(Editor's Note: This article is also running on the Huffington Post. Also, please note that the two specific suggestions I reference below are my own suggestions, not official X PRIZE suggestions.)
During the months leading up the 2008 election, President Obama repeatedly and vocally campaigned on the concept of a new era of open, transparent government. On his first day in office, he began acting on those campaign promises, issuing a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government that called on federal agencies and departments to work with the White House to “to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.” In December of last year, the White House followed that Memorandum with the Open Government Directive, which expanded on the theme and established deadlines for each agency and department to roll out their plans to promote the principles of transparency, collaboration, participation, and innovation.
Sure enough, federal agencies have begun that process. As a critical early step, each agency is using online tools to solicit input from the general public. I’ll take as an example an agency near and dear to my own heart: NASA. On February 8th, our nation’s civil space agency rolled out NASA.gov/open, a website that allows space enthusiasts and concerned tax-payers everywhere to chime in on ways to improve the agency. This suggestion period is open for three more days. To date, the results have been impressive: NASA maintains a healthy lead over its fellow federal government in suggestions received, with more than 300 ideas already submitted. All told, members of the public have contributed well over 1800 ideas and around 20,000 votes across all of the agencies, with a few days remaining. A huge number of people have been able to do as I have a submit a few ideas (in my case, one on student-focused incentive prizes and another on creating a work exchange program between NASA and the emerging commercial space industry) and cast votes for or against the ideas submitted by others.
This is an exciting opportunity, and an important one. Some may be tempted to dismiss this as a stunt—a net cast so wide that no one would ever bother to wade through the results to look for the worthwhile submissions. However, after a chance to speak with the team at NASA’s Washington, DC headquarters, I’ve learned that nothing could be further from the truth. The senior leadership at NASA and at other agencies are eager to hear from members of the public, and to receive suggestions that will change both what they do and how it is perceived by the tax-paying public. In NASA’s case, at least one suggestion has already been acted upon: an early February suggestion that NASA sponsor space-focused ‘unconferences’ and ‘barcamps’ helped persuade to the agency to do exactly that, stepping in as a last minute sponsor of the SpaceUp unconference in San Diego. This is democracy in action: an idea submitted by a biomechanicist / artist was reviewed by experts at NASA in parallel to a public voting process. The idea was submitted, found worthy, funded, and acted upon within a matter of two weeks.
The ideas submitted to NASA’s Open Government call and to those of the other federal agencies run the gamut: they are mundane and grandiose; elegant and practical; thoroughly researched and spur of the moment. In all likelihood, many of them – the majority of them, even – will not bear up to detailed research and consideration. But by acknowledging that even an agency as well respected as NASA, with its cadre of impressive rocket scientists, does not have a monopoly on brainpower, this public call for suggestions is allowing all of us as citizens to contribute our own flashes of inspiration to improve the quality and the behavior of the organizations we care so much about, and which we fund with our tax dollars.
But this window of opportunity cannot stay open forever. Just over three days remain for you to submit your ideas and to vote on those contributed by others. After this deadline passes, NASA.gov/open and the similar websites offered by other federal agencies will remain, both as an archive of the ideas submitted by the public and, in some to-be-determined fashion, as a venue for future updates and programs. The agencies will then be on a tight schedule to review and prioritize the recommendations they have received, for each agency’s Open Government Plan is due to the White House on April 7th.
This opportunity to contribute ideas to each agency’s Open Government Plan gives us a unique chance to make our government more transparent, collaborative, and innovative. I hope that you will find the time to consider ways to improve the federal agencies and departments most dear to your hearts, and to share those thoughts while you have this chance!
As in past years, Jim Baen's Universe and the National Space Society are teaming up to offer the Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest for science fiction stories about near-future manned spaceflight. The grand prize winner will be published in the online magazine and honored at the 2010 International Space Development Conference in Chicago.
