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NASA Announces Public Voting For Optimus Prime Spinoff Challenge

The Innovative Technology Partnerships Office (ITPO) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has announced that public voting for the fourth NASA Goddard OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Challenge runs through March 22, 2015.  

The purpose of the contest is to raise awareness of NASA Goddard’s Technology Transfer Program and to inspire interest in all NASA Goddard missions, programs and projects. Students in grades 3 through 12 are provided a unique experience using 21st century engineering design technology and purposeful interactions with tech transfer, science, and engineering professionals to create unique technology spinoff applications derived from actual NASA Goddard innovations and the James Webb Space Telescope.

Through participation in the challenge, students:

  • Learn about NASA technology transfer and technology commercialization processes
  • Deepen their understanding of current, real-world, NASA Goddard-inspired design challenges, with a focus on the Webb telescope
  • Gain experience with the engineering design process
  • Develop creative and problem-solving skills
  • Learn to work in a collaborative environment
  • Work with students from across the nation
  • Develop modeling and simulation skills
  • Build confidence and interest in STEM-focused careers, particularly computer science and engineering

Teams of students in grades 6 through 12, after completing the video phase, are working with college student mentors to further develop their concept for a new Webb telescope spinoff application in a 3-D multi-user virtual world setting. The teams are creating computer-aided design (CAD) models and conducting basic engineering and business analyses of their Webb telescope spinoff concepts, which they will then present to a panel of judges within the virtual world setting.

OPTIMUS PRIME is a trademark of Hasbro and is used with permission. © 2015 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

To watch the videos and vote, please visit:

http://itpo.gsfc.nasa.gov/optimus/vote.php

For more information about the challenge, please visit:

http://itpo.gsfc.nasa.gov/optimus/index.php

For more information about the ITPO, please visit:

http://itpo.gsfc.nasa.gov

Darryl Mitchell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Darryl.r.mitchell@nasa.gov
301-286-5810