Space Settlements Design Tournament Comes to Mexico

Spaceport MX, Expanding Frontiers (ExF) and the Mexican Aerospace Agency (AEM) have announced that the Space Settlements Design Tournament (SSDT) will take place in Mexico for the first time. The event aims to teach students critical thinking models, allowing them to generate creative solutions to the problems that arise in the space sector. 

The three organizers are calling for higher secondary level students, preferably with intermediate to advanced English, to participate in the tournament. While the event is usually held in Brownsville, Texas, this edition will take place in Mexico on May 18-21, 2023. AEM explained that the event aims to cultivate the ingenuity of Mexican youth, leading them toward innovation by having them participate in immersive experiences for the design, planning and supervision of business plans and projects.

"In our digital age, it is increasingly common to see private companies launching technologies into space, which is why it is strategic to channel our Mexican youth into activities that tune their skills toward this cutting-edge industry, where their ingenuity will allow them to succeed," says Salvador Landeros Ayala, Director General, AEM, via a press release. 

SSDT aims to provide Mexican talent with opportunities to participate in the simulation of the design of a space colony on a celestial body. SSDT offers students a unique experience, as the space commerce industry rises as one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, explains Spaceport MX via its website. 

The tournament offers an immersion experience in an interactive, high-paced and dynamic environment that seeks to strengthen students’ skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM). The objective relies on offering opportunities to expand creative, planning, design, project supervision, administration and people management skills. 

Spaceport MX highlighted that the challenge is carried out on a hypothetical scenario with the objective of designing a viable habitat for humans on a celestial body. The challenge also urges students to consider the characteristics of the place and the potential needs for a colony to settle in space. 

All participants will present their projects to a panel of judges composed of current and former NASA collaborators, contractors, suppliers of the aerospace industry and senior executives of the industrial sector, among others. The winning team will receive an exclusive invitation to a virtual tour of the restricted access facilities of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.