SpaceTech 2023 - Banner

International Moon Pitch Competition nears deadline

At UNISPACE50+, held earlier this year to celebrate 50 years of space, a new competition was launched by NewSpace 2060 in collaboration with the Moon Village Association (MVA) to encourage everyone to engage with the vision of a NewSpace economy by 2060. The competition encourages interested parties from entrepreneurs and start-ups to seasoned NASA scientists to give a 3-minute pitch on any aspect of going to the Moon and what they would like to do there.

Whilst international pitch competitions are not new, the concept of engaging everyone was at the heart of the competition.  The competition is the brainchild of  Helen Tung, a Newspace Legal Futurist, who had the idea to reach out to the whole space community to discuss going to the Moon, not to limit this opportunity to established players.  This outreach  felt like a natural progression for Tung, an alumni of Singularity University who has also spent time at Ames NASA Research Park as part of the Global Solutions Programme and then the International Space University Space Summer Programme, 2018.

The Competition is very much in line with the values of the MVA, aimed at global outreach where such actors such as developing countries and people of all ages, have traditionally not been given full attention.  When Tung was training entrepreneurs in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence as part of SwissContact’s NGO work, she immediately saw the potential of inviting new players to space.  Young, enthusiastic and full of opportunities, she realised that the best way to reach out to her intended audience is via the internet.

The Competition is unlike other competitions, because it has a minimum entry barrier.  Rather than having all kinds of technical requirements as in a usual space competition, she decided to do the opposite.  The goal is to reach out across all ages and continents, very much in like the International Aeronautical Federation’s 3G of Geography, Gender and Generations.  Anyone with an idea to the Moon and on the Moon only needs internet access to do a 3 minute pitch to enter.  Entrants should send in their video by 24 October 2018 to [email protected].  It is that easy.

Sponsors of the competition include MVA, SpaceBit, a Blockchain startup, and ARCHES, a French architectural firm.  Supporters include Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), International Space University (ISU), IAF, Drapers University, Spaceoneers, SpaceChain, Digijeunes, Future City Summit, Asteroid Mining Corporation, HUB387, Robotex, The Moonshot Foundation and For All Moonkind.

The Competition has a line up of judges that range from start-ups to established players hailing from Asteroid Mining Corporation, Bridgesat, Boeing, i-space, PTScientists, For All Moonkind, SpaceChain, SpaceBit, SpaceChain, MVA and UNOOSA.  The Judges will be exploring different categories including:

  • Moon Village architectural concepts and issues;
  • Moon Village Standards;
  • Human factors;
  • Moon Markets – Missions and Economics;
  • Mission and Markets Requirement Data; and
  • Moon Village critical services.

The Judges will be evaluating the following:

  1. Originality
  2. Quality of presentation and
  3. Assess the possible impact and contribution to the Moon Market development.

Finalists are offered an opportunity to develop the idea with RST ARCHES, opportunities to pitch to real investors, mentoring and they will also be announced at the 2nd Moon Village Association Annual Workshop over November 4-5 2018, during the 4 November Gala dinner.

The vision of the NewSpace2060 International Moon Pitch competition as captured by this year’s International Aeronautical Congress theme of ‘Involving Everyone’ is to create a platform to reach out to the world and explore ideas of going to and living on the Moon.

More information on the competition can be found here: https://moonvillageassociation.org/newspace2060-international-moon-pitch-competition-2018-deadline-extended/

Check Also

EU SST

EU SST Wins T.S. Kelso Award for Flight Safety Contributions

Space Data Association has announced The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking Partnership (EU SST) as the recipient of the T.S. Kelso Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to space flight safety. The EU SST Partnership relies on the SSA capabilities of 15 Member states of the European Union to provide space safety services, with the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) acting as the Front Desk.