More Armadillo picts - RLV News
Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #11 - Luna C/I: Moon Colonization and Integration
NASA Systems Engineering Student Competition - Space for All
Conrad Foundation - 2010 Spirit of Innovation Summit - Space for All
Erik Lindbergh to unveil Lindbergh Prize & education program - Space for All
More details have been filled in on the Space Access '10 conference site. Here are some of the presentations from current or former prize teams and sponsors (no doubt I'm overlooking some):
Armadillo Aerospace/John Carmack
Centennial Challenges/Andrew Petro, NASA HQ
Masten Space/Dave Masten
Lasermotive/Jordin Kare
SpeedUp/Bob Steinke
Unreasonable Rocket/Paul Breed
Engineering Design Challenges Brochure - Freebie - Teaching with Contests
Here's the brochure itself: Engineeeering Design CHALLENGES - Hands-on Activities for the Classroom (PDF) - NASA - Several NASA competitions - SLI, TARC, and the Great Moonbuggy Race - are featured in the brochure.
New Suborbital Spaceships Spark Scientific Frenzy - Space.com - Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge teams Armadillo Aerospace and Masten Space Systems are mentioned in this article.
Space available on lunar expeditions - Astrobotic
@paulsrobotics: Dean Kamen is speaking about changing society and the future at the #WPI FIRST Regional. http://twitpic.com/18e9cs #omgrobots
@InnoCentiveCEO: RT @TheWisdomCrowds: InnoCentive is moving to larger offices http://bit.ly/cMjEi4 And we need it!
@whitelabelspace: Lander Thermal Design and Analysis: The White Label Space engineering team has started the design and analysis of ... http://bit.ly/bjP72a
The 2010 Rice University Business Plan Competition is just around the corner. It's scheduled for April 15-17. In addition to many big prizes in various business areas (often with some sort of high technology emphasis), as in past years, NASA is sponsoring prizes for space-oriented business concepts. Here's a press release from a few weeks ago on the NASA contribution: NASA offers $110,000 in Prizes at 2010 Rice Business Plan Competition. I'll include a few excerpts:
The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship (Rice Alliance) of Rice University is pleased to announced that NASA’s Johnson Space Center will increase their prize offering with the addition of the $50,000 NASA “Game Changer” Commercial Space Innovation Prize. ... The award will go to the team that is judged to have the best business plan that supports the commercial space market by addressing a need in technology, service or product for the for sub-orbit, Earth orbit, or the moon exploration.
The press release goes on to list a number of possible commerial space business areas in the suborbital, Earth orbit, and exploration categories. It continues:
NASA will continue to offer the two, $20,000, NASA Earth/Space Engineering Innovation Prizes for the best business plans that represent an engineering technology that has applications to both the NASA space program and to Earth-based activities. ... The new “Game Changer Award” brings a dynamic twist with an increased emphasis on commercial applications,” said Brad Burke, managing director, Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. ...
Infernal Mechanisms - Mechanical Engineering, the magazine of ASME - This article gives some mechanical engineering and medical context for the winning entry in last year's Microgravity Research Competition for an experiment on board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. This contest was part of the 2009 Rice Business Plan Competition.
