle Instruments - The Boeing Museum of Flight

Well last week a man named Mr. Seth Margolis from the Museum of Flight in Seattle called my phone. In the background our robotics teacher, Mr. Posey was talking in the background. I was confused. Then I got the picture. The Museum of Flight has offered us the opportunity to implement our Phase A plan ahead of schedule by giving us an information space for a 787 Conference. We will be showing our idea to potentially thousands of industry professionals and getting the feed-back we need to launch us into success, and low earth orbit some day. Well, not us but our idea. You get the picture. Thanks to the Museum of Flight for this great opportunity and if anyone is in Seattle on March 28th, we would love to show you our idea at the Boeing sponsored Museum of Flight.

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TJ ALPHA - Response to Feedback Posted

The past few weeks have been extremely busy for the members of Team TJ Alpha as we take the SATs, finish school projects, and work on our concept design and presentation for the upcoming Innovation Summit. Because of this, we apologize for our delay in responding to many of the recent feedback that has been posted regarding our idea. However, a response to all the unanswered feedback has been posted, and we hope that this response will be able to answer all of your questions. However, if you still have questions regarding our idea or would just like to offer us some helpful suggestions, please offer us feedback on our profile or email us at tj.alpha1@gmail.com.

Once again, we apologize for the delay and hope that the recent updates to our profile page help you all understand more about our concept.

Team TJ Alpha

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Beamers - CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME!

Well...some of us. We have decided that Carlos and Rafael would be attending the Summit in California. Carlos is very excited and eager to go since it's his first time in California. We tried to take all of our members but that is finacially impossible. But I'm sure that Carlos and Rafael would do a great job representing the whole group. The day is almost here. I wish everyone good luck and HAVE FUN!

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DCs Army - Prototype Complete, Video to Follow

Yesterday we spent 7 hours in our friend Jay's garage building our first prototype. We filmed the whole afternoon, from 1 pm to 8 pm. The prototype looks great, and works well with one small electrical problem. We will fix the electrical sometime this week and hopefully make 1 more prototype before the competition. Check back soon for a video about the epic 7 hours of building.

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The Los Altos Academy of Engineering - FINISHED CARVING

Vivian and Stephanie have finally finished carving the model on saturday. It took approximately 2 hours and a half. Eduardo is working on the speech and needs to refine it down. We're finally starting on the final touches of everything. Hopefully the model is finished within 2 days. Stephanie made the catchy new logo and business cards.

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Final Frontier Apparel - Prototype components ordered!!

With our components ordered, we now have to worry about the shipments being made on time. Our parts should be here in the coming 2 weeks and once we recieve them, we will get to work on assembling the prototype. It will be tons of fun and we hope you enjoy the suit as well in the Innovation Summit. Final Frontier Apparel

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TJ ALPHA - Updated Team Concept

Hi everyone. We would first like to thank everyone for their support and helpful feedback about our concept. We apologize for any delays in responding to feedback and promise to do so in the next few days. Meanwhile, our concept description has been updated. Please check it out and let us know what you think.

Thanks!
Team TJ Alpha

P.S As always, you can contact us at tj.alpha1@gmail.com

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Energy Solutions Group - Thank you to the Supporters

Hi Thank you for supporting the Omni-Engine. Isaac Anderson visited with a Colorado School of Mines professor yesterday, who reviewed his project. The professor said this is a real contribution to engine design and an energy solution. He gave him design software so he could try different internal configurations to perfect the engines efficiency for the different applications.

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Final Frontier Apparel - Design finished! Ordering parts for our prototype!

The design stage for our prototype is finished! We will be ordering parts tomorrow, Friday March 12, from a variety of distributors and assembling our prototype suit in the coming weeks. We will keep all of you posted on our progress throughout the construction process. Our first step will be completing our orders, set to be completed tomorrow, Friday March 12th. Next, the completion of the shipping, which should be in by the end of next week. Third, we will be assembling our prototype to exact specifications, set to be done by the week preceding the competition. Its going to be a blast assembling the suit and we're sure it will look absolutely fantastic. See you all at Ames Research Laboratory for the Innovation Summit! Until then, Final Frontier Apparel

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Harwell Asturias Labs - Progress on Presentations

After receiving many questions as to where the image was, we decided to link it here to help out. Enjoy.

On another note, this next week is spring break for us, so we will be taking the time to finalize our new development plan and work on our presentation. We are waiting on some information from our coach, and then we can design our experiment.

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The Los Altos Academy of Engineering - Details are Important!

March 12, 2009 Our first model was less than satisfactory. Stephanie has started working on a second model. So far, it has been shaped. Next, she plans on working on the finer details of the model. Vivian and John Chen have been working on the PowerPoint presentation. They have added details from the technical report to the presentation. Eduardo is still working on our presentation speech. We plan to have the speech shape the powerpoint. Because we are only given 10 minutes, we need to improvise our presentation to say as much as we can in the 10 minute timeframe. We have had several meetings with various engineers and speech coaches to improve our presentation.

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Seattle Instruments - We won... Well FIRST Anyways...

Hi everyone. Lamond and I have been furiously working at finishing our presentation. Last week we were plagued by sickness and rain, sleet, and snow. No lies. Now we are getting back on track and have gotten a power boost from last weeks FIRST Robotics Competition in Portland which our team won. We are ecstatic about this win and hope that everyone else has had something good happen to them recently. It just goes to show that competitions like this one inspire great ideas. The design for our satellite will operate off of a very unique and efficient design that has been in motion since Ford first opened their second factory at Rouge River was invented. A moving rail system will provide efficiency and an ease of operation for all lab procedures and the combination of Fanuc pharmaceutical robotics will make this design launch to success. Just recently we were also featured in the Sea-Tac Times and Highline Times. The community is really behind us!

