2021 Competitions
In 2021, JSRI kicked off its first outreach initiatives in the form of space design competitions. Students and young professionals competed to develop spacesuit and rover prototypes, which were tested in the desert of Wadi Rum. With the ultimate goal of one day establishing an analog facility there in mind, JSRI hopes to start engaging people at an early stage with these educational competitions. The goal of those competitions is to foster space exploration efforts and research in Jordan, and their success showed that the youth in Jordan is more than capable, they are only lacking in opportunities.
Brief About Competitions
Spacesuit Design Competition
Analog spacesuits come with certain challenges, which the participants were asked to address: passive thermal regulation, anti-fogging helmet designs, and dust mitigation. The participants created prototypes which were presented and tested in Wadi Rum.
Rover Design Competition
Participants in this competition designed a rover and ISRU payload and the finalists built prototypes of their rovers, which were field tested in Wadi Rum.
Competitions Timeline - 2021
Competition Winners
Spacesuit Design Competition: Team Alpha
Team Alpha consisted of two members, Eman Qasem Abu Zeitoun, a 17 year-old high school student, and Salam Abu Al Hayja’a, a 23 year-old Mechanical Engineering student at the Jordan University of Science and Technology in Irbid. One of their creative solutions included the use of thermoelectric generator (TEG) modules in order to regulate the temperature inside the suit by using the emitted body heat of the astronaut to sustainably generate additional power.
Rover Design Competition: Team Field Hawk
Team Field Hawk consisted of three members: Abdullah Abu-Elayyan, Sief Addeen AlShalabi, and Juhayna Al-Qatamin. All three team members are Tafila Technical University students/alumni specializing in various engineering disciplines. Team Field Hawk’s proposed ISRU payload included a robotic arm with a drill and a suction unit for sample collection and storage. Their rover also contained solar panels to sustainably generate power to recharge the rover’s battery.