Braun Outlines Technology Plans, Including Reestablishing NIAC - Space Policy Online.com
This article includes a link to a presentation, "NASA Innovation
and Technology Preliminary Planning", by NASA Chief Technologist Dr. Robert Braun. The article and presentation are both interesting as glimpses into NASA's initial general (i.e. not specific to a mission directorate like Exploration) technology plans following the 2011 NASA budget proposal. However, I'll concentrate on one specific part of those plans: NASA's Centennial Challenge prizes. The presentation includes a slide (on page 21) of "Near-Term Actions" to develop more details for NASA's new technology programs. One of the upcoming milestones is the following:
–Centennial Challenges Lunar Exploration Prize: April 26, 2010
No more details are given, but there is also the following on Centennial Challenges:
Solicitation/planning for ongoing programs (SBIR/STTR, Centennial Challenges, Flight Opportunities) proceeding on schedule
On the next page, "Approximate Number of Planned FY11 Space Technology Products", the following is anticipated:
5 New Centennial Challenges
Guidance on the Use of Challenges and Prizes to Promote Open Government (PDF) - WhiteHouse.gov (OMB):
To support agencies in the execution of prizes that further the policy objectives of the Federal Government, the Administration will make available a web-based platform for prizes and challenges within 120 days. This platform will provide a forum for agencies to post problems and invite communities of problem solvers to suggest, collaborate on, and deliver solutions. Over the longer term, the General Services Administration (GSA) will also provide government-wide services to share best practices and assist agencies in developing guidelines for issuing challenges. Additionally, GSA will develop, as expeditiously as possible, a contract vehicle to provide agency access to relevant products and services, including technical assistance in structuring and conducting contests to take maximum benefit of the marketplace as they identify and pursue contest initiatives to further the policy objectives of the Federal Government.
Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce - National Academies Press - This includes a chapter on commercial vehicles, as well as a lot of material on traditional suborbital access methods like balloons, sounding rockets, and planes.
Moon 2.0: The Outer Limits of Lunar Exploration - SXSW, Saturday, March 13 at 03:30 PM
02/16/2010: Hybrid Motor Holds Together - SpeedUp
Here are a few tweets I picked from many related in one way or another to prizes over the last few days:
@SpaceFellowship: REXUS 7 and 8 student research rockets launched successfully http://ping.fm/W11RC
@makerfaire: RobotFest/Mid-Atlantic 2010 Mini Maker Faire, April 24th: Gary Mauler and the folks who put on the RobotFest ... http://bit.ly/be9vD2
@LaserMotive: We are getting interest in a product we hadn't considered making. It's a prime example of listening to customers for ideas.
@PeterDiamandis: Just announcing major X PRIZE "Benefit" on May 15th -- http://www.xprize.org/email/benefitforhumanity Cameron, Page, Brin as co-Chairs. Come join!
Here are some of the event details:
Through our live auction, bid to win a trip to space on Virgin Galactic, a 2010 Tesla Roadster, have your personal genome sequenced, lunch with our VIPs and more.
Date: Saturday, May 15, 2010
Location: Lucasfilm, Letterman Arts Center, The Presidio of San Francisco
This gives some more information about what's happening at the X PRIZE Foundation:
X Prize group sets sights on next challenges (Q&A) - CNet News
@TeamPrometheus: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5414479&l=aeecc47771&id=213171526223
@ValkyrieFed: We'll do a fundraising event, in Montreal! Maybe in April or May.
@jeff_foust: Garver: NASA very supportive of prizes, talking about potential collab on Google Lunar X Prize, such as making a data purchase.
@bonnova: New high-performance injector in development. First prototype in house today.
Greetings GLXP fans, and happy Friday!
I am reporting to you from Austin, Texas, at the SxSW ("South by Southwest") Interactive festival, where I'll be for the next several days. As I've heard it described by several people, SxSW is where "the entire internet meets in person" for one week. This is the first really big online tech conference that I've been to, and I am pretty excited for a number of reasons, which I'll tell you about later in another post (possibly a video).
BUT FIRST -- I want to announce the winners from last week's Friday Fun Day! For #FFD last week, we had the community submit artwork using the new Google image tool, Picnik. The winners will receive such coveted prizes as Google Lunar X PRIZE t-shirts and hats! The votes are in, so without further ado... congratulations to our winners, @Snibble and @mattcollister!
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| From The Launch Pad |
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| From The Launch Pad |
Great artwork, guys, and thanks to everyone that contributed to last week's contest.
Over the next few days, stay tuned to this blog and the #SXSWi hashtag on Twitter to keep up with GLXP. We'll have some great stuff to share.
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