NASA Replicator Challenge Winners Named

In Gene Roddenberry’s original “Star Trek” series, when Capt. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise needed to eat, they turned to the ships replicator, a fanciful antecedent to the 3D printer that could create just about any type of food they might be craving.

This printed fungarium took the top teen prize in NASA’s Star Trek Replicator Challenge. Image: Future Engineers

NASA’s nationwide Star Trek Replicator contest isn’t quite that ambitious. The challenge for the most recent contest was to create a non-edible, food-related object that astronauts could 3D print in the year 2050 using a single feedstock, and that would fit in a 6-in. cube. The printed objects were designed to help grow, prepare or eat meals in space.

The more than 400 submissions were evaluated by judges from NASA, Made in Space, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Judging criteria included innovation and creativity; the ability to advance space exploration; presentation skills; and quality of the model. This year’s winners:

Kyle Corette of Desert Vista High School in Phoenix (winner in the teen category) designed a printed fungarium that can grow and irrigate fungi on three rods while exposing them to cosmic radiation. The device grows melanized fungi, which thrive in ionizing radiation the same way plants use chloroplasts to convert sunlight into energy.

The astro mini-farm could be used to grow plants on Mars. Image: Future Engineers

Junior winner Sreyash Sola of Eagle Ridge Middle School in Ashburn, VA, created an astro mini-farm that can be used on Mars. A lens on the top of the structure gathers sunlight, while a pump keeps the atmospheric pressure low enough to enable plant growth.

Six finalists included a multi-purpose mug, a small Zero-G hydroponic device, a water condenser, a manual-crank blender and two different spirulina farms.

All of the winners and finalists received a Makerbot Replicator Mini for their school and a PancakeBot for home use. The two winners also got to visit and tour the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

You can see a gallery of other submissions here.

Source: Future Engineers