Star Track Tournament, a brand new event for young scientists and space enthusiasts, was held for the first time at the Noosphere Engineering School on December 2, 2017.
Participants were able to present unconventional space-oriented developments and had the chance to win a cash prize to build a prototype. Association Noosphere, founded by Max Polyakov, conducted this challenge jointly with Oles Honchar Dnipro National University. Specifically, it aimed to raise student awareness of modern-day suborbital rockets, which are considered the future of aerospace.
Participants were presented with three topics:
- CanSats
- Advanced Rocket Systems
- Free Style
The tournament, powered by Max Polyakov’s Noosphere, welcomed 28 participants, who formed 7 teams. They were judged on their pitch sessions and the background of their projects.
In the long run, the DniproSkyLAB, UniversalRocket, CLASNARocket, RocchettaSpaceVehicle, and DH teams were announced as the winners. Both the CLASNARocket and RocchettaSpaceVehicle teams competed in the same category, which is Advanced Rocket Systems. Whereas the first team came up with the idea to use a dual-mode engine for a single-stage, meteorological research rocket, the latter proposed using a hybrid rocket engine instead of traditional solid-fuel one.
The DniproSkyLAB and UniversalRocket teams worked out solutions within the CanSat category. The DniproSkyLAB teammates introduced the concept of a launch vehicle for CanSat launches coupled with samples of several technical elements. The UniversalRocket team focused on creating a Ukrainian segment of the International CanSat project to explore technically feasible CanSat configurations and design launchers and payload systems.
The DH team won the victory in the Freestyle category, having designed a drone-hunting machine to guard the country’s borders.
Thanks to Max Polyakov’s Noosphere’s support, the winners were awarded both gifts: a cash prize for 5000 UAH and an opportunity to build and test their projects. They will come together once again on April 12, 2018, to show their working prototypes.
Max Polyakov, the Noosphere founder, admitted that all the spheres of scientific and technical research had undergone drastic changes. Many opportunities in the space industry, which remain unrealized, may well make the difference. That is why he is eager to develop and strengthen the ecosystem for space startups and let the Ukrainian aerospace industry reemerge.
According to Max Polyakov, the Star Track Tournament set the stage for a series of future events held under the same name. Also, Noosphere will host another space-oriented event in spring 2018, NASA Space Apps Challenge Dnipro, for the second time.