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DCs Army - More Sponsors, Pete Conrad's Story & First Prototype

First off, a big thanks to everyone who's been voting for us- over 1,000 votes! We recently received generous sponsorships from Rosemont College and St. Joseph's University. Once we receive logos from St. Joe's, Philadelphia Insurance, and The Haverford School, their logos will be added to the team page. We are still talking with other Universities and businesses about more sponsorships. We plan to use the money we have received to buy parts and build our first prototype this weekend! Hopefully we will have pictures and a video of our prototype online sometime next week. Yesterday, we met with our school archivist, Mr. Sandy Mercer, to learn more about Charles (Pete) Conrad Jr.'s story at Haverford. Pete entered Haverford's preschool in 1935 and was a member of the class of 1948; however, Pete did not graduate from Haverford. He attended boarding school after his junior year at Haverford before matriculating to Princeton University. We found several articles and pictures of Pete, which we will incorporate into a video soon. We would like to share one brief anecdote about Pete's time at Haverford that hopefully no one (including Nancy!) has heard. The following story about a Haverford School baseball game was told by School Registrat Charles P. Dethier to The Haverford News: "At ten years of age, it was important that all boys got a chance to play. The team had a one run lead and it didn't look as if Episcopal [Haverford's archrival, a local prep school] would do anything in the fifth and last inning. I considered the bench for a while, and then told Pete to have a try at center field. He picked up his oversize glove and ran into the general area of center field. He had just turned ten years and he still wasn't too experienced in the game. Actually, he was still more interested in collecting gadgets and constructing model airplanes. But Episcopal didn't go to sleep that final inning and I began to doubt the wisdom of the substitution. With two men out, Episcopal had placed men on second and third. The Haverford pitcher was nervous and the situation with the spectating parents wasn't much calmer. A couple of strikes and balls went by. Then the batter smacked a lobbing ball just over the second baseman. The runners on second and third broke home with the winning runs. Pete was watching the zigzag flight of a butterfly across the grass. His back was turned to home plate and his glove was resting on his head. He seemed to see the ball at the last minute and he either tried to catch it or hide behind his mitt. Anyway, the ball fell into his mitt and he snagged it. Pete's face was concentrated amazement. He was the hero of that game." Thanks again to our sponsors and please check back sometime next week for new videos and pictures! And please keep voting! Thanks DC's Army

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Energy Solutions Group - Dimensions

We are currently working the kinks out of the technical part of the design, along with selecting the dimensions. We are also working on the presentation. Thank you to the Conrad Foundation for the stipend.

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The Los Altos Academy of Engineering - Working on the Presentation

As of this week, we are working on the presentation. We have difficulty trying to fit our presentation into a ten minute framework. Stephanie finished the background and John Weng finished the template of the PowerPoint presentation. We were elated to have received the $2000 stipend. We would like to thanks the Pete Conrad Foundation.

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GADGET - GRC 2.2 Second Drop Tower

Here is a video of a "drop" in the GRC's 2.2 Second Drop Tower. This is one of the NASA facilities where we tested the MR Fluid. The orange chamber is the drag shield which creates less air resistance on the experimental chamber so it can experience microgravity. When dropped, the experiment falls down 8 stories into an airbag-- the black thing at the bottom. In the drop tower, the experiment experiences both microgravity and high g forces.

While at the GRC the engineering component of our study on MR fluid failed, we still retrieved data regarding the deformation of the magnetic field under microgravity and high g forces. It turns out that the magnetic field does deform, and the pseudo-lattice that forms the on-state MR fluid will very slightly deform when there are changes in the forces acting upon the chamber.

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NCSSM Unicorns - Preparing!

Hi everyone! We just wanted to update everyone on our progress! We are really excited for the finalist weekend in April and have been preparing diligently. The Development Plan is up for everyone to see and more pictures are coming soon. Please provide any feedback you may have and we're excited to learn new entrepreneurial skills! Also, we have not yet received feedback from an assigned coach, and are looking forward to that!

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DCs Army - Sponsors

First off, thank you so much to everyone who has been voting for us! We presented our concept at an assembly this week before our whole school and our vote total has shot up since then. Second off, we'd like to thank our first sponsors: The Haverford School (our high school) and Philadelphia Insurance Company for their very generous donations. These donations will allow us to build a prototype which we will show to all of you in an upcoming video. We are currently talking with Rosemont College, Haverford College, Villanova University, and the Philadelphia Phillies about more possible sponsorships. Finally, we are meeting with our school archivist this week to discover Pete Conrad's story at Haverford. We will keep you all updated and see you soon in California!

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The Renewables - New video is coming...

Hey Everyone, Our video is almost complete. We are putting our finishing touches on our animation and also putting together a presentation. Hopefully the video will be completed by next week. We are looking forward to visiting California if we are able to. It will be a great experience for all of is; Not only to learn from but to also interact with many other groups with innovative ideas.

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We Miss Pluto - "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different resu

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
-Benjamin Franklin

Hello Everyone,

It snowed in Virginia! Although we missed two days of school this week, We Miss Pluto has been busy updating our profile and getting ready for the Innovation Summit. We finished a video yesterday on Helium-3, explaining what it is and how it is used in fusion reactions. The video will be posted soon, and we hope that it is elucidating. As well, our team completed a call to our advisor in California, although it was 6:20 AM for him, and had some questions answered about the Summit and our Phase A Plan. We are hoping to produce some sort of model or simulation of our lunar rover for the Summit.

As always, thanks for reading and check out our profile,

Joe, Drew, Tyler, and Chase

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Harwell Asturias Labs - Updates on Plan

After a very good meeting with our coach, we are considering a change of our Phase A plan. Instead of writing the 3 mathematical models for our machine, we will only write two of them; in place of the third, we will construct an experiment to test what we derived in one of our models. The test results would provide us with a measure of the accuracy of our models, and also allow us to finalize one of the parameters of our design that would need to be derived experimentally.

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GADGET - The Sky is NOT the Limit

If you want to see more about the possibilities of MR fluid, watch this video.

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Latino College Preparatory Academy Extreme Science - Team Video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=neoURNTwB0Y We posted this video on youtube to get more exposure.

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Seattle Instruments - Thanks for the Feedback

This weekend Sam and I are spending our time in the FIRST robotics competition, but last weekend we received useful feedback from Dr. Barbara Girten of the NASA AMES Research Center. She gave us a new look on our ideas, and helped refine the problems that may arise during the presentation. We thank you very much Dr. Girten, we will work on those problems right away.

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TJ ALPHA - Video Script

Hey! As many of you know, we recently put up a video regarding our design. Here is a script of the video:

*Luke, Allison, Judy, Dan on stage*

Judy: Hi everybody, we are team TJ Alpha. The four of us are juniors at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

*Members of the team introduces each other*

Allison: Alright, now that you’ve gotten to know us a little better, we can move on to talking about our concept, which is the Modular Wave-Powered Ocean House, which we like to call the MWOH.

