Hardware Hackers, Makers: Win a Free Trip into Space
The Hackaday team is now calling on makers and hardware hackers to create an open connected device that will change the world. The reward is a trip into space on any carrier of the winner’s choosing, which will cost just shy of $200,000. The winner will also be given money to cover the taxes that are associated with a prize of this size.
"Space is not the only big prize, however," the Hackaday team writes. "The team has put together probably the coolest prize pool in hardware hacking history – $10k 3D printers, state of the art milling machines, team skydiving, an all-expense paid trip to the Akihabara electronics district in Japan etc."
Makers and hackers are asked to keep their project open source so that anyone can use the device. "The awards will be judged not only on openness (which is not a requirement, just a request), [but also] the basis of actual physical hardware built and the ability to connect to the Internet, so it will be a 'thing' in the Internet of Things," the team adds.
The list of judges include Andrew "Bunnie" Huang, Jack Ganssle (The Ganssle Group), Joe Grand (Grand Idea Studio), Limor "Ladyada" Fried, Dave Jones (eevblog.com), Elecia White (Logical Elegance), and Ian Lesnet (Dangerous Prototypes), among others.
June 28 was the deadline for preliminary submissions from contestants over 13. The team says that they have received some "really interesting entries" so far, including a Unity Candle that shoots a 30 foot fireball. Another entry is a 3D printer that was constructed with parts generated by a 3D printer. The team is looking for more gadgets to be submitted before the deadline of August 4.
"So far, the hackers working on these projects have not disappointed us. Some of the early entries have included a way to make your house listen to what you have to say, methods for making sure communications networks are easy to set up and available where needed, and even a concept for using swarms of mobile 3D printing robots to build domed cities," writes Mike Szczys, the managing editor of Hackaday.com.
For more information about the contest, head here.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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lumpy There no spacecraft that you can ride for $200,000 . If your talking about virgin galactic then your wrong. Its not a space craft its a sub-orbital toy. Balloons go higher than this thing.Reply
I would take the cash over some stupid stunt flight.
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chibiwings talk about cost cutting on R&D , put up a contest to meet the deadline and pay peanuts to the winner.Reply -
Steve Simons I believe SpaceX will put people in space for 200k Lumpy, but I could be wrong.Reply
Plus, the definition of space is kind of a fuzzy one. -
MisterZ Going into space for $200k?! Rofl. It costs millions to launch any kind of craft into space.Reply -
none12345 "There no spacecraft that you can ride for $200,000 . If your talking about virgin galactic then your wrong. Its not a space craft its a sub-orbital toy. Balloons go higher than this thing.Reply
I would take the cash over some stupid stunt flight."
The definition of space is a bit fuzzy. But 100 kilometers(62 miles) up is considered the definition of space. Virgin galactic is targeting 70ish miles with spaceship2. This is far higher then any ballon goes(less then 25 miles max). From the price tag, they certainly mean sub orbital not orbital, but its still technically space; and still way higher then a balloon. Of course there is currently no suborbital space access for 200k, even tho multiple companies are trying to do it. And virgin galactic is quite a few years behind its original time table at this point.
If spacex has its way, they will be able to do orbital for 200k. But they certainly dont have it now. Assuming they can get the first and second stage boosters reusable, along with the dragon2 capsule, they could easily do 200k a seat orbital. But are still quite a ways off that. -
coolitic This is total BS, because launching spacecraft into space costs millions of dollars, unless you are talking about mass drivers, which have never been done yet and would not work in manned spaceships.Reply