New space contest is announced

[heinleincontest]

The Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust is pleased to announce the start of the Flight into the Future Project Contest. This is a competition to promote innovative scientific works and is being held to commemorate the memory of the famous American writer, and one of the founders of modern science fiction, Robert A. Heinlein. The main goal of the competition is to identify and support talented young researchers and to encourage their innovative activities that will help to bring humanity closer to Heinlein’s dream of our future in space.<br /><br />The Flight into the Future contest opened officially on November 1st, 2004, and is open to all citizens of European, African and Middle Eastern countries (the other Trust’s project will be available for the rest of the world), including students, post-graduate students and young specialists who will be under 30 years of age at the time of the award ceremony on July 7th, 2005, which is the birthday of Robert Heinlein. The authors of the winning projects will receive monetary prizes and Heinlein Trust Diplomas at the ceremony.<br /><br />The participant prospective projects are to be in the field of space exploration and its peaceful use: projects whose realization would result in significant economic benefit to humanity. The submitted works should include scientific, technical and economic substantiation (business plan) of the proposed project proving the potentials of its practical realization and expected economic and social benefit. The projects will be judged by an international Expert Committee.<br /><br />In 2004, the pilot Flight into the Future contest was conducted in Russia by the Trust and the Russian Aviation and Space Scientific Innovation Educational Complex (RASSIEC). The RASSIEC will act as the Trust contractor for the Flight into the Future 2005 Contest. RASSIEC is an association of leading Russian aerospace industries and universities that have joined together to promote new forms of professional educati