Lego’s Moon to Mars competition winner touches down at Kennedy Space Center

It’s been a long journey, but the winning model from Lego’s 2019 Moon to Mars competition has touched down at Kennedy Space Center, where it’s awaiting permanent display. This impressive creation, dubbed the Moon to Mars Transport System (MMTS), is the work of Lego builder and sci-fi enthusiast Steve Iuliano. But you won’t find a single hyperdrive anywhere on this model.

Instead, Lego challenged builders to come up with a relatively realistic set, one that NASA could theoretically make use of. “Imagine if you could help NASA take the next big step in space, taking us from the Moon to Mars,” Lego’s stated in its competition brief. Are the winner and the runners up technically sci-fi? Yes, but they’re feasible enough that NASA could build them, maybe fifty or so years down the line.

Iuliano’s winning entry took inspiration from Andy Weir’s The Martian (also a movie with Matt Damon), and impressed NASA, who co-judged the competition. “NASA’s response to my entry was that they loved how it was modular, how it addressed mental health/wellbeing spaces, physical fitness, growing food in space/hydroponic plants,” he explains. “The centrifugal force-based gravity belt (as artificial gravity will be very important for our health on long journeys), solar arrays for power, etc.”

Iuliano initially worked with digital assets, which won him the competition and a selection of very cool Lego Space sets. But NASA requested he build a physical Moon to Mars Transport System so it could be displayed at KSC. He also built five other models for NASA, though those are yet to be displayed. Actually getting the parts together was just one of the post-competition challenges he faced.

“I still have my Lego Space sets from when I was a child, so I absolutely LOVE the big transparent blue dome panels from the Aquazone genre and used 12 of them in the MMTS. These alone cost hundreds of dollars to track down and order,” Iuliano adds. Iuliano hails from Australia’s Gold Coast, and so getting the sets safely to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, proved to be another trial.

Iuliano explains: “It was bittersweet because when I finally arrived to set it up for an exhibition last year, it was so badly damaged by customs who pulled all the LED wiring out and basically broke it apart that it was in thousands of pieces.”

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That might seem overzealous, but we’ve seen enough customs-based reality TV shows to appreciate the customs people’s suspicion. The good news is that. over one and a half weeks, he was able to rebuild it and the other models. On top of that, Iuliano and family got to go behind the scenes at Kennedy Space Center. “We got to meet Astronauts, wonderful staff from KSCVC, and it really was two of the best weeks of our lives. A dream come true and a very unique experience.”

The Moon to Mars Transport system is awaiting a more permanent home at Kennedy, along with the five other models. But it was briefly on display as part of a four-day space exhibition, under the space shuttle Atlantis. Iuiliano describes it as “…absolutely incredible. I got to speak with students from their space camp programs and answer everyone’s questions and meet some incredible people.”

You can watch him showcasing the Lego Moon to Mars Transport System above, which includes some rather snazzy lighting. A conversation with the COO of Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex inspired Iuliano to create a Lego Ideas submission based on The Martian. At 7,515 votes it’s well on the way to the critical 10,000 it needs to be reviewed. He’s also a keen Star Wars fan, but Lego Ideas doesn’t allow sets connected to active lines.

Thanks go to Steve Iuliano for sharing the story behind this set. Want to help his The Martian Lego Ideas submission become a reality? It’s already been endorsed by The Martian author Andy Weir, so you’ll be in good company. Then head to Lego Ideas and get voting.