Replicator Challenge Winners Announced

And the winners of the Star Trek Replicator Challenge are Kyle Corrette from Phoenix, AZ, of the Teen Group, and Sreyash Sola from Ashburn, VA, of the Junior Group. They were chosen by a panel of expert judges for their Melanized Fungarium and Astro Martian Mini Farm entries, respectively.

The Star Trek Replicator Challenge was the third in a series of Future Engineers 3-D Printing challenges for students focused on designing solutions to real-world space exploration problems. Issued by the ASME Foundation, NASA and Star Trek, the goal of the challenge was to inspire students ages 5-19 to design a 3D model of a non-edible food-related item that could be printed by astronauts in the year 2050, to help those in space eat nutritiously.

As winners of the challenge, Corrette and Sola -- and their families -- won a once-in-a-lifetime trip to New York, where they were given a private viewing of the Space Shuttle Enterprise by former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, had the opportunity to speak with NASA astronaut Lee Morin, and were given a VIP tour of 3D-printer manufacturer MakerBot's Brooklyn headquarters. The winners also visited Star Trek’s 50th anniversary 'Starfleet Academy Experience' at the Intrepid.