Getting ready for SGC 2007
Ok. The Action station thread has gotten really long, but I don't think anything has really been DONE as far as this competition is concerned. We have set up most, if not all, of the criteria for this competition.
Are we shooting for this competition to be held this year or next?
If we want this competition to be held in time for the Congress of this year, we should get into action.
A sypnosis of the Action Station thread is this:
This will be a technical paper on Space Transportation to the moon and Mars.
We will ask for 3 authors per paper max, though about 1 or 2 will be able to travel to Hyderabad for the competition.
The paper will be in SAE format.
It will be 3000 words, max.
The judging panel will consist of 1 professional in the field of mechanical or aerospace engineering with a masters or ph.d and several years of experience in the space industry, plus 2 to 3 SGAC representatives.
These are the specializations for the competition:
-Power & Propulsion
-Life Support Systems
-Communications
-Orbital Mechanics
-Descent and Entry
-Space architecture
This is the timeline suggested for the competition, but already we are behind.
May 2nd: Details finalized. Contest summary and relevant information sent to Executive Council for approval.
May 9th: All PR and promotional items finished (poster and website).
May 14th: Contest announced
July 2nd: Papers due
July 4th: Delivery of papers to judging committee
July 30th: Winner(s) announced
I can design the flyer/poster today, since I now have editing software. I would also like to ask the SGAC webmaster if we could host the contest website on the SGAC domain. I think that would make the contest look more legit. I however, don't have much experience in designing websites, but I can learn, especially if me doing the website will help us to run this contest on time.
From the Action Stations thread, we need the approval of the executive committee before advertising this contest. Would anyone like to take up that task?
Also, will we only aware a grand prize of sending the teams to Hyderabad to present their paper at the conference? Or will we have 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes? Personally, I think that a grand prize would be best, since we would spend so much money sending the grand prize winner(s) to Hyderabad, and have several honorable mentions. Like a certificate and some kind of publication to send to the universities of the honorable mentions and winners to announce their awards.
Suggestions/thoughts?
Alright. I've got a PR flyer done. Now all I need is the prize information and website address where we will put information about the competition. After we get approval from SGAC Powers That Be we can commence with PR, website building and selecting some judges.
Alright, gotcha!!
I'm kinda giddy, though, cause this is my first time designing a flyer-type advertisement thing. Thank goodness for Gimp. I love it already.
I think I'm gonna just upload it so that everyone here can see it. I'm not sure what exactly we'd do with it, though.
edit: flyer uploaded!
Alright.
I think we need to figure that out before we decide on a prize.
But I think that a website should be set up so that when the competition is announced at IAC, we can pass out the flyers with the website address for interested parties to go to (along with prize information and all that). I think that maybe the competition website should be under the SGAC web domain (something like spacegeneration.com/spacetransportcomp) to make it seem a bit more legit?
Thoughts?
Also, thoughts on the flyer?
On the first look I like it. Great work!
There are several things however I want to comment on:
1. The SGAC logo should be on there ;-)
2. Specialisations, if I understood correctly in Marcia's original post, were for judging panel members (though I dont quite understand why) - it is an Transportation Competition after all. So if you have specialisations then maybe in the field of: chemical, nuclear, electric etc.
3. On the spacecraft it looks like an Space Adventures logo on its wing - I'm not sure but could that lead to problems?
4. I know we dont have it yet but I'd like to see more info regarding the competition: weblink (no problem to add it to the SGAC domain), deadline, prize?, etc.
1. Will do!
2. I figured the specialisations were for the various teams, because there are different components to space transportation. Like the propulsion needed to get humans to Mars safely, the architecture of the spacecraft to maximise propulsion usage, etc.
3. I didn't even think about that. Yes, I'll search for another spacecraft to put there. I wouldn't want copyright issues regarding the flyer. I apologise.
