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News By Graham Templeton Jun. 6, 2013 5:16 pm

Whoever’s doing promotions for LEGO should get a raise. What could easily have been the next great brand to fade into obsolescence has instead surged forward to an arguably all-new level of fame. LEGO-branded video games are consistently best-sellers and actually garner a fair amount of admiration from many gamers. LEGO conventions are huge events that attract real media attention. Perhaps most importantly, however, they’ve managed to hold onto the idea that LEGO is fun, while also adopting a cloak of educational value. The simple nature of LEGO and its capacity to support real creativity has earned it points with many a parent, and not just for nostalgia’s sake.

Now, LEGO is teaming up with one of the only groups that could rival its combination of cool and enriching content: NASA. The “NASA Missions: Imagine and Build” competition will challenge builders over 13 years of age to build the coolest and most realistic models of future airplanes and spacecraft. The entry deadline is July 31, and winners will be announced September 1. There is a research component, so each team will not only have to build but explain their creations. Interestingly, entries can be either built out of real physical blocks or using the Lego Digital Designer program, which seems a bit unfair, but will function as a nice promotion for the online builder.

NASA and LEGO have a long-standing relationship.

One category of the contest puts an emphasis on actual proposed pieces of NASA tech, mostly with relation to fuel efficiency, noise, and emissions reduction. This category looks for realistic projections of aeronautical technology. Teens looking to make an impression on the aeronautics industry can enter the 13-to18-year-old Student Builders category, while everyone else can shoot for a separate prize for builders 13 and up.

A second category seeks more fantastical entries — any future vehicle design that might carry humans through air or space. Whether the winner is a jet or a rocket ship, a helicopter or a planetary rover, this is the contest’s more open category, and is sure to attract its most outlandish and creative entries. Builders 16 and up may apply.

The age groupings are a solid idea, since the dominance of older, more savvy builders is a real problem for a brand that sells itself as kid-centric. Of course, an engineering graduate student can build something amazing with the functionally unlimited possibilities of LEGO’s full-block arsenal. Giving younger builders a chance to compete shows that LEGO and NASA really are interested in fostering good, old-fashioned teenage enthusiasm.

Now read: The average Lego brick can be used 37,112 times

Tags:

- contest
- LEGO
- Lego Digital Designer
- NASA
- rover
- shuttle

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