FamiLAB Team Wins the KSC International Space Apps Challenge!

 FamiLAB members Mike, Jamie, Jessica, and Pat smile for the camera after they won the Kennedy Space Center regional competition as part of the International Space Apps Challenge.From the Kennedy Space Center website article- 

"Astronauts traveling to an asteroid near the moon, to Mars or other near-Earth locations may have a stop off point to gather fresh fruits and vegetables to sustain them during their space voyage.A design concept for a space-based greenhouse called the Deployable Independent Greenhouse System, or DIGS, which could be stationed near the moon, was selected as the top winner of the 2013 International Space Apps Challenge (ISAC) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It also received "People's Choice" recognition. The event was part of the worldwide ISAC on April 20 and 21.The event, held at the Center for Space Education at Kennedy's visitor complex, brought NASA engineers and scientists together with 21 professionals and students from a variety of non-NASA backgrounds to solve challenges relevant to improving life on Earth and in space. Kennedy was the first-ever NASA center to host the challenge.Worldwide, more than 9,000 people and 484 organizations came together in 83 cities across 44 countries, as well as online, to participate. When the event came to an end on Sunday afternoon, there were more than 750 solutions submitted for 58 challenges.Kennedy's winning presentation in the Deployable Greenhouse challenge came from a group of people with different backgrounds and interests in space exploration: Jamie Szafran, a developer in Launch Control Systems Project in the Ground Systems Development and Operation Program; Jessica King, an employee from Valencia College; Pat Starace, an animator and mobile application developer from Orlando; and Mike King, an audiovisual design engineer from Orlando, brainstormed and collaborated with others online and a Kennedy subject-matter expert on the greenhouse design. They also analyzed how it would be deployed into space before presenting their concept to a panel of three judges." 

If you are a space geek, make sure to check out the DIGS project files on the Space Apps website, where you can find awesome CAD drawings like this one...