Teaching Industry Skills to Young People since 1984

Space Settlement Design Competitions (SSDCs) emulate the experience of working as a member of an aerospace industry proposal team. Students work in groups organized into companies. Each international finals company is made up of approximately 60 students from multiple competition teams from around the world. The chaos of working in a large group is managed by assigning students to roles defined in an organization chart like those used in real companies!

Each company is provided with managers, technical experts from industry, and former participants to serve as Company CEO and advisors. A customer organization, typically called the Foundation Society, defines requirements in a Request for Proposal (RFP)  for developing a design for a specific scenario for each event. The Program Book describes “existing” space infrastructure. Students must work together to define an overall structure, define construction methods, determine quantities of electrical power and water, design computer and robotics systems, specify allocation of interior space, show examples of pleasant community design, and provide estimated costs and schedules for completion of the project. The competition concludes with each companies’ presentation of their settlement to a panel of industry professional judges.