Luke: Our inspiration for the MWOH was a patent that Google had filed for a floating data center that generated energy using a Pelamis wave power converter. Then we found out about an energy-harvesting wave farm off the coast of Portugal. This was really exciting for me, because before learning about these structures, I didn’t know that you could convert kinetic energy from waves into electrical power.

Dan: Upon learning that electric power can be harnessed from waves, I started thinking of potential ideas that could utilize wave power. One day during chemistry class, an idea suddenly hit me. I thought, what if we created a self sustainable floating house that would be powered by a buoy-like wave power generator? The more I thought about this idea the more I liked it. Not only would this ocean house incorporate the latest renewable energy technologies, it would also appeal to vacationers, ocean lovers, and environmentalists.

Judy: Our concept incorporates an inner hemisphere constrained within a rotating outer shell to which the wave energy converter is tethered that moves freely with the waves. The inner hemisphere is a one-room house with folding screens that divide it into the living room, bathroom and bedroom areas. The MWOH has a floating outer ring surrounding the outer shell on which residents can walk and enjoy the scenery. Beneath the hemisphere and underneath the water, we have a solar still desalination system and containers for waste and water storage. Above the ceiling is a solar-powered air-conditioning system.

Allison: The MWOH is unique to the marketplace in all aspects; while being energy efficient and essentially self-dependant, it is also a chic, classy place for people to relax and enjoy the ocean’s natural beauty. It will be primarily marketed towards hotel companies, who will be able to use these modular houses as units in an exotic, luxurious resort. Think about Dubai’s man-made Palm Islands—they dumped tons of sediment into the Persian Gulf in order to construct the foundations for their commercial and residential infrastructure. Our option, on the other hand, is low-cost, has minimal ecological impact, and uses renewable energy. We are also confident that other parties, such as the Department of Defense and ocean-bound scientists will find that many of the technologies implemented in our design will be useful in their fields. The gyroscopic stabilization system, the integration of living quarters with a wave energy converter, and the use of a carbon fiber reinforced shell all have applications in the military and in scientific research.

Conclusion: And that’s pretty much it! Thank you for watching and please support us by voting for our concept! If you have any questions feel free to email us! Bye!



As always, if you have any questions, please contact us at tj.alpha1@gmail.com and we'll get back to you as soon as we can!

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GADGET - More Information on MR Fluid

If you feel that the video did not give you enough information on Magnetorheological (MR) Fluids, this blog is meant to help you further understand it.

Simply put, MR fluids are liquids that act as solids in the presence of magnetic fields, as stated in the video. Less simply, MR fluids are formed by “suspensions of non-colloidal, multi-domain, and magnetically soft particles in organic or aqueous liquids” (S. Genç, 2002). An example is fine, pure iron suspended in vegetable oil. When a magnetic field is applied, particle dipole moments come into alignment, resulting in a number of particle chains following the magnetic field lines. Since these chains are parallel to each other, they repel. The fluid of suspension wicks into the gaps of the lattice thus formed. The result is a material that acts like a solid. If an MR fluid in the “on” state (magnetic field applied) is inverted, the fluid will not move. It will hold its shape and, if tilted upside down, will not fall out of its container. If the magnetic field is removed, the lattice dissipates and the MR fluid returns to its “off” state, behaving as a liquid. The transition occurs within a few milliseconds, depending on the substance. An MR fluid is therefore fairly interesting as it can act as a solid or liquid at need, simply requiring the application of a magnetic field.

MR fluids do have a weakness. They are suspensions; over time, particles sediment out of the fluid. MR fluids in the off-phase come out of suspension much faster than MR fluids in the on-phase (the lattice holds them in place longer). This leads to a trade-off. The rigidity and shear strength of the MR fluid are proportional to the applied magnetic field; the stronger the magnetic field, the more rigid the lattice. However, the stronger the magnetic field, the faster particles come out of suspension (a stronger magnetic field drags them out of suspension).

The unique property of MR fluids creates many important applications, especially in space technology. MR fluids today are used in vibration damping for rocket launches, in shock absorbers, and in precision-polishing astronomical lenses and mirrors. Future applications could include emergency patches for spacecraft, smoothing the bumps of space station docking, and reducing stress caused by repositioning satellites. For these reasons, it is important to develop MR fluid technology. This is especially important given NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration and the renewed emphasis on developing mission hardware for safe, effective, and more efficient missions.

Our team actually had the opportunity to test the sedimentation rate of MR fluid at the NASA Glenn Research Center's 2.2 second Drop-tower, and on the NASA Wallop's Flight Facilities Orion Rocket. Through these tests at these facilities and measuring the resistance of the MR fluid, we had determined that the number of particles in suspension varies inversely with acceleration, but the sedimentation rate of MR fluid is much lower in microgravity than it in normal gravity situations (normal gravity situations being those experienced on earth: g=9.8m/s^2).

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The Los Altos Academy of Engineering - One month left

Right now, we are working on the design aspect. With only one month to go, we are trying to finish everything. Though we are without a video, we have the concept in mind. We hope to finish the video soon. We've also are on the search of sponsors. Last Tuesday, we sent a press release to numerous organizations.

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DCs Army - 600 Votes and a Snowday!

We have the day off today because of snow so we are all just relaxing but later this week we will be working hard to secure some sponsorships. We have a meeting set up with Haverford College, who may donate a bike to our cause. We are also currently researching Pete Conrad's life and accomplishments at Haverford. Once we have his full story at Haverford we will make a video and post it here. Finally, thanks so much to everyone who has been voting- 600 votes!

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Energy Solutions Group - Progressing

Here at Energy Solutions Group, we are testing different chemical reaction rates and hydrogen and oxygen mixtures. We are also currently looking at different kinds of plastics that can be used for the engine.

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MAST - Video Information

We would like to thank the following people for their help with our video:
Roger Kassebaum
Richard Dahan
and all of the people on the street who were kind enough be interviewed

Additionally below is the copyright information for our video. We feel that it is important that all of the creators of the music and pictures that we used in our video retain their rights.

