Arizona home for southwestern semi-final SSD competition


The International Space Settlement DesignCompetition (ISSDC) has come a long way since its inception in the early 1980s as part of a Boy Scouts program in the US.
What started off as a space exploratory program for high-school students in the US, is now a full-fledged global competition with participating students from India, the UK, Australia, Canada and even some places from South America.

Now, there are multiple semi-finals in the US itself to give US high-school students a better platform to compete in the global ISSDC finals at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

One of such semi-finals is the Southwestern Semi-final SSD competition, which takes place in Arizona.
The competition follows the same pattern as is followed elsewhere.

Students conceptualize and design a futuristic space settlement in accordance with certain specified parameters. The winning team proceeds through to the quarterfinals, the semi-finals and the finals at the ISSDC where it is pitted against the other finalists from across the world. Now, the national competition is known as the ISSDC finals.


Previously, the competition focussed on building a habitable and sustainable base on Mars. One aspect of the competition also included designing a supply vehicle to transit frequently from Earth to Mars to replenish the supplies at the Martian base.

Now, the competition has expanded to include designing large human facilities on other astronomical bodies, such as the Moon, other planets, such as Mars, Venus, Mercury, and even the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Along with the change in format, the ISSDC has also seen several changes in the competition venue as well, such as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Kennedy Space Center, Johnson Space Center and then again back to Kennedy Space Center.

Alike the southwestern semi-final SSD competition, there are other regional semi-finals in Asia, Australia, and even the UK and Canada.

The Asian Regional SSD competition has the Indian and the Chinese rounds with the winning teams at both the national competitions participating in the Asian Regional SSD competition semi-final in New Delhi from where the winning teams proceed to the ISSDC finals at the Kennedy Space Center.

The Australian leg of the space settlement design competition has two legs - the Junior Space Design (JSDC) Competition for students of grade 5-8, and the Australian Design Competition (ASDC) for students of grade 9-12. In JSDC, the students have to develop a marketing pitch for a futuristic space settlement. The national finalists present their pitch at the JSDC awards night. At ASDC, the students have to undertake the same challenge as their co-contestants at the other national space settlement design competition - develop a futuristic space settlement. The top 10 qualifiers attend the ASDC finals, from where the winning team attends the ISSDC global finals in the US.

In May 2019, the Aerospace Education Competition, which organises the ISSDC, held the maiden Canadian SSDC in Vancouver, thereby guaranteeing a spot for a Canadian team at the ISSDC finals in the US.

Location: United States

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