It’s not very often that you hear of a space agency joining forces with a toy manufacturer, but a space design competition might be a perfect occasion for such an odd partnership.
Not that LEGO build masters need any fancy partnerships to prove their creativity, but apart from some recognition on the Web, they rarely get any rewards for the time and effort that they invest in the projects. A contest, on the other hand, usually ends up with a prize, and if it’s NASA that we’re talking about, then the prizes are meant to be space-tacular!
The LEGO and NASA cooperation will actually result in two competitions that are supposed to test two different points of view of the brick masters. For the first competition, the LEGO build masters will have to provide their perspective on one of the 10 future missions of NASA. Those particular missions are scheduled for the 2030s, so futuristic design elements should abound. Anyone aged 16+ can enter this competition, but there is only one prize: NASA memorabilia and a LEGO set, besides public recognition on the NASA.gov website.
It’s the second contest that really represents a challenge for the master builders. To enter this competition, they will have to design the starship of the future and elaborate a supporting academic paper that details the spaceship and the involved systems. As far as the participants to this competition, there are students aged 13-18 on one side and people of all ages on the other side. The prize is much more important for this contest, as the winner will get the chance of presenting their project for LEGO or NASA, or even for both of them. Not at last, NASA mentioned there might be a chance of publishing the winning paper, so that’s certainly a way of making history happen for a talented LEGO master builder.
There’s a deadline to both competitions, so if you want to participate, you had better have everything ready by July 31. People from all over the world can take part, except for the ones who reside in countries or territories that the U.S. do not fancy (Cuba, North Korea, Quebec). Additional rules and terms can be found here.
Personally, I can’t wait for this competition to end, just to see what LEGO projects will win. They will both be worth writing about, so I’m surely going to revisit this topic!
If you liked this post, please check the Millennium Falcon LEGO stop-motion video and the LEGO USS Reliant.
