Three teams of students from CDE have clinched awards at the recent International Space Challenge (ISC) 2024, with one team taking the competition’s $10,000 Grand Prize.
The competition, organised by Space Faculty, attracted 5,000 participants from 150 institutions across 30 countries.
The challenge was themed around "space mining", with participants invited to propose designs for future spacecraft missions, focusing on either data collection from asteroids or the extraction of usable materials.
The student teams all came from the Innovation and Design second major programme, and developed their solutions under the module EG2311 Introduction to Space Systems, showcasing them in the Advanced Category of the ISC 2024.
Grand Prize Winners - Team Venator: Unveiling the Potential of Moon Water Mining
Team Venator, comprising Chong Jay-En, Charlyn Kwan, Leow Kai Jie, and James Wang, put forward a groundbreaking concept centred around mining water (ice) on the Moon, for use to both sustain future human visitors and to fuel spacecraft. The team's novel pressure chamber subsystem, designed for the Moon's low-pressure environment, facilitates the extraction process, marking a significant leap in space mining technology.
Merit Prize Winners - Team Orbitus: Orbiting an M-type Asteroid for Detailed Analysis
Team Orbitus, composed of James Hong Jey, Devinaa Kumeresh, Moey Sean Jean, and Khoo Kye Wen, proposed a spacecraft design focused on orbiting a metallic or “M-type” asteroid using sensors and payloads to capture images and obtain surface samples for compositional analysis. The innovative "Smash And Grab" payload demonstrated its capability to determine the potential value of mining distant asteroids, contributing to the advancement of asteroid research.
Most Innovative Project Award Recipients - NUS Team 1: Extracting Water from Celestial Bodies
NUS Team 1, featuring Hafizuddin Bin Aminuddin, Syed Iman Bin Syed Amir Shah, Elliott Tan, and Acharya Hiteshri Piyush, proposed a technology demonstrator mission to extract water from near-earth celestial bodies, converting it into hydrogen and oxygen for use as rocket propellant, showcasing cutting-edge advancements in space resource utilisation.
ISC 2024 was held as part of a precursor workshop event ahead of the Global Space and Technology Convention in Singapore from February 15 to 16.
