CubeSat Design Competition Winners Announced

CubeSat Design Competition Winners Announced
Washington, DC (May 12, 2016) – The Museum of Science Fiction, the world’s first comprehensive science fiction museum, in partnership with NASA and Cornell University, is very pleased to announce the winners of its international CubeSat competition.

The winning entries were submitted by teams from the following three schools:
- Bowie High School, El Paso Texas, Team: Stellar Students in Orbit, The Orbital Factory
- Ithaca High School, Ithaca New York, Team: CayugaSat
- Dulwich School, Suzhou China, Team: MUSK-1

"These designs were selected based on a combination of innovation, technical feasibility, and successful articulation of a concept from science fiction" said Mason Peck, member of the
Museum's Board of Advisors and Director of Cornell University's Space Systems Design Studio.  "I want to congratulate these young minds who displayed a mature and professional degree of technological acumen with their proposals. I'm eager to see their designs go from the drawing
board to reality and up into orbit."

CubeSats are small, grapefruit-size spacecraft that use commercially available space technologies and simple logistics for launch and operation. CubeSats usually have a volume of
about one liter and a mass of no more than 1.33 kilograms.

The winning teams will receive awards at a ceremony on July 2, 2016 as part of the Escape Velocity science fiction convention to be held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention
Center in National Harbor, MD. Each winning team’s concept will now be paired with a university, where possible. The university will adapt the concept into a working spacecraft that
is intended for launch into orbit through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. Data collected from the mission will be shared with participating schools and other research organizations. Research findings will be published in the Museum's triannual Journal of Science Fiction.

More information about this and other activities are available here: www.museumofsciencefiction.org

About the Museum of Science Fiction
The nonprofit Museum of Science Fiction will be the world’s first comprehensive science fiction museum, covering the history of the genre across the arts and providing a narrative on its relationship to the real world. The Museum will show how science fiction continually inspires individuals, influences
cultures, and impacts societies. Also serving as an educational catalyst to expand interest in the science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) areas, the Museum uses tools such as mobile applications and wifi-enabled display objects to engage and entertain. For a full press packet on the
Museum of Science Fiction’s vision and other information, please visit:
www.museumofsciencefiction.org/presspacket

About Escape Velocity 2016
The Museum of Science Fiction and NASA are partnering to bring Escape Velocity 2016 to Washington, DC. The event will be like a micro futuristic world’s fair to promote STEAM educational activities within the context of science fiction using the fun of comic cons and fascination of science and engineering festivals. Escape Velocity 2016 seeks to make a measurable positive impact to boost informal learning on the more conceptually challenging academic areas. Escape Velocity's mission is to re-invigorate the interest of our young people in science, technology, engineering, art, and math by producing and presenting the most compelling, exciting, educational, and entertaining science festival in the United
States using science fiction as the primary engine. Escape Velocity will achieve orbit on July 1 - 3, 2016 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Metropolitan Washington, DC. For a full press packet on Escape Velocity, please visit: escapevelocity.events/press-media