2013 Caltech Space Challenge

The Engineering and Applied Science Department invites current full-time graduate and undergraduate students from all over the world to participate in the Caltech Space Challenge. The challenge consists of an intensive one-week mission design competition where students will be challenged to develop a mission to send astronauts to a Martian moon. Students will be supported with guest lectures and workshops from top scientists and engineers from NASA-JPL, Caltech and other premier institutions.

Participants will be involved in a week-long team exercise to develop a campaign that culminates with a human mission to a Martian moon. Approximately 30 student applicants will be invited to participate in the competition. Students will be divided into two multidisciplinary teams. NASA-JPL and Caltech faculties will mentor the two teams to help them develop their mission plans. The challenge will conclude with final presentations at Caltech, the submission of a final report, constructive feedback for both teams, and the announcement of the winning team. The report will provide a complete description of the mission design, key technologies needed and their readiness level (TRL), the operating costs, timeline, etc. Students will benefit tremendously by working in a multidisciplinary team, learning about project management and systems engineering. It will also give students the opportunity to connect and interact with top scientists and engineers in industry.