Dent The Future Awards a Blue Origin Payload Slot in Dent:Space Competition

Space Technologies at California (STAC) Experiment to Fly in Nanolab Payload aboard New Shepard Space VehicleSEATTLE - The Dent The Future organization announces the selection of the “STAC-DS Interstellar CubeSat Experiment” from Space Technologies at California (STAC) at UC Berkeley as the chosen microgravity experiment to fly in an upcoming launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) suborbital rocket. The experiment was selected to become the winning payload from over 30 submissions garnered at the Dent:Space conference held at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, CA in September 2016.The STAC-DS Interstellar CubeSat Experiment is designed to provide essential answers to questions surrounding interstellar space travel. For interstellar missions, it is widely thought that large, propellant-laden spacecraft are insufficient to the task — and many believe wafer-scale spacecraft with light sails are the solution. Tests to be performed on the New Shepard flight include a suite of technologies that may direct future spacecraft to operate around other stars.“We were very excited to have the opportunity to offer this competition to our 3,000 plus registered attendees,” said Matthew Reyes, Chief Space Advisor for the Dent:Space conference. “We are grateful to Blue Origin for opening a payload slot to Dent:Space as we seek to embolden and grow a more entrepreneurial space community. I am personally interested in this experiment as it continues highly innovative research in ChipSat and other ultra-small spacecraft designs."Travis Brashears, Co-Founder, President, and Lead Design Engineer of Space Technologies at California (STAC) echoed these sentiments: “It’s impossible to do any essential component testing in a microgravity environment without having a payload slot, and we are very grateful to Dent:Space and Blue Origin for providing the opportunity to do so in this upcoming launch.”The STAC team will formally receive their award during the annual Dent Conference retreat held in Sun Valley, Idaho on March 19-21, 2017.About Dent the Future, LLCDent the Future’s mission is to help entrepreneurs, executives, and creatives “put a dent in the universe.” They organize conferences and other gatherings to enable their community of “denters”. Visit: dentthefuture.comAbout Blue OriginBlue Origin, LLC (Blue Origin) is a private company developing vehicles and technologies to enable commercial human space transportation. Blue Origin has a long-term vision of greatly increasing the number of people that fly into space so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system. Visit blueorigin.com.About Space Technologies at California (STAC)STAC is a UC Berkeley based student organization working to create a multi-campus initiative to advance space technology. Visit: stac.berkeley.edu