After a year spent cooped up at home under quarantine, today’s students have firsthand experience with many of the same challenges facing space explorers. Hazardous environments, cramped quarters, scarce supplies, solitude -- life on the moon sounds an awful lot like life in 2021!
Now in its third year, the Moon Camp Challenge is an opportunity for students to turn their shelter-in-place experiences into valuable design strategies for living and thriving on the surface of the moon.
Run in collaboration between ESA and the Airbus Foundation, in partnership with Autodesk, the Moon Camp Challenge uses innovative learning technologies to inspire students to design their own Moon settlement using Tinkercad or Fusion 360.
The challenge is divided into three separate categories with different age restrictions and levels of complexity: Moon Camp Discovery, Moon Camp Explorers and Moon Camp Pioneers.
In the Moon Camp Discovery category teams are asked to design one component of the Moon Camp using Tinkercad. Once they upload their design, they will receive a Moon Camp participation certificate.
Complexity level: beginners
Tool: Tinkercad
Age range: up to 19 years old, but recommended 6 to 14 years old
Registrations: open from 16 September 2020 to 25 March 2021
Prizes: Moon Camp Discovery is a non-competitive mission for beginners. All teams that submit an entry that complies with the guidelines will receive a participation certificate and their project will be shared on the Moon Camp online platform.
Students participating in Moon Camp Explorers will work in teams to design a complete Moon Camp and submit their report to an expert jury. Participating teams will compete for the Moon Camp Explorers Prize for best project.
Complexity level: intermediate
Tool: Tinkercad
Age range: up to (and including) 14 years old
Registrations: open from 12 January 2021 to 25 March 2021
Prizes: All teams will receive a participation certificate by email. The winning teams of the Moon Camp Explorers will receive ESA and Airbus goodies and the opportunity to participate in a live webinar with an ESA astronaut. The team with the highest score will get their very own 3D printer on top. Good luck!
For more advanced students, Moon Camp Pioneers will use Fusion 360 to design the complete Moon Camp and submit their report to an expert jury. Participating teams will compete for the Moon Camp Pioneers Prize for best project.
Complexity level: advanced
Tool: Fusion 360
Age range:15 up to (and including) 19 years old
Registrations: open from 12 January 2021 to 25 March 2021
Prizes: All teams will receive a participation certificate by email. The winning teams of the Moon Camp Pioneers will receive ESA and Airbus goodies and the opportunity to participate in a live webinar with an ESA astronaut. The team with the highest score will get their very own 3D printer on top. Good luck!
Get Inspired, Get Registered, and Get Started
Head over to the Moon Camp Challenge home page for resources and information on how to participate. We also highly recommend this fantastic animated video series from The Airbus Foundation explaining many of the design problems astronauts will face in their lunar habitat.
For a little added inspiration, take a look at some of the winning designs from previous years. Here's an example from the 2019 Italian team Astromakers.
