Open Innovation and Crowd-Designed Rockets
A new open innovation project is allowing anyone no matter their background to contribute to future space missions.
3D modeling platform Sunglass has teamed up with space company DIYRockets to launch a crowd-designed rocket contest. As well as helping to open up new frontiers in space research participants have the chance of winning thousands of dollars.
The challenge is to collaboratively design an open source 3D printed rocket engine that could carry nano-satellites into space at low cost.
Nano-satellites are super small spacecraft kitted out with chips and software programs that have multiple communication and research capabilities. However, one of the biggest barriers to getting them off the planet is the cost of launch.
Changing the Space Industry
So the crowd is being asked to come up with a 3D printed rocket engine that could become part of a propulsion system/vehicle to carry nano-satellites into space.
DIYRockets founder Darlene Damm believes that crowdsourcing can do for rockets what Wikipedia is doing for information:
“Once you create a community around this stuff, you start changing how the rest of the industry works.”
The current contest is for safe, affordable 3D printed rocket engines that can carry between .5kg – 10 kg into Low Earth Orbit.
The Prizes
$5000 – First prize for best rocket engine
$2500 – Student prize
$2500 – Collaborative design prize
Long-term, DIYRockets hopes that this will be the first of hundreds of crowdsource contests for space technologies, products, and parts.
For more details of the challenge including judging criteria, time frame and to register interest, click here.
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