Welcome to ISSDC – Eastern European Semi - Final

Goal:
This contest represents an invitation to all high school students in the Eastern Europe to an educational activity in the field of science and aerospace industry. Our request consists of imagining a technologically more advanced human society (but still close to the human society now living on Earth) composed of approximately 20,000 people, that will evolve independently in outer space, around the Earth.

The request:
This competition puts the student teams in the position of competing companies in the aerospace engineering that take up the challenge of building a self consistent human colony in extraterrestrial space. The design of the proposed settlement must be elaborated according to the specific conditions asked by the organizers. The students, members of a certain team, virtual engineers, must show managerial and technical/scientific skills, knowledge in protecting the environment, availability for team-work and brainstorming, adequate design capabilities that would meet the necessities of constructing a space colony. A small group, called “The Dexters” (normally made up of 2-3 student-members of the competing teams) should perform a supplementary special task, imposed by the organizers.     

The winners:
It’s the first time when a semi - final competition is organized in Eastern Europe. The winning team shall participate in the finals of the INTERNATIONAL SPACE SETTLEMENT DESIGN COMPETITION (ISSDC) which will be held at the Johnson Space Centre, Houston, USA. The ISSDC website (http://www.spaceset.org ) provides all the information helpful for becoming successful in this competition. “The Dexters” will be juried, classified and rewarded by the organizers of the semi final competition in Eastern Europe.

Members of the team:
Each team consists of high school students, assisted by teachers, students from universities and other. If the winning team is invited to Houston, Texas, for the finals of the competition, only 12 students from each team and 2 teachers will be accepted to compete. The 12 students include “The Dexters” team. 

Advice regarding team members:
Prior competitions have shown that teams formed of students with different interests and performances in different domains of science and technology, that cooperate actively and with tolerance, are more likely to be more successful. Knowledge in computer presentation of sketches and images is not compulsory, yet welcome, so it would be useful if at least one member of the team had good graphic designing skills.

Registration terms:
The advisor of each team from the Eastern Europe must fill in the registration form on this site, both for the basic design and for the Dexters’ one. Each team will write a project of 40 pages or less, except the binding and the compliance matrix, for the main proposal and maximum 5 pages for the Dexters’ project. The original project and its copies will be sent by mail to the addresses specified in the registration section. Due date for Qualifying Competition Proposals: 30 March 2009 . The results for ”The Dexters” will be posted on this site.

Organizer’s rights:
Competition organizers retain rights to publish or otherwise use any materials prepared in connection with this Competition. Your team must register with the Competition organizers to receive key materials not included here. Only entries from registered teams will be considered for advancement.