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GRAND PRIZE WINNER: University of Illinois See UIUC's "MarsRepublic" web site See the web sites of the other finalist teams We congratulate and thank ALL of the teams for their outstanding work!

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COMPETITION GUIDELINES

The 2000 NASA Means Business Student Competition is a national program that directly involves university students in real NASA programs and missions.

The NASA Means Business Student Competition will choose six (6) student teams to write drafts of the Mars Exploration Customer Engagement Plan which is to be part of the NASA Mars Exploration Business Plan, initiated in last year's program. The Mars Exploration Business Plan is a first element of a strategic roadmap by which people will initially explore and develop Mars.

We offer an outstanding educational experience. Prior to selection, a student team will venture into the world of proposal-writing and procurement, as it organizes, writes and submits a competitive proposal. Once selected, the team will compete in a second round against other finalists to investigate issues that are important to NASA's Mars Human/Robotic Exploration Team mission planners and design solutions. The Mars mission planners will review each team's work with the expectation of incorporating it into the official NASA Mars Exploration Business Plan and select an overall winning team based on specific criteria.

Selected teams will also receive cash awards of $1,000, travel grants to Johnson Space Center to present their work, and international recognition for their contributions to NASA's Mars exploration planning effort.

WE INVITE YOU to submit a proposal to work with NASA to explore Mars.

2000 NASA Means Business Student Competition is sponsored by NASA and is administered by Texas Space Grant Consortium.