Creative Commons:
The pictures and music listed below are licensed under the creative commons, the parts of our video that use these pictures and music are licensed as such.
Song-Attack Of The Old Joysticks-http://ccmixter.org/files/Neurowaxx/19184
Song-Stradus-http://ccmixter.org/files/rtex/19144
Song-sweet-http://ccmixter.org/files/didi/19105
Song-Wind Chimes-http://ccmixter.org/files/morgantj/16181
Video-chicken-http://blip.tv/file/343792/
Picture-Moon-http://flickr.com/photos/penguinbush/2768719983/
Picture-Moon Over Forest Fire-http://flickr.com/photos/judybaxter/3806850/
Picture-TLI-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tli.svg

GNU
The media listed below is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License
Picture-Railgun 1-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Railgun-1.png

Public Domain
The media below was released into the public domain by NASA
Picture-Hubble in Flight-http://hubblesite.org/gallery/spacecraft/03/


Team MAST thanks everyone who helped make this video

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Team168 - Rock Climbing

Yesterday, I came home completely exhausted. I had a terrible day of rock climbing (I was beginning to think that I actually got WORSE). Oh well, I hope I'll have better luck next time. - Vadim

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Seattle Instruments - On the Back of the Little Nickel

Recently our team had released our first video! We spent our mid-winter break editing it. The movie is shot in Kent Valley, Washington. It's a little rural area located south of seattle. The cameraman is our good friend Brian Chan. We hope that you like our video.

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Harwell Asturias Labs - Recent Questions and Concerns

There has been much concern lately over the environmental impacts of this project, so I wanted to take some time to reassure everyone about a few points. Hydrothermal vents are constantly ejecting hydrothermal fluid, which has temperatures of over 350 degrees C, into the surrounding ocean water, which is at around 2 degrees C. Our unit would transfer heat from the hydrothermal fluid (not the sea water) to the surrounding sea water, causing a portion of water to heat up slightly, and move towards the surface. Once the slightly heated water (the ocean water, not the hydrothermal fluid) passes the top of the chimney on the way up, it joins the plume of hydrothermal fluid.

Because only the energy turned into electricity is actually removed, the overall effect of our unit would be roughly equivalent to the vent naturally being 3.25 degrees colder.

This is because the 13 degree calculated drop in the hydrothermal fluid is due to the 180MW of heat drawn through the machine. Only 45 MW of this becomes electricity, the other 135MW are put out on the cold side as heat and absorbed by the ocean water. Because the heat from the hydrothermal fluid will eventually disperse into the ocean water, on a macroscopic scale, only the energy turned into electricity will be removed from the environment.

Hydrothermal vents are not usually found in isolation, but rather in large fields which often include thousands of vents. These vent fields have the potential to form at any area of geothermal/volcanic activity. Some of the known locations with a high density of hydrothermal vent fields include much of the Ring of Fire, the mid Atlantic Ridge, and in some other isolated areas.

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BioH - 37 DAYS LEFT UNTIL INNOVATION SUMMIT

We updated our team page's info and added a product description today. Our next steps include formulating a development plan and adding links to our business plan and technical document. We just finished our 2nd trimester exams, so we should be free to update a lot in the coming weeks. Thanks for your continued support. -Team BioH

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Latino College Preparatory Academy Extreme Science - We put the solar panels on the car today

We have been making good progress. We put the solar panels on the electric car today. Tomorrow we hope to complete the wiring and see how it works. We tested the mirror and solar panel arrangement that we are building for the roof of the garage so that we can "top off" the charge on the car batteries while it is parked for the evening. We got a five fold increase in amperage from the solar panel when we focused all four mirrors on the panel. That shows that our basic idea works. We are dealing now with how best to move the mirrors through the day and how best to move the whole array as the sun's arc through the sky changes with the seasons. We tested the mirrors to see whether they would all need to move at the same angle to keep the light focused on the solar panel. They do not move at the same angle. So throughout the day, each of the four mirrors will need to change to different angles to keep the sun focused on the panel. We have thought of sprockets and individual servo motors as one way to make the mirrors move as they should. But tomorrow we are going to try something that seems simpler. We are going to run string around the shaft on which each mirror revolves and then turn the mirrors like old radios used to tune in to different stations. A string attached to the tuning knob would move the tuner. We think that if we start the mirrors at the right angles at sunrise, then their movement should be constant relative to each other even if they are not at the same angle. We'll see if it works.

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Final Frontier Apparel - Video is up and running! Credits!

With our video finally approved and on our profile, we thought we would put the full credits on our blog: Thank you to: Mr. Roger Kassebaum, Mr. Max Tash, Joshua Rusheen, The Milken Robotics Team (for the wonderful flight suits), everyone else who helped out, and especially the Pete Conrad Foundation for granting us this wonderful opportunity, we truly appreciate. Bye, Final Frontier Apparel

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The Renewables - Continuing Our Research

Hey Everyone, Yesterday we just finished uploading everything. We are in the process of producing a short animation of our idea. This animation will give a visual representation of our concept. We are also planning on producing schematic drawings and blueprints of our idea. All of us are still researching the concept, trying to find better and more efficient ways to produce the renewable energy. It also turns out that there are problems with the funding of the trip. There seems to be money problems and this could decrease the probability of our whole group attending the finalist program. -Kintin and Jacob

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We Miss Pluto - "The appearance of disease is swift as an arrow; its disappearance slow like a thread."

"The appearance of disease is swift as an arrow; its disappearance slow like a thread."
-Chinese Proverb

In the past week, every member of our team has been sick and missed at least two days of school. Fortunately, we were still able to complete our Phase A Development Plan and turn it in yesterday. Tomorrow, we plan to talk to our advisor to begin fixing our Phase A Plan and determining exactly what we can do over the coming months and then over the summer. Currently, we are thinking about designing and building at least a model of our rover, although a functional build may be outside of our time and money constraints. Every effort will be made to produce a functional model, and we may use it as a summer or fall project at the suggestion of our advisor. We plan to post another video later this week giving some more background information on our topic, and we look forward to all comments and questions.

-Chase, Joe, Drew, and Tyler

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MAST - Video is up

Our video has been uploaded and is awating the approval of the site admin. As soon as our video is up we will post the full cerdits on this blog.

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Team168 - Television Craze

A friend of mine recently introduced me to the television series "House". I have to admit that I now find myself hooked to my computer screen watching episode after episode. In addition to being medically interesting, the series addresses a wide range of problems that people must cope with in the real world. Otherwise, I have been swamped with homework as always. To everyone who took a minute or two to read this blog: Thanks for reviewing our profile and good luck :)

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DCs Army - DC Speedwagon

We are hard at work on the video and it will be up soon. Hope everyone likes it! More information and more videos to follow in the coming weeks.

