June 7, 2011

J D Harrington / Michael Braukus Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241/1979 j d harrington@nasa gov/michael j braukus@nasa gov

Lynnette Madison Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-1089 Lynnette b madison@nasa gov MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-113

STUDENTS BUILD SPACE HABITATS AT NASA'S JOHNSON SPACE CENTER

HOUSTON -- University students are helping NASA develop potential habitats for future space missions Three teams from across the country will visit NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston during June to show off the inflatable space lofts they've designed and built for the inaugural eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge

One of the habitats will be chosen to participate in NASA's annual Desert Research and Technology Studies (Desert-RATS) field test in September, where it will be tested as part of a simulated astronaut mission to an asteroid The winning team will receive $10,000 to offset costs associated with its participation

The three university teams will each spend one week in Houston setting up their habitat for judging News media representatives are invited to see the student innovations from 2 to 4 p m CDT during the next three Thursdays The schedule is: -- June 9: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater -- June 16: University of Maryland, College Park -- June 23: University of Wisconsin, Madison

To RSVP for any of these opportunities, reporters must contact Lynnette Madison at lynnette b madison@nasa gov by 5 p m on each preceding Wednesday

In June 2010, NASA invited university teams to submit inflatable loft concepts for the X-Hab Challenge Three competing universities were chosen, and those teams received $48,000 of seed funding to assist with their projects

The competition is designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines, which in turn will help develop the next generation of innovators and explorers It could also result in new concepts and solutions that NASA could apply to later exploration habitats

X-Hab is sponsored by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and the Innovative Partnerships Office in the Office of the Chief Technologist at agency headquarters in Washington For more information about the X-Hab competition, and for updates about the designs of each school, visit:

http://www nasa gov/exploration/analogs/xhab_challenge html

For more information about D-RATS, visit:

http://www nasa gov/desertrats

Updates about the activities will also be available via Twitter at:

https://twitter com/DESERT_RATS

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: hqnews-unsubscribe@mediaservices nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

https://aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/NASA_REPORTS/example/example com/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:[list_owner_email]>

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:

[physical_address]