NASA Competition Winner

Congratulations to BHASVIC student Xavier who was part of the winning team at the International Space Settlement Design Competition at NASA.

 

Last year was the first time BHASVIC students entered the UK Space Settlement Design contest, going on to win the regional heats and sending the team to compete in the National round of the competition. Over the course of the National round experienced CEOs monitor each team and select participants they would like to put forward for the Internal final, and Xavier was one of 12 students selected out of 268 taking part. As a result of this Xavier had an 8 day stay in Florida with flights and accommodation. There was some time to explore, and get over the jet-lag, for the first few days even seeing some rocket launches, before getting into the competition proper a the Kennedy Space Centre. A company of 60 competitors was put together combining the UK, China, Australia, US and two Indian teams. The competition takes place over 48 hours with a brief to design a space colony and then present the design to a panel of CEOs and industry experts. Xavier's team came out victorious with Xavier reflecting "the biggest barrier to overcome was communication and getting the team to work well together. The design and ideas were technically good and the team managed to present it in a coherent and convincing way. I didn't sleep much for the two days of competition but enjoyed the experience of what it's like to be in a very large company structure and developing his confidence within the team."

 

He went on to say: "It was really interesting going to US, seeing how different backgrounds of people can come together with different languages and technical skills. I want to study Mechanical Engineering the experience of putting ideas into practice and meeting people with so much experience and insight has been invaluable. If you're interested in anything space and design or just human aspect of settlement its very interesting. Or even if you want do Business as there is a big profit and cost an element of it as well as understanding company structures and roles."

 

Xavier enjoyed his experience so much that he's since set up a Space Design Society at BHASVIC to recruit and train the next team who are all set up to compete in the regional round next month. Good luck to the new team and well done Xavier.