14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has introduced a new contest set up to search for the rocket design of tomorrow from kids from grades K-12 in the US. The Mission: 10,000 Rockets initiative is intimately connected with the company’s Bing search decision engine, and is aimed to get students interested in not just rockets and rocketry but rather science in general. The contest was launched on 10/8/09 and submissions will be accepted until 11/25/09. While rocket designs have to be submitted through Artsonia.com, Microsoft has reserved the Mission: 10,000 Rockets for, well, the first 10,000 designs supplied by students.
The Redmond company informed that all 20 qualified drawings from the students of the same school would automatically enter their educational institution into the drawing for a $5,000 donation from Microsoft. In addition, the winning school will also get 1/8 of the Mission: 10,000 rockets book proceeds. The Mission: 10,000 rockets book will be the paper-based alternative to the Mission: 10,000 rockets website, and it will be sold for $39.95.
“We’re asking 10000 students to submit the rocket design of the future and send it to us. We’re assembling a pretty cool panel of scientists from across the nation to help us judge which of these designs best exemplifies how space travel might evolve. The rocket designs selected by the judges will actually be built – not to full scale and we’re not talking about hopping a ride in it – by some wicked cool artists. Finally, at the end of the program, we’ll assemble all the drawings into a book that people across the nation can buy through booksellers with all proceeds going back to local schools. A nice benefit: 8 schools will randomly be chosen to receive $5000 to help fund projects across their school,” revealed Bing’s Stefan Weitz.
No less than three drawings will be selected by the Redmond company for artists to use as designs to create 3D versions of the depicted rockets of the future. Mission: 10,000 Rockets was introduced in conjunction with the launch of a new rocket from DigitalGlobe which will contribute to delivering additional imagery to Bing Maps.
“We celebrate a really great day for both high-resolution satellite imagery and kids in schools. That might seem like a strange combo so let me explain,” Weitz stated. “DigitalGlobe launched their new WorldView-2 satellite into space – you can read more about it here. Yours truly, along with Betsy Aoki, were on hand for the launch to watch a couple of pounds of rocket fuel go whoosh. We’re excited about the level of imagery that WorldView-2 will provide to Bing maps in the future. But today, we’re also very excited about something different.”