4. I will most definitely add more information as we develop them. We'll need to know the budget before deciding the prizes, I think. But I'm sure the grand prize will be to send 2 team members (maybe less or more if we decide so) to next year's SGAC conference to present their paper.
And 5. I need to adjust the dimensions of the flyer.
As far as a deadline, maybe we could set the deadline to January 2008, since the competition will be announced in September at the IAC, January would be PLENTY of time to get the word out to as many people as possible. Also, winter break is in December and maybe teams could work on their paper then, without the added pressures of the school term. We could do our judging during the month of January after all the papers are in and give ourselves a month to get through all the papers. The winners could be announced in February. Which also gives the teams plenty of time to prepare themselves for their presentations and travels.
Thoughts/comments?
Alex carl said:
"2. Specialisations, if I understood correctly in Marcia's original post, were for judging panel members (though I dont quite understand why) - it is an Transportation Competition after all. So if you have specialisations then maybe in the field of: chemical, nuclear, electric etc.
3. On the spacecraft it looks like an Space Adventures logo on its wing - I'm not sure but could that lead to problems?"
2. Have same question ... I myself also seeking the answer.
3. Don't think so. Should have it. Should have a futuristic vision. It helps.
~ Out to the black with madman.
As for the timeline January sounds good. That would also give us enough time to submit the winning paper to IAC (Deadline usually early March). But it needs sufficient preparation and commitment. I was in the SGC'05 group as well and even though we were eager to get it going, in the end it didnt work out.
As for 2. specialisations - you still have to convince me what for example Life Support Systems and Communication have to do with Space Transportation. I'm not really sure about Space Architecture as well.
For Descent and Entry, I agree on the Descent part but not on the Re-entry. You need an atmosphere to reenter (Moon) and then you dont bother about a propulsion system but on a Thermal Protection System. I would suggest Ascent and Descent or following the original naming in 2005 - Lift Off.
Orbital Mechanics is ok, as is of course the Propulsion part. Power however I see as an independent subsystem yet again.
Summarizing, I'm just not happy seeing all those (in my eyes) unrelated subsystems in there. Feel free to convince me though.
Well, if we're going to send humans back to the moon and, especially, Mars, do we not need to worry about the life support systems? Do we know that the support systems that is currently out there can support the months-long trip to Mars?
Hmm. When I think about it, aerodynamics (architecture) wouldn't matter in space, would it? It wouldn't matter on the moon but it might matter in Mars' atmosphere. But, architecture would include space radiation protection, which is a huge concern when transporting humans anywhere, but especially to Mars.
Are you saying we should add power as a subsystem?
I see your point now.
I was just thinking strictly along the original lines that the Space Transportation Technical Paper Competition is just about that - Space Transportation.
Yes, we have to worry about Life Support Systems, Radiation Protection and a lot of other things, but that would make it also a Life Support System Technical Paper Competition, a Radiation Protection Technical Paper Competition etc.
The way I see it, we have 2 options now.
1. Stick with just Space Transportation, make sure we can handle that and then gradually add the other Subsystem Competitions.
or
2. Go boldly ahead with all competitions and hope it works out.
Well, I guess it is obvious what my choice would be. Keep in mind, it's the first time we try something like this, so we need a fairly good infrastructure to make it work. The 2 major issues I see are 1. A "call for papers" distribution network - we dont even reach the major part of universities when calling for application for SGC (globally even more) and 2. sponsors for the prices (this could be companies specialised in the various fields), but we need to convince them first. A good step in my opinion is to show them we can handle it by having an already working competition in another field (e.g. Space Transportation).
Yes guyes,
i think we must keep it open ended. In other words, could be human or non-human. If human then we the person writing the paper will consider (i am hoping he or she has to) consider Life-support and ECS(Environmental Control Systems). If non-human then he can skip Life-support, may need ECS for the stuff being carried on. So i think we must leave this descsion on the person writing the paper.
Karanjeet
PS: Hi Alex, how u doing Bud !, long time no see nor hear, hope to see u in India this year !.
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