The International Space Settlement Design Competition is an industry simulation for high school students, set in the future.

The Competition emulates, as closely as possible, the experience of working as a member of an aerospace industry proposal team.

SpaceSet competitions are set in a futuristic society where humanity has expanded into the solar system. Each competition cycle involves the design and development of the next iterative expansion from Earth – from the very first settlement <link the term first settlement to the web-page> in earth orbit through to the colonization of the asteroid belt.

Participants enter the SpaceSet environment, and discover a rich, immersive world – ‘futuristic’ technology extrapolated from today’s cutting edge, sub-contractors that specialize in off-world equipment, and existing inter-system infrastructure that they can leverage in their designs. This canon is annually incremental, meaning that each settlement is available for use in the next competition scenario; the overall canon refreshes roughly on a five-year cadence.

Each new settlement is sponsored by the Foundation Society, a global body responsible for delivering humanity to the far reaches of space. Each year, the Society releases multiple Request For Proposals (RFPs) – a series of requirements that outline the next space settlement they wish to develop.