Co-founders Anita Gale, Dick Edwards, and Rob Kolstad originated the International Space Settlement Design Competition to provide high school students with the opportunity to present space-related design proposals in a professional setting. The competition uses the standard business RFP (request for proposal) format for competitors to present their designs for future human settlements in space. The competition draws on professional volunteers, from aerospace engineers to business executives, who mentor the student teams through the design proposal process. Using mentors from such diverse fields introduces topics to the students that they are often unfamiliar with, such as ergonomics and human factors, functionality during construction, and budgeting of resources. By using this format, the students not only gain experience in design and engineering for extraterrestrial environments, they also gain experience in real world business proposals, time management, team work, budgeting and cost benefit analysis. This paper reviews the procedures of this international competition and presents guidelines for fostering this same type of educational program at the local level