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Beamers - Pricing and Concerns

We have to factor in the Vibration Transducer, casing for it which would be a strong metal (such as titanium) with rubber lining to protect the user from electrocution, wiring, a rechargeable battery pack, a switcher [when the battery is full an LED light will use up the generated electricity by flashing within 2-3 steps] and a shoe to place it in. Obviously shoes com in pairs so, double the prices [except for the shoes of course, who would sell only a single shoe?]. In all actuality, the transducer the team has in mind doesn't have an available price so there might be a while until we get a decent interval of prices.

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TJ ALPHA - Looking Forward

We have made a video, which we hope will be posted up soon for everyone to enjoy. We are also hard at work on the details of our development plan and learning a lot about patents and the market in the process! Plans for the trip to the Innovation Summit have been made, and we are really excited about seeing the other teams' products as well. Thanks for the great questions, and a big thank you for all the support! Any questions can also be directed to our team email: tj.alpha1@gmail.com

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GADGET - "The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret to outward success"

"The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret to outward success." Henry Ward Beecher. We are writing our development plan, and are working on our video-- we are converting our ideas for the MRVE Growing Chamber into a reality.

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Final Frontier Apparel - Development Plan and Video Completed!

After filming on Friday and after staying up until midnight, we completed our full development plan and our video. We submitted the video about 15 minutes ago and are awaiting confirmation of the video. We expect it to be up any moment or in the next few day depending on the acitvities of the site adminstrators. We hope you all enjoy it!

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ALGAE
(Advanced Lunar Greenhouse Air Exchange) - Hey! It's Garima! : )

Hi everyone! It's Garima!

Last weekend was the end of the Robotics Build Season; after six weeks of hard work, we finally finished the five-foot tall, 120-pound robot. This year, the objective of the game was to pick up balls and shoot them into an opposing team's trailer. We first designed the robot and then built it. After building it, we were able to program it to make it perform various functions.

The next step will be to attend the Florida Regionals where we hope to win for the third year in a row. We're so excited!

As for Team ALGAE, we are currently working on our Development Plan, which will be posted soon.

We hope you like our ideas!
-Garima

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ALGAE
(Advanced Lunar Greenhouse Air Exchange) - ZERO G Experience

Hey guys, It's Shawn. Zero G was an amazing experience. If you've ever thought about what it would be like to have absolutely nothing holding you down, then this would be your dream come true. For weeks before I was able to go, I would ponder what it would be like. On the flight, all my ideas and thoughts were thrown out the window. It's like nothing you can imagine. The only way to know what it's truly like is to experience it yourself. There's no way I can fully thank the people, Space Florida and Mr. Simmons, which made our flight possible and truly incredible. Also, thank you for all the support you've given to our team ALGAE. Keep supporting, Shawn Wiggins

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Final Frontier Apparel - Final Frontier Apparel Video Coming Soon!

Tomorrow, we will all meet afterschool in our school's broadcast studio to put together our first video. We hope to have it up as soon as possible for everyone to enjoy and learn from. If anyone has comments or suggestions, feel free to post comments on our blog or feedback page, we'd love to hear from all of you. We would also like to thank everyone for all of the support, it really makes the competition an even more fulfilling experience. Goodbye, Final Frontier Apparel

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Final Frontier Apparel - First Mentor Meeting!

Today we had our first teleconference with our mentor at Ames Resarch Laboratory. They had a great wealth of information with which to enrich our knowledge regarding space protection. We would like to thank our mentors for wonderful feedback, it really was helpful. Final Frontier Apparel

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NCACP Engineering - Special Thanks,

Last night our team was honored to have received a day of proclamation from the mayor of New Castle, Indiana, as well as congressman Mike Pence, for our work on the Conrad Spirit of Innovation project. It was a unique opportunity to meet our local and state leaders and bring to light the need for new and alternative fuels / energy to the forefront of government.

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Seattle Instruments - LOST in deep space

Can you imagine a totally new platform of research where we no longer are strained by gravity? We can. Every single one of us is great because we have ideas and we are displaying them to the world. It is the greatest thing any of us could possibly do and I just have to say that we hope everyone is feeling the same things we are. This week has been crazy. Lamond and I have been finalizing our files and our school's robotics team just finished our robot for this years FIRST competition. We are almost done with our video and have been wildly searching for the right symposium or technology fair that will allow us to properly finish a Phase A plan if we are accepted. I just hope that everyone is still active in this competition and we wish everyone good luck. LOST was also really crazy tonight.

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DCs Army - Men at Work

Greetings! We are hard at work on our development plan and are trying to secure some sponsorships for our product so that we can build a prototype. Hopefully we will finish updating our profile and our development plan soon so that we can make travel arrangements for the Innovation Summit and then build our prototype.

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NCACP Engineering - Wow! We are really thankful to everyone.

Thanks for all the votes and feedback from everyone! Ther e have been some very good questions asked so far. We’re keeping up with your questions as fast as we can. We are currently working to complete our Phase “A” plan for our deadline. Our team was just honored by the mayor of our town Jim Small, as well as Congressman Mike Pence, for our efforts in working on the project. This has been a great experience so far, and we think more good things are to follow. Thanks, Team NCACP Engineering

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Beamers - More Ideas!

Thank you very much for the feedback T.Burgundy. We researched this idea and found that indeed there are many similar ideas that has been published but we believe we have a different approach towards the same goal. Where one idea mentioned friction as the force to generate the electricity we will use momentum in the heel of the shoe, closer to the ball of the foot. Also, NTT, a telecommunication company, has a similar idea but the energy is not stored, it is used as it is generated. This conflicts with the large part of our idea which allows charging for many different types of electronics from the battery pack, which will hopefully be able to connect to this diverse group of gadgets.

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Global Challenge - New Lifestyle, Cleaner Earth.

