[SpaceProgram] Potential sponsors for Hackerspace Space Program

[Jerry Isdale]

"Space Projects" can be a very broad term, depending on your target.
Are you thinking about near-space & transport -- vehicles, propulsion, etc? Or expanding to include some of the long term aspects of the 100ySS project? (habitat, human effects, crew development, etc)

Some parts of habitat research have direct terrestrial applicability in near term  - food production, waste treatment, material recycling, etc.

Food production is an area of interest for our space (Maui Makers) as our island currently imports about 90% of its food. If the plane/ship transport stopped abruptly, we could be out of food in as little as 5 days. 

We are looking to aquaponics (growing fish + plants in cyclic system) as a way to produce a variety of foodstuffs.
This is a tech that is suitable to a large range of environments - from urban apartments to larger farms, depending on size of tanks & grow beds.  It requires monitoring the water levels/quality/etc, the plant health/growth/harvest-ready, with feedback controls.
Automated maintenance systems (robo-harvest/tending) could also be included.

There are lots of other habitat related aspects - environment monitoring, personnel monitoring (are they freaking out?), types of furnishings, etc.

This broadens the funding sources considerably and dilutes the group focus.
A space transport tech focused coordination of hackerspaces might be better.... and of course you'll be herding adamantly independent cats.

Jerry Isdale
http://MauiMakers.com
http://www.mauimakers.com/blog/thursday-public-meeting/

On Jan 1, 2012, at 3:55 PM, Alex wrote:

> At present I'm trying to build a list of potential sponsors for any project. We can use this as a shared resource for space projects across all hackerspaces.
> 
> I myself would like to focus on building the organization responsible for coordinating hackerspace space projects and probably doing marketing to encourage other hackerspaces/universities/organizations to take part and encourage donations via sponsorships, kickstarter, etc which can be allocated to participating hackerspaces
> 
> Alex Cureton-Griffiths
> +86-136-8186-0166
> Twitter: alexcg / Skype: alexceegee
> 
> On 2 Jan 2012, at 12:21 AM, Sung won Lim <4phlebas at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> There are couple of organizations and people who might be willing to sponsor space related projects, but what are you trying to get them to sponsor exactly? Are you working on a launch vehicle/payload/etc design already?
>> 
>> -sung
>> 
>> On Jan 1, 2012 1:14 AM, "Alex Cureton-Griffiths" <alexcg at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Even though DARPA turned us down for the grant, getting funding is
>> still important for our project. More money means we can finance more
>> projects, and help out projects that require a chunk of capital
>> outlay. In addition, finding sponsors will likely bring exposure and
>> attract more people to the project, which again attracts more sponsors
>> and leads to a virtuous cycle.
>> 
>> Before approaching any potential sponsors I think we should tweak the
>> proposal (I found a few typos and bugs), and tailor depending on the
>> sponsor we're aiming for. For example, if we approach the Ansari X
>> Prize I would suggest the addition of micro-prizes for hitting
>> milestones on the tech tree.
>> 
>> I'm putting together a Google Spreadsheet of potential sponsors. Feel
>> free to edit/comment with your thoughts. Also, if you have any contact
>> info for the companies in the sheet, just fill them in. The sheet is
>> at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj7iWk0I7Jh8dFdrOTQ4TG96SC1iRVRHX0dNSy16ZHc
>> . It's open for editing for anyone who has the link
>> 
>> Happy 2012,
>> Alex C-G
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