A
sampling of some of the institutions signed up to participate include: John Hopkins University, St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University, Ohio State University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Notre Dame, Indira Gandhi National Open University, York University, International Space University, Purdue University, Islamic University of Technology, University of Stuttgart, Keio University, and University of Glasgow. To view a complete list of participating schools, please click here.

The Inspiration Mars International Student Design Competition was officially announced during the 16th Annual International Mars Society Convention held in Boulder, Colorado in August 2013. The contest is open to university engineering student teams from around the world.

Inspiration Mars Executive Director Dennis Tito and Program Manager
Taber MacCallum were present for the announcement. “Inspiration Mars is looking
for the most creative ideas from engineers all over the world,” said Tito at
that time. “Furthermore, we want to engage the explorers of tomorrow with a
real and exciting mission, and demonstrate what a powerful force space
exploration can be in inspiring young people to develop their talent. This
contest will accomplish both of those objectives.”

Commenting
on the global response to the competition, Mars Society President Dr. Robert
Zubrin said, “This contest is providing a tremendous opportunity for legions of
young engineers to directly contribute their talent to this breakthrough
project to open the space frontier. From what we are seeing right now, there
are many ready to take up that challenge.
Inspiration Mars said they wanted to show that space exploration can
inspire youth to develop their talent. Well, they have delivered. The call has been
sounded, and from all over the world, young people have answered. Just imagine
what the effect would be on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education if a full-scale program to explore and settle the Red Planet were set in motion. Consider what the vast number of new young scientists, engineers, investors, medical researchers and technology entrepreneurs resulting from such an inspiring challenge could do to advance humanity."

The requirement
of the Inspiration Mars International Student Design Competition is to design a
two-person Mars flyby mission for 2018 as cheaply, safely and simply as
possible. All other design variables are open.

Alumni,
professors and other university staff may participate in the contest as well,
but the teams must be predominantly composed of and led by university students.
All competition presentations must be completed exclusively by students. Teams
will be required to submit their design reports of no more than 50 pages in
writing by March 15, 2014. From there, a down-select will occur with the top ten
finalist teams invited to present and defend their designs before a panel of
six judges chosen (two each) by the Mars Society, Inspiration Mars and NASA.
The presentations will take place during a public event at NASA Ames Research
Center in April 2014.

The
first place team will receive a prize of $10,000, an all-expenses paid trip to
the 2014 International Mars Society Convention to be held August 7-10 in Houston,
Texas and a trophy to be presented by Dennis Tito at that event. Prizes of
$5,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 will also be awarded for second through fifth
place.

For more details about the Mars Society and the Inspiration Mars International Student Design
Competition, please visit our web site at: www.marssociety.org.