Hi everyone. Sorry for updating later.Thanks for supporting our team. Now, I will introduce our product briefly. Our product is to design or improve a house or building to use much less energy. At the same time, we design and improve stirling engine solar system to provide the electricity to the house or building. Our system is able to efficiently produce lots of energy and to effectively store this energy for future use. To produce our system, we have combined the best energy production and energy storage systems: Dish-Stirling technology and Molten Salt. The Dish-Stirling technology was developed by the Arizona-based Stirling Energy Systems. It is similar to a parabolic trough in that it consists of a parabolic mirror display. However, it has held the record for efficiency in converting solar energy into grid-quality electricity since 1984 with a conversion factor of more than 29%; it is much more efficient than parabolic troughs because it also uses a SES Stirling engine. The Stirling engine has many advantages as its theoretical efficiency is nearly equal to the Carnot Cycle efficiency. None of its internal parts become fouled by the combustion process and any fuel source can be used with it. Also, it has fewer moving parts than diesel engines and operates relatively quietly. Molten salt is usually used with solar towers, but we are adapting it to work with Dish-Stirling technology. It is a mixture of 60% sodium nitrate and 40% potassium-nitrate. It provides an efficient, low-cost medium in which to store thermal energy. Its operating temperatures are compatible with today’s high-pressure and high-temperature. Another advantage of using molten salt is that it is non-flammable and nontoxic. Let me know if you have any questions and thoughts.

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We Miss Pluto - "If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path."

"If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path." This quote comes from a Buddhist proverb. We have started our quest for companies that will sponsor our trip to California. We have estimated the total cost for the trip will be around $2800, so we need to raise about $800 more. Our plan A is still in process, but will be done by the deadline. "We Miss Pluto" Chase, Drew, Tyler, and Joe

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Harwell Asturias Labs - Potential Returns

Yesterday, I was running some calculations about the costs and revenues that our project would generate once completed. According to our team concept section, the initial investment is $1.15 billion, manufacture and installation for a single MoTGEN is $2 million, each MoTGEN produces 45 megawatts, and the electricity is selling at $.07 per kWh, the industrial average for 2008. With these figures, we calculated that the team of 150 model-sized MoTGENs would produce $4.14 billion a year, and pay off all installation costs up to that point and so break even after about 101 days of operation.

Now, we realize that this may not be accurate. While the MoTGENs require no regular checkups or scheduled maintenance, things do break and malfunction in an unpredictable manner. So, I ran some scenarios of how our system would react to difficulties it could encounter:

Case 1: Once the fleet is installed, the MoTGENs are destroyed by something, say giant clams, at a rate of 2 per month (in reality, it is highly unlikely that units would be ruined at this phenomenal rate, or be destroyed beyond the point of salvage/reparation, or even be attacked by marine fauna). Let us also assume that it takes 2 weeks to return each MoTGEN to full operation, at the cost of the MoTGENs initial price. With these conditions, we can safely assume that at any point in time, there will be only 149 MoTGENs online, and a yearly cost of $48 million for repairs. Under these circumstances, the team would produce $4.06 billion a year, and pay itself off after 103 days.

Case 2: In addition to the damage above, a devastating underwater earthquake damages the powerline once a year, and leaves half of the team (75 generators) offline for a 1.5 months while repairs are happening, which cost $200 million (the chances of an earthquake this bad happening with this regularity is exceedingly low). The team will now produce a profit of $3.6 billion a year, and net its investment cost in about 116 days.

Case 3: Along with all of the damage listed in Case 2, we learn that, for some unknown reason, each MoTGEN is only producing 25 megawatts, almost half of what it should. The team is producing much less salable electricity, and still has all of the calamities expounded on above befalling it. With these things in mind, the team will now generate a net of $1.89 billion a year, enough to fully pay off the installation costs, and all repair costs up to that point in 222 days, less than 8 months.

For comparison, how long do oil platform projects on average take to recoup costs?

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ALGAE
(Advanced Lunar Greenhouse Air Exchange) - The Zero G Experience

Last Sunday, February 8th, I got the opportunity to fly Zero G with Shawn Wiggins. The experience is something I will never forget. Not only did we have the opportunity to learn the effects of zero gravity on our bodies, but we were able to have fun doing it. Unfortunately our flight was the last flight that Space Florida is going to be able to fund due to lack of government funding.
-Stephen Hall

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Energy Solutions Group - Design Modifications

Design modifications We are currently reviewing each aspect of the entire engine design, perfecting it to be more efficient. We are also finding new kinds of catalysts for electrolysis. Have any questions? If so please leave them with your comment and they will be addressed. -Thank You Energy Solutions Group

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The Renewables - Califonia here we come! (Hopefully)

Right now we are thinking of who we are planning to send to California. We would like to bring the whole group, but we are not sure if that would be possible. We are updating our profile right now, by adding information about our product. We are trying to upload our group shot, but we are having some technical difficulties. We have high hopes that the whole team will be able to go to California.

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Beamers - Sponsors!

Right now, we are still figuring out who will represent us to go to California but hopefully, all our members will be able to attend. We made some research and emailed the Z-CoiL Pain Relief Footwear and Gravity Defyer. We are hoping they can be our first sponsor and donate us a pair of sneakers to work with. Maybe even donate us some money! Z-CoiL Pain Relief Footwear is engineered specifically to relieve foot, leg, and back pain and the Gravity Defyer shoes are scientifically constructed footwear with a hidden 6mm shock absorber under the heel that releases its reciprocating resistance power each time you step. We were hoping that we can add our design into these shoes and maybe invent a foot, leg, and back pain reliever with a energy generated function.

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TJ ALPHA - Updates coming soon!

Team TJ alpha would like to thank everyone for their votes and support. We know that some of you would like to see more information about our concept so we are currently in the process of updating our profile page. Check back in the next few days for more updates. If you have any additional questions about our design, feel free to contact us at tj.alpha1@gmail.com.

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GADGET - About One Half of the Moon is Made of Oxygen

Apparently, by weight, one half of the moon is composed of oxygen. This fact, according to Laura Kinoshita of Space.com in her article "How Moon Dust Could Yield Oxygen, Fuel and Water", became the motivation for scientists to develop a rover called SCARAB that can extract oxygen found beneath the surface of the earth. SCARAB is a precursor to a future rover that will be able to extract oxygen found beneath the moon's surface, which will greatly improve the sustainability of life on the moon!

However, there is only a finite amount of oxygen on the moon, and life on the moon will only be able to last as long as the moon's oxygen supply. If a technology that has the capabilities to recycle air, and convert the human by-product carbon-dioxide into oxygen were created, then life on the moon would be able to sustain itself for an unlimited amount of time.

