Makua Lani Christian Academy Wins Space Colony Design Contest

(L–R, top) Madeleina Wolcott, Josiah DeLuz, Hana Husek, Josiah Richards, Maya Calilao, (bottom) Raychelle Lorenzo, Nolan Pries, Christian Williams, Logan Russell and Austin Pham. Not pictured,Jayde Whiting, PC: AersoSpace Meridian, the Space Club of Makua Lani Christian Academy

AersoSpace Meridian, the Space Club of Makua Lani Christian Academy, won the grand prize in the NSS Space Settlement Contest, in a competition with 12,888 other students and 2,690 other teams.

The worldwide contest included highly competitive mathematical and technical schools from India, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.

This is a first for a Makua Lani team and a first for the State of Hawai‘i.

The National Space Society Space Settlement Contest is run by Dr. Al Globus of the NASA Ames Research Center and San Jose University.

The ASM Corporis is a space ring to be located at 1.416 AU in the vicinity of Mars. Logo by Jayde Whiting. PC: AersoSpace Meridian, the Space Club of Makua Lani Christian Academy

The grand prize went to a team of 11 students from Kailua-Kona: Josiah DeLuz, Josiah Richards, Maya Calilao, Hana Husek, Raychelle Lorenzo, Jayde Whiting, Madeleina Wolcott, Austin Pham, Nolan Pries, Christian Williams and Logan Russell for creating ASM Corporis under the direction of Frederick Herrmann from the Makua Lani Christian Academy. ASM Corporis is particularly noteworthy for the excellent and relevant physical experiments they undertook.

Students were tasked with designing an orbital human colony, a space station capable of sustaining human life. The project is interdisciplinary and multi-faceted, requiring mathematics, physics, sciences, government, psychology and arts. Students must solve the problems of artificial gravity, stable orbit, material construction, operations, food production, economy and daily life.

We have spent 9 months crafting the space station ASM Corporis. Our project was unique in many ways. Josiah DeLuz has led the ASM team for two years. Our contest entry included space settlement design by Austin Pham, radiation shield testing by Josiah Richards, an electrolysis experiment by Nolan Pries, orbital transfer mathematics by Josiah DeLuz, lunar regolith transformation by Madeleina Wolcott, lunar supply base design by Logan Russell, asteroid deployment by Christian Williams, housing architecture by Hana Husek, ASM Corporis logo by Jayde Whiting, ASM Corporis anthem by Maya Calilao, and psychological profiles of volunteers by Raychelle Lorenzo.

AeroSpace Meridian Space Club Members

• Nolan Pries, Grade 10 – Electrolysis
• Christian Williams, Grade 12 – Energy, Deployment, Construction
• Madeleina Wolcott, Grade 11 – Lunar Regolith Simulant Examination
• Josiah Richards, Grade 10 – Radiation Shielding, Audio Engineering
• Jayde Whiting, Grade 10 – Logo Design (not pictured)
• Raychelle Lorenzo, Grade 10 – Psychology, Photography, Image Editing
• Josiah DeLuz, Grade 11 – Team Leader, Orbital Transfer
• Maya Calilao, Grade 10 – Music Composition & Performance
• Hana Husek, Grade 10 – Architecture, Government, Crime Prevention, Story, LRS
• Austin Pham, Grade 10 – Station Design, HVP Shields, 3D Graphics, LRS
• Logan Russell, Grade 11 – Shackleton Crater Base, Story

“As grand prize winners, we receive the privilege of presenting our project during the Gala Dinner at the International Space Development Conference this June in Washington, DC,” the club said in a press release. “Attending ISDC 2019 will be NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, astronauts Eileen Collins and Al Worden, Mission Control Flight Director Gerry Griffin and Executive Secretary Dr. Scott Pace of the National Space Council.

The ISDC is a yearly gathering of aerospace professionals. Politicians, NASA executives, university scholars, astronauts and aerospace entrepreneurs attend. Students attend from all over the world who have competed in the NSS space settlement contest.

The entire team of 11 members will be attending ISDC2019.

For the full results of the NSS Contest, go online.

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