NASA Wants You To Build It Future Spaceships… Out Of Lego

My Lego escapades were almost exclusively space-related. It’s not a skill I’ve practised in two decades, but if I’d know it could get me into the good graces of NASA, well, I might still be clicking and clacking with those little plastic blocks.

Last week, NASA, in conjunction with Lego, announced “NASA’s Missions: Imagine and Build”, a competition it’s thrown open to all and sundry, though with a heavy focus on students. The competition has two categories — one (“Imagine our Future Beyond Earth”) to promote fiction and creativity, while the other (“Inventing our Future of Flight”) is a lot more serious.

And by serious, I mean you not only have to build a spaceship (or satellite, aeroplane, rover — anything space-y, really), but put together a technical paper on your creation. The ship should also be based on “real concepts and new technology [from] NASA’s aeronautics innovators”.

The other category, which is open to people 16 years and older, only requires that you come up with something one could describe as interstellar — it doesn’t need to obey any physical laws. This one has a grand and runners-up prize, including signed Lego sets and NASA “memorabilia”.

You have until July 31 to get your entry (or entries) in, with winners decided on September 1 by officials from Lego and NASA. You’ll need to hit up this website for more information, though a cursory glance didn’t reveal anything immediately obvious to follow.

[NASA, via Inhabitat]

Image: Bill Ward / Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0


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