Competition Rules

JSC SPACE STTLEMENT DESIGN COMPETITION

RULES OF THE GAME

The Space Settlement Design Competition is conducted only with information and tools available at the Competition site, whether provided by the Competition organizers or brought by the participants. No off-site assistance is permitted after participants arrive at the Competition site (this includes contacting friends or experts, who are not participating in the Competition, to ask for guidance, recommendations or evaluation of ideas and concepts). Use of the internet to do research on your ideas and concepts during the Competition is permitted.

Adherence to these rules is based on the honor system and you are responsible for discouraging and reporting any violation that would create an inequality among the competing teams.

You are working for a company! Companies do many things besides creating products, and so will your company. Remember, however, that only a few people can make binding commitments for the company – and if you make a promise or commitment on behalf of your company without your Company President and CEO knowing about it, you may be fired! This applies especially to personnel decisions.

Food and drink items are allowed in your company work area, but you are expected to serve as personal janitors to maintain your area to professional standards. Companies that fail to maintain a clean and neat working area (i.e., candy wrappers, uneaten food, drink cans, things that fell on the floor, and trash in general, must be picked up and deposited in proper waste container provided by the Competition) and there will be a penalty for violation of this rule.

A small library (about 120 – 150 books) of technical data that can be used for your design process will be provided by the Foundation Society, with books available for checkout for 30 minute intervals. Chaperones will serve as librarians. The library opens at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning in building 9 (when the Competition RFP is distributed). The library will close at 10:45 p.m. on Saturday evening, and all books must be returned at that time. The library will not be open for overnight work, so you should plan your activities accordingly.

The Competition organizers will provide computers, printers and a few scanners in building 9 and at the Gilruth Center for the use of each company. However the participants may also use personal laptop computers. Flash drives will be provided to each company, and the use of personal flash drives is not permitted to avoid inadvertent import of pre-prepared materials to the Competition.

The flash drives must be returned to the organizers on Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. (except you may keep one flash drive to use for your company presentation to the judges). Guest network privileges will be provided so that Competition participants can access the JSC wireless network.

Copy machines will be provided in both building 9 and the Gilruth Center for company use.

A box of drafting tools and office supplies will be supplied to each company on Saturday morning. Your company must return all tools and supplies to the organizers on Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. and failure to do so can result in a penalty and even disqualification.

Your company will submit one black and white copy of your proposal and presentation materials to the Competition organizers not later than 7:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. Submittals not meeting the deadline will be penalized – the later the submittal the more severe the penalty. Event organizers will make hard copies of your proposal/presentation materials for the judges on Sunday morning. Your originals will remain the property of the Competition organizers, who reserve the right to reproduce and/or publish the materials.

PROPOSAL/PRESENTATION ORIGINALS MUST MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS

• 1. No more than 50 pages may be submitted

  2. All pages must be standard 8-1/2 x 11 inch white 20 lb. paper

  3. If you draw something on non-standard paper or on a Vu-Graph blank, copy it onto standard size paper and submit the copy

  4. Make sure original artwork will show up well on copies (original is dark enough)

  5. The first page must show the company name. We recommend that the company name or logo appear on each page (can be small) and that each page be numbered

  6. Any pages that do not meet these requirements may not be included in the judges’ copies. Only the first 50 pages of your submittal will be copied for the judges. The judges reserve the right to disregard any chart in the electronic presentation which is not in their copies.

PROPOSAL PRESENTATION MUST MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS

• 1. Your company is responsible for preparing your presentation and placing it on a flash drive to be submitted to the organizers by 7:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. A computer projector and screen will be provided.

  2. Your presentation will be no more than 35 minutes in length. Presentations will be terminated after 35 minutes have elapsed, even if the presentation is not completed. An additional 10 minutes will be available for questions by the judges.

  3. You should verify/check-out your lap-top computer set-up prior to beginning the presentations, as unreasonably long set-up times between teams will result in a penalty to your 35 minute presentation period.

  4. Vu-Graphs are permitted (although they are rare these days) in parallel with the computer presentation, but they count in the 50 pages limit, and copies must be included in the original submittal so judges will have copies.

  5. Video is permitted if each video is represented by one of the allowed 50 pages.

  6. Models and/or artwork are permitted

  7. Back-up slides (included in the 50 page limit) may be used to assist in answering judges’ questions or to provide supplementary data for the judges’ consideration (judges will only consider these data to discriminate between “tied” presentations).

If there are any other questions about the rules please seek out one of the competition organizers from the Foundation Society for clarification.