Our concept of the MRVE Growing Chamber is the perfect technology to be used in conjunction to this oxygen-extracting rover on a future lunar colony as it has the capabilities to recycle and filter air, constantly convert the carbon-dioxide expelled by humans back into oxygen, as well as produce food to feed the entire colony! Converting the carbon dioxide back into oxygen enables the moon to not continue changing the composition of its soil at the rate of 100 kg of soil for 1 kg of oxygen (by the way, the moon is only 7.36e22 kg, which means that there is less than 3.68e22 kg of lunar regolith available to become oxygen). The MRVE Growing Chamber would make the long-term sustainability of life on the moon possible.

To read the entire article cited in this blog, visit: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090108-am-pisces-hawaii.html

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Seattle Instruments - The Total Power Generation of the Station

It's a math week for all of us in Seattle. We have just experienced the effects of an astronomy lesson come too late but learned a great deal about solar flux, an important factor in powering our research satellite. The solar panels will be able to provide more then enough power output to supply the station. The energy that would be created for each square meter of solar panels is approximently 131 watts that can be generated. There will be exactly 738 square meters of solar panels meaning that there would be a total of 96.8 killowatts generated. To compare this to an existing example in our world (orbit to be more specific) woudl be the ISS floating 350 kilometers above our heads. The ISS has a masive 2500 square meter solar powering system. When it is not being eclipes by the sun, it produces over 110 kW of power, yet only uses about 40 kW for lab equipment. The majority is used for life-support and guidance systems. So for our own satellite, the production of 96 kW gives us ample room to operate in and out of the solar eclipses that affect satellites solar power and since we do not need life-support for a robotically operated laboratory, we give ourselves ample and safe power output for maximum efficiency aboard the satellite. We hope that everyone else is experiencing the excitement of the final count down and wish everyone good luck. Sam S. and Lamond Le

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NCSSM Unicorns - The next Step

We're working hard on our development plan. We've got a good start, but we need our industry coach to look over it. Hopefully we'll get contacted by them in the next couple days.

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MAST - Video

We started work on our video today, it looks like it is going to be very good and we are really excited to finish it and get it online ASAP.

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We Miss Pluto - "We work to better ourselves, and the rest of humanity."

"We work to better ourselves, and the rest of humanity."
-Cpt. Jean-Luc Picard

Hello again,
We just received the forwarded finalist information from our advisor, and are working hard on completing our Phase A Plan. Since our last blog post, we've updated our profile a great deal, and will continue to do so through the Innovation Summit. Our video was just approved and is the first video uploaded to the Conrad Awards website, so go check that out as well. We look forward to everyone looking over our profile, and would love your votes and/or support.
Thanks for reading,
-Chase, Drew, Joe, Tyler

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Harwell Asturias Labs - Team Meeting

We had a team meeting today and laid out the time line for the next two weeks. We discussed the subject for our Phase A report, travel arrangements and potential resources. We may need to crunch some more numbers during the next few weeks. It seems like Friday will not be a holiday for us after all.

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BioH - 52 days left until Innovation Summit

Let me start out by thanking the Conrad Foundation for this wonderful opporunity. I would also like to thank you for viewing our page. Due to one of our team members having a major obligation within the past week, updates have been few and far between. However, now that he is done, we can devote all our attention to this project. The first order of business is to update the team site with graphics and descriptions (as well as come up with catchy project name.) Again, thank you for your interest. -Team BioH

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Beamers - February 9th, 2009

Since our team became finalists we have been trying to decide who would represent us in California for this event. We'll settle it for the sake of our sponsor who has to take 3 students (minimally) to represent the teams from our school. Within the week there should be more updating and other such information added on our page, stay tuned.

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Seattle Instruments - Solar Flux

As an update to our document, here is a look at solar flux which is important to the powering of our satellite. Good thing I took astronomy class. I understand the Sun has luminosity of around 3.8 X 10^26 watts. This means that the from our distance because of the inverse square law for light that the apparent brightness from the sun will be around 1351 watts/meter^2. And since a solar panel only can produce around 10% of the light that it absorbs as energy. The station can gain 135.1 watts per meter meaning that it will take a lot of solar panels to produce enough energy to sustain the equipment. I guess that's something I need to figure out now. I'll be back with more updates to this problem. -Lamond Le

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Seattle Instruments - Phase A

We are cutting the video feed of our promotional video clips and have begun to draft a few ideas to get the word out about our project to the greater community. Calculating solar flex too. We hope everyone else is getting off to a good start on their Phase A plans and getting some good feedback on their projects.

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ALGAE
(Advanced Lunar Greenhouse Air Exchange) - zero gravity =]

Hey there! This is Ele =]

It is February 7, 2009, and my team and I are doing all we can to be Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Awardees =] We are so exited! Thanks so much to the people that helped us get this far!

In exactly one day, my team mates Stephen and Shawn will be flying Zero G! So what is Zero G?? It is an awesome research aircraft which allows us to do weightless experiments here on earth. (So all flyers get to be weightless and fly like an astronaut!!)

Garima and I have gotten to fly Zero-G twice before Stephen and Shawn. Ladies First =] We were so lucky! Not only were our flights an incredible opportunity to learn the effects of weightlessness on our bio-reactor experiment (via Tekna Theos Inc.) but just simply FUN!

If you want to learn more about Zero-G or Tekna Theos (our company sponsor) check out : www.gozerog.com and www.teknatheos.org!

And be sure to see the crazy awesome pictures of me and Garima in zero gravity!! Pictures of Stephen and Shawn are coming very soon.

Have a super day =]

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APEX - APEX: First Update

Hello everybody, Thanks for visiting our team page! As we make an initial update to our project, we'd first like to thank the Conrad Foundation for giving us this phenomenal opportunity to share our ideas and concepts for a novel renewable energy system. Currently, we are in the process of making vast updates to our team page, so expect a lot of changes in the next several days. In addition, we are working hard to create videos, graphics, and other media to help you better understand both the underlying scientific principles, as well as the economic feasibility of our project, APEX. We hope you stay in tune for the development of our project, and please feel free to ask any questions or contact us via the team page's feedback option. Thanks! APEX Team

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GADGET - The Sky is Not the Limit

Our team is very excited to be selected as finalists for this year's competition. It is incredible to see so many unique ideas come together in this crucible of innovation. I see that each team has put a great deal of work into their individual projects and we cannot wait to see their progress over the next few weeks and possibly years. The versatility of ideas has given our team the motivation to endeavor to adapt the utility of our product to the needs of the other finalist teams. Our team looks forward to working with all of you and we extend our congratulations to our fellow finalists! Cordially, Team GADGET "Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine." -Nikola Tesla

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TJ ALPHA - Finalists!

