Not Just For Kids

2003 Honeywell Fiesta Bowl Aerospace Challenge

The Honeywell Fiesta Bowl Aerospace Challenge is a contest designed to enhance the knowledge of space technology through the development of a "new" generation International Space Station complete with a physical scale model. The contest was developed to promote team building, communication, problem solving, and critical decision making skills. The contest also supports and extends the content areas of math, science, social studies, language and fine arts.

Contest teams utilize current knowledge of the International Space Station (ISS) to design and build a "new" generation International Space Station. While still under construction, the International Space Station is currently in operation with its fifth three-man crew in residence. Once completed in 2006, the ISS is expected to operate for at least 10 years supporting a crew of generally six members for 90 days at a time. With this in mind, contest teams are given the task of redesigning the current ISS to accommodate a crew of 100 for a period of two years.

The following report, written by a team of 7th and 8th grade homeschool students from New River, Desert Hills, and Glendale, was entered in this year's competition along with an accompanying scale model. The kids worked very hard researching and writing their report so that they could impress the judges (who were professional Honeywell engineers). Unfortunately, even though the written presentation was supposed to be 50% of the total score, the judges did not read the written reports before making their final decision.

While this team ranked in the top 10 out of 60 teams from around the state, I bet they would have received an even better score if the judges had actually read the reports. Their well-researched report contained additional information, scientific details, and creative ideas which were not obvious in the model. So we are publishing their report here in its entirety (minus a few hand-drawn diagrams and illustrations) because we feel that these kids deserve some special recognition for their excellent accomplishment. Congratulations, team, on a job well done!

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SPACE OASIS

This report is dedicated to…
the scientists, engineers, and astronauts
who are making living in space a reality;
and to the next generation of space scientists,
aerospace engineers, and astronauts.

TEAM MEMBERS

Chris Minsky (Principal Investigator)

Peter Olsen (Scientist/Researcher)

Megan Barlow (Artist/Researcher)

Aaron MacInnis (Researcher)

Dominic Martel (Taskmaster/Researcher)

OUR MISSION

Our mission in space is to experiment with plants. We will use the plants to solve world hunger and for the crew on the station. Another goal we would like to accomplish is medical discoveries in micro- gravity. We will also be harnessing solar energy for power, by collecting it and beaming it down to Earth.

SPACE OASIS CODE OF CONDUCT