Every year, NewSpace holds a conference inviting experts and enthusiasts from all over the world to talk about news, companies and their space reared innovations. NewSpace, an aspect of Space Frontier Foundation, holds an annual conference every year. NewSpace 2016 will be held in Seattle this year. In addition to the conference, Space Frontier Foundation hosts an annual competition for companies and startups which are interested in becoming a space startup, offering innovative technologies and patents to get funding or seed money. NewSpace BPC is offering $100K as stake money to the grand prize winner(s).

NewSpace BPC 2016 was divided into several regional competitions, NewSpace NYC organized the exciting East Coast Regional Competition! Covering the span of the country, these regional competitions encourage diverse ideas and companies to have stake in $100K.

Judges for the East Coast Competition included Chad Anderson, Space Angels Network, Joshua Benamram, Bessamer Venture Partners, Chris Cummins, NanoRacks LLC, Garrett Schneider, BAE Systems Engineer (retired), and Jerome Wong, Angelus Funding.

Participants for the NewSpace East Coast Competition were Kepler Communications, RocketStar and Food by Print.

Kepler Communications, a startup out of Canada, focused their efforts to create a communication system for pilots and sub-orbital airplanes without facing the hurdles of connecting to ground-base. They aim to achieve this by creating a sim-card like device and attaching it to satellites in orbit and using this method for pilot to easily communicate with one another.

RocketStar is a startup from New York that has been working with private contractors to create space-crafts with aerospike engines to launch from Earth fluidly. They have conducted prototypes and experiments which showcase the effectiveness of their spacecraft. They have commented, that their system is so effective that other companies want to use this technology but would have to change their entire infrastructure which would cost millions of dollars.

Finally, Food by Print is a company that aims to allow consumers to create quality meals with a 3D food printer. This works by preparing prepared food and making them into snacks or meals by packing refillable ingredient dispensers which then are combined in the internal machine cooker. Food by Print says they aren’t aiming to replace the chef but wants to invite chefs to create complimentary Chefee recipes and techniques. The device has been said to include a fridge in the upper portion and an oven in the lower portion in its prototype.

Judges announced that the winning team, Kepler Communications for NewSpace East Coast Regional BPC. You can check out the competition now on youtube and discuss your favorite team from the competition. Check back in summer 2016, as we anticipate the grand prize winners of the NewSpace BPC being held in Seattle Washington!