Base 11 was joined by more than 100 students, industry leaders, and academics at Caltech on June 24 to officially kickoff the Next Frontier Tour and celebrate the winners in Phase 1 of the Base 11 Space Challenge.
Melvin signed copies of his memoir, Chasing Space: An Astronaut’s story of Grit, Grace and Second Chances.
Former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin inspired guests with personal stories from throughout his life, beginning with the time he used a chemistry set create an explosion in his family’s home — which hooked him on science for good! He also talked about life-changing injuries, such as the one that ended his professional football career, and the training accident that nearly cost him his dreams of reaching space. During the Q&A, audience members asked questions ranging from how best to be an ally to women and underrepresented groups in science, to how to become an astronaut. After his keynote address, Melvin signed copies of his memoir for guests.
Base 11 Chairman & CEO Landon Taylor announced that this event will be the first in a series of Next Frontier speaking engagements that Base 11 will host through 2020 at locations across the country, with the goal of accelerating more women and underrepresented groups into “next frontier” industries. Those include emerging fields like artificial intelligence and commercial aerospace — the latter of which is expected to be a $2.7 trillion industry within 30 years.
Guests heard from middle school girls who are building a satellite to launch to space through Project Payload.
Joining Taylor to kick off the Next Frontier tour were Base 11 partners G. Ravichandran, Otis Booth Leadership Chair, Division of Engineering & Applied Science at Caltech; Beverley McKeon, Theodore von Karman Professor of Aeronautics at Caltech; David Hyunh, Ph.D., and mentor at Caltech; Al Bunshaft, SVP Global Affairs, Dassault Systèmes; Michelle Flowers Taylor, Project Payload at University of Southern California; Tonie Leatherberry, Director of the Deloitte Foundation; and Miller Adams, principal and managing partner of Pier 70 Ventures.
During the second portion of the day, teams competing in the Base 11 Space Challenge pitched their programs in 5-minute presentations wowing guests with their energy, enthusiasm, and dedication to expanding opportunities in rocketry to welcome and include diverse students.
Winners in Phase I, the design phase, of the Base 11 Space Challenge were also announced.
“I was inspired by the incredible amount of energy and passion from our future explorers,” said Melvin after hearing the students present. “Congratulations to the Phase I winners in the Base 11 Space Challenge. You’ve set a high bar, but this competition is far from over, and I can’t wait to see how you creatively overcome challenges in the next year.”
3rd place ($10,000): Portland State University
2nd place ($15,000): Concordia University
1st place ($25,000): University of Michigan
Honorable mentions went to University of British Columbia and University of California, San Diego.
In addition, as part of Dassault Systèmes Chairman’s Circle sponsorship of the Base 11 Space Challenge, the company provided its premier 3DEXPERIENCE platform to student teams, giving students hands-on experience with software used by engineers at companies ranging from Boeing to Tesla. Al Bunshaft, SVP of Global Affairs, presented the Early Adopter awards to the teams that made the best use of the platform during Phase 1. The Early Adopter 1st Place ($5,000) went to Portland State University and 2nd Place ($2,500) went to Concordia University.
These students teams are embracing #3DEXPERIENCE and using it to their advantage! Congrats to @pdxaerospace from @Portland_State and @Concordia University team! Can’t wait to see what’s next. @3dsAerospace @BernardCharles #B11SpaceChallenge @SOLIDWORKS @3DSENOVIA https://t.co/I9y9nofH8Z
— Al Bunshaft (@AlBunshaft) June 25, 2019
Recruiters from Blue Origin met with Space Challenge students.
The day concluded with a career fair where students met with potential employers including Blue Origin, another sponsor of the Base 11 Space Challenge.
To check out more photos from the day, click here.