We were all extremly excited when we heard that our team made it to the finalist round. We plan on working on the next step of the competition soon, and hope to see everyone in California!

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Final Frontier Apparel - A Fitting Quote...

This nation was built by men who took risks - pioneers who were not afraid of the wilderness, businessmen who were not afraid of failure, scientists who were not afraid of the truth, thinkers who were not afraid of progress, dreamers who were not afraid of action. - Brooks Atkinson

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MAST - Finalists

Team MAST is very excited to hear that we have qualified as finalists. We plan to make many improvements to our profile and to finish all of the requirements for finalists ASAP.

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We Miss Pluto - "Opportunity is missed by most people because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work."

Hello everyone!

As was said by Thomas Edison, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work." We recognize that to make the most of this opportunity given to us, we will have to work hard. We're very excited to be nominated as a finalist team, and are looking forward to the competition. We're currently working full throttle in updating our profile so that everyone can see exactly what our concept is and how we plan on making it a reality. We apologize for not having all of our information available as soon as we were announced as finalist teams, but we will make sure that everyone knows what is happening between us four as time goes on. Today we filmed our first video of a series of videos that will describe our concept and we're excited to host it within the next couple of days.

Unfortunately, while we are excited to attend the Innovation Summit, we are realizing that travel from eastern Virginia to California is not cheap. The $2000 travel stipend is just short of how much it's looking to cost to make the trip. If we are provided a place to stay (which we're hoping will be addressed in the information packet that will be provided), the $2000 should be more than enough. We haven't resorted to begging yet and are planning on trying to raise money on our own to attend the summit, but we would also like to remind everyone that any donations are tax deductible.

We are excited to have this opportunity and will make the best of it. We look forward to your feedback.

Thanks,
Chase, Drew, Joe, Tyler

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Final Frontier Apparel - Finalists and the Next Step!

It was great to hear that our team was selected as one of the finalists. Now we need to prepare for the next step and look ahead towards the Innovation Summit in April. Good luck to all of the finalist teams. And thank you to everyone who posted such nice comments on our profile, they're great to read. Final Frontier Apparel

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The Renewables - Finalist

This morning we found out that we are finalists. Everyone is very excited and we can't wait to start phase A of the contest.

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Seattle Instruments - Anticipation

Just got back from Washington D.C. and the awesome inauguration that happened for America. we visited the National Air and Space Smithsonian Museum and are dying to hear about the Conrad Awards. Hope everyone is on the egde of their seats for this.

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SCF Tiles - Waiting...

We are very excited and waiting for the results.

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Final Frontier Apparel - Final Submissions In!

With a final push and working harder than ever, we made our final submissions! We hope everyone else managed to accomodate the deadline and put their best work forward. Good luck everyone, Final Frontier Apparel

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The Los Altos Academy of Engineering - Visit the LAAE web site

On Sunday, we were told that we made it to the finals. All of us were ecstatic when we arrived at school. Right now, we are waiting for the rules. the LAAE website is lasv.org

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DCs Army - DONE

AT MIDNIGHT WE ARE FINISHED

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MAST - Uploaded and finished

Team MAST has finished and uploaded our final documents. Our idea is to use alternative energy to improve EDS rockets. Our team is comprised of students of the "Mitchell Academy of Science and Technology at Milken Community High School". We hope that our entry lives up the Milken entry from last year and would like to wish all other teams good luck!

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AlternatePedal - Finished!

We are finally finished and uploading our files for submission! All of us are excited, and we all can't wait to see if we got into the finals!

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DCs Army - Final Countdown

A la Rocky, the Final Countdown begins

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Seattle Instruments - Complete

Its been a hectic week recovering from all the snow and flooding that messed up school, but we are done. We hope everyone else is smoothing out the edges of their CAD designs and rendering. Good luck.

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- Done =)

Were finally done with all the requirments and feel totally relived

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AlternatePedal - Wrapping Up.

Yesterday we were all in the library again wrapping up our initial submissions. Just a few more things to get tied down and we'll be good to go. Hope everyone else is doing fine. Good luck. -AlternatePedal

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AlternatePedal - Number Two.

Hey everybody! Today we were in the library for three hours working on our initial submissions. Tiresome but so worth it. We learned a lot today and will continue to work hard to finish up before the ninth. :) It's all falling into place. Until next time. AlternatePedal.

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Harwell Asturias Labs - Compiling

Now that the first deadline is closing in, we are consolidating all our information about the project and transferring it to written form so that we may begin the Concept reports. Also, we are wondering whether we need to include the equations modeling our machine in the technical report, or whether that's a detail that can wait to be added to later stages. Sigh. I despise Tensor analysis.

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Seattle Instruments - Phase One

Its snowing in Seattle and will be below freezing all week. That means we will be shelled up in our warm homes playing music and most importantly working on the first phase of this project which is the completion of the business model. We are getting our facts, figures, and dates in check.

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Seattle Instruments - Seattle Instruments gets its second member

Lamond Le. Thank you. We are going to be a formidable team and rock this award competition.

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NCSSM Unicorns - Post Finalist results

We're so excited and honored to have been chosen as a finalist, but now, it is time to work! We're busy updating our site but are running into a couple issues. The first issue we are running into is formatting our profile, which is proving difficult. We want our profile to be physically appealing and engaging. The other difficulty we are having is that all of the members of our team are used to traditional science competitions, such as Intel and Siemens, where all the writing is presented in a very scientific, technical manner. For a competition like Conrad, however, which requires public voting, we have to make our writing style and profile as accessible to the public as possible. We would appreciate any feedback you have for us about our profile and our concept!

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AlternatePedal - The First Entry!

This is our first blog! Our team has changed profiles since we have begun, but we are working on our project harder than ever!

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NCACP Engineering - Thanks from Team NCACP Engineering!

Wow! We are very excited to move on to the next step on our way towards reaching our goal of competing at the Ames Research Center on April 2-4. We look forward to meeting all the groups which have some terrific products / ideas that will some day see in our everyday lives. Thanks, Team NCACP

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Conrad Foundation Management - The competition is going well

Just testing out these profile pages

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Tikki Tavi's - Our Second Blog

We bought plenty of Hot Pockets and are ready to go.

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Tikki Tavi's - Our First Blog

Today we got our first sponsor to help us with our new project...

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