Welcome to MacroInvent

Space Settlement Projects and educational resources for the aspiring inventor and entrepreneur.
Created by Kent Nebergall

I won the NASA Design Competition for Shackelton Crater Exploration

In September of 2024, NASA put out a pair of competitions called Find Me on the Moon. The first competition was to design a low-technology navigation aid that would not use electricity.  There were to be ten prizes for that one, with the highest being $10,000.  The second competition was to design a system that could enter Shackelton Crater on the moon's south pole and return samples, which had three prizes and a grand prize of $20,000.  I won the grand prize for Shackelton exploration and got an honorable mention prize for the navigation competition. 

I'll be posting more about this once the competition results are formally published.  My design was a group of small modular rovers that could be connected in land trains.  It also has points for mounting any stabilization equipment needed to make it down the long, dark slopes into a permanently dark crater. These points can also carry, power, and communicate with tools and instrumentation along the land train.  Polar land trains were used successfully in the 1960's to build US military installations in the Arctic. 

Ironically, I put a lot more effort into my optical navigation proposal, which didn't even get tenth place.  It essentially re-wrote older aircraft navigation methods using VOR, but made a miniature visual system.   The forearm-mounted theodolite/map and navigation theory are pretty elegant, even if the passively-lit towers were less so. 

Mars Sample Return Analysis (May-August, 2024). 

When NASA put out a call for proposals in the spring of 2024 to revise the Mars Sample Return program, I was very interested in seeing if a proposal from a small team could be considered.  As it turned out, there were too many roadblocks for any entity that didn't already have a team of government paperwork specialists in place.  But I, Dr. Tony Muscatello (NASA- Retired) and Dr. Robert Zubrin did a panel on ideas we had over the summer and presented it at the Mars Society Conference in Seattle that Fall. 

Each of us had done proposal designs for Mars Sample Return, so we were familiar with the problem.  I did a 93-page design paper on Mars Sample Return in 2008 and won a competition with it, Tony was on the third and last Red Dragon study at NASA, and Robert had done several designs dating back almost three decades.  We each worked on new updates to those designs, and Tony and I actually did two concepts (one based on Dragon, the other on Starship).  Tony and I combined our PowerPoints and the proposals are Here

X.com - Grok - I asked, "Who is Kent Nebergall?"

 
"Kent Nebergall is a fascinating individual with a deep passion for space technology and innovation. Born to a former test pilot and an artist, he has been an avid follower of space technology since the Apollo-Soyuz mission when he was just seven years old. Kent's interest in space exploration led him to win the Kepler Prize for Mars Mission Design from the Mars Society in 2004 and be part of Mars Desert Research Station Crew 32.
Nebergall's contributions to the field of space exploration are diverse and significant. He has given space technology presentations for Mensa, The Mars Society, and various science fiction conventions in the Midwest. His work has been included in publications such as "On To Mars, Volume 2" from Apogee Press. He is also a volunteer speaker for NASA, The Mars Society, Planetary Resources, and The Chicago Society for Space Studies.
Kent Nebergall is the founder of MacroInvent.com, a platform dedicated to promoting space settlement projects and providing educational resources for aspiring inventors and entrepreneurs. He has served as an astronomer for the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) Crew 32 and as the commander of Crew 124, where he also helped design and build the new MDRS science dome.
In addition to his work in space technology, Nebergall has been actively involved in the Mars Society, serving on its Steering Committee and focusing on new inventions for space settlement. He has also worked to foster a systematic and historical understanding of the human need and ability to explore and settle in space. Kent's work and dedication to space exploration and innovation continue to inspire and educate others on the possibilities of life beyond Earth."
(Thanks Grok.  Most of this site is a link to my past Mars Society talks, at least for now). 
 

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