I’ve written about the NASA MICI (NASA Minority Innovation Challenges Institute) before (here), telling you all about a video which had been posted on this website. This video showed portions of the competition in several of the recent NASA Centennial Challenges.
That’s all well and cool, but Ben Shelef, CEO of the Spaceward Foundation (organizers of the Space Elevator Games) has just let me know that, at the NASA MICI channel, “June is Space Elevator Month“. Two presentations relating to the Space Elevator Games have already been posted and two more are on the way. And, if you login to the site while a presentation is underway, you’ll be able to interact (via Chat) with the presenter, asking questions in real-time.
The presentations that have already been posted are:
- The Space Elevator (Ben Shelef)
- Robotics and the Space Elevator (Dr. Antonio J Soares)
Upcoming presentations are:
- Photovoltaic cells and the Space Elevator (Dr. Antonio J Soares) – June 21st, 3:00pm US Eastern time
- Lasers and the Space Elevator (Dr. Antonio J Soares) – June 28th, 3:00pm US Eastern time
The ‘catch’ to all this is that to register to view these presentations, you must be a professor that is “…currently employed at a university or college located in the United States” or a student that is “…(a) a US Citizen currently enrolled at a university or college or (b) a non-US Citizen who is currently enrolled at a university or college located in the United States. ” If you don’t fall into either of these categories, you can apply for login permission (you’ll see how to do this on their website).
This site and it’s videos are there to encourage participation by US students and faculties in the NASA Centennial Challenges program. If you qualify (i.e. are a faculty member of student meeting the MICI requirements), then I would highly encourage you to sign up for this. We are always looking for more competitors in the Space Elevator Games and the majority of teams that have registered have been university-based. The more the merrier!
Thanks for spreading the word! I’m waiting to hear from MARY@nasamici.com about my request for access to http://www.nasamiciconference.com/index1.php. They tell me “IF YOU ARE NOT AN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT OR FACULTY MEMBER, MICI DOES PROVIDE ACCESS TO ITS CONFERENCE IN LIMITED CASES. IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE MEDIA, NASA EMPLOYEE, AERSOPACE CONTRACTOR, OR SOMEONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE CONSIDERED FOR ACCESS, PLEASE CONTACT MARY@NASAMICI.COM“; so, I wrote a nice note to Mary and am hopeful.