Toronto Kid Wins NASA Contest with Space Colony Design

Congratulations to Eric Yam of Toronto, who, according to CBC, has won this year's NASA Space Settlement Competition. The grade 12 student is the first Canadian to win the prize in the competition's 16-year history. His space station, named Asten (another name for the Egyptian god Thoth) is a series of rings stacked atop each other - much like a larger version of the orbital station in 2001, with enough rings to almost make it look like an O'Neil can-city design like Babylon 5. But it wasn't just the engineering that won Yam the prize, it was the other details. His 92-page submission flushes-out design, construction and implementation timetables; analyzes the foods to be grown; and outlines immigration policy and tax structures. He's even put a price tag on this city in space: a mere $563 billion US.