Lets get you your rewards!! Just follow the BackerKit steps from Update #28 (May 5th) when you get a BackerKit email in the next 72 to 96 hours.
The first reward out the door will be STS-135 astronaut signatures. The next reward out the door and on the Asana / Instagantt timeline (which I plan to publicity share soon) is the $25 Physical Name is Space (and BACK) reward. Yesterday I started the custom Printed Circuit Board (PCB) work for these $25 rewards (see image above). After six people select their PCB color (Sith Red, Ahsoka Tano White, or Jedi Blue) via BackerKit, I will start CNCing the rewards and gold plating your names!!! Instead of just a single mounting hole (see image below), each name plate now has three mounting holes. This ensures that a 5.5 G' rocket launch doesn't break anything :)
I say medium and not long road in title, since the rocket launches in 220 days (7.2 months) and I have been doing the rocket and hardware prep work for two years prior to launching this campaign. As an ex-NASA engineer the Kickstarter / funding process was a lot hard then the technical side for me...
Names inside the Death Star prototype at Spaceport America New Mexico
We did it!!!
about 5 years ago
– Mon, May 06, 2019 at 11:21:22 PM
Death Star in Space corporate sponsor
Hello World,
We cannot say this enough: Thank you for all of your support!!! We will keep you informed and updated every step of the way. Since this project is 100% open source feel free to join the fun at any time by visiting www.deathstarinspace.com/engineering
Due to the HUGE surge in interest at the final moments of our campaign, we're opening up a mid range BUY NOW option for ONE month to help reach our stretch goals! This allows people who missed out on pledging to get in on the action by paying a little extra than our AMAZING Kickstarter backers!
To further support our stretch goal of 3D printing a metallic Death Star Xometry is giving DSiS a discount on its Aluminum DMLS printers. Make sure to check out their site to get a quick and free quote for all your 3D needs at www.xometry.com
73,
Blaze Sanders
Chief Designer @ DSiS
A successful failure + Facebook live stream 10 pm PT / UTC -7
about 5 years ago
– Mon, May 06, 2019 at 12:09:15 AM
After deep and hard discussions with our largest backer and our rocket launch provider, I have personally decided to cancel the Kickstarter at 11 pm PT (half way through tonight's Q&A live stream so you can ask questions). That is unless we reach the 139% / $25,612 funding level before then. In Update #1 I outlined that I would not promise project completion unless I knew it would be on time, and that backer money would be spent wisely.
I released the Open Source Kickstarter Reward Analysis Google Sheet in Update #19 (and Table #2 of campaign text) to hopefully provide full campaign funding transparency. It shows in column L that ~$14K of the $18,420 has to go to reward fulfillment and shipping (something A LOT of Kickstarter projects forget about). With our largest backer backing down on their pledge unexpectedly nearing the end of the campaign, the best response at this time is to cancel the campaign and possibly retry in six weeks. We will return with even greater rewards for you, our early adopters. Sign up with your email at http://eepurl.com/dPC58n to be the first one notified of relaunch and claim the awesome early bird rewards you deserve for believing in our project! We have already received a great deal of valuable insight from you about what excited you about the project. We’ve taken all of your feedback to heart and we're going to do everything we can to make a relaunched Kickstarter a success.
However, if you can spare a minute, please input any additional feedback about our campaign, why you backed us, and what you still need to see from us to secure your pledge in the future at https://forms.gle/sstwApgKLiw8o3nU8 Together we raised a lot of funds, just not quite enough to fulfill this project in light of the current risk event.
I could have scheduled the Kickstarter marketing and Facebook ad start-dates to begin earlier in the project timetable, and that may have given the project a larger contingency reserve to prevent insufficient funding. This is why I REALLY love Kickstarter’s all or nothing approach, since it protects both backers and creators.
All that being said, I’m still planning to launch a semi-operational Death Star into space Dec 13, 2019. I have already paid for the rocket launch, but to save capital I will not be doing any of the additional testing and material changes outlined in Update #2. If you would still like to continue to take part in the mission and send your name or a personal payload into space you can directly buy one of three Kickstarter rewards from www.deathstarinspace.com/buynow
$25 - Physical Name in Space (and BACK)
$320 - 22 xx 22 x 15 OR 37 mm spherical payload
$600 - Unassembled kitted Death Star
73,
Blaze Sanders
Chief Designer @ DSiS
URGENT: 154% Stretch Goal & BackerKit Reward Fulfillment Instructions
about 5 years ago
– Sun, May 05, 2019 at 11:18:01 AM
You will receive BackerKit surveys in your email inbox in four days. This VERY IMPORTANT survey allows us to collect all of the information necessary to deliver your rewards. Any customization (e.g. RECOMMEND-A-FRIEND program bonuses, gifts, multi-level reward merging, etc) will be reflected in your BackerKit survey.
We are currently at 110% with 14 hours (210 degrees of sun movement) left in the campaign. Lets make it to 154% and send a metallic Death Star into space and add a 4K camera to the United Frontiers rocket! Tell your friends and family in person, text message, Skype, forward this email, carrier pigeon, etc - whatever gets the job done!
Maybe even consider increasing your pledge...
Backers can always update their shipping address before we start shipping rewards Sept 2019 (T-minus 4 months). If you have any questions or troubleshooting issues, send an email to [email protected]or send a Tweet to @DeathStarSpace
BackerKit is easy as 1, 2, 3:
Step 1: Select your country for shipping and click “Get Started!”
Step 2: After you answer some questions, you will be taken to the Add-On page. Here, you will see your pledge level on the left and a list of rewards that are included in your pledge on the right. Make sure it is correct. Any customization (ex: e.g. RECOMMEND-A-FRIEND program bonuses, gifts, multi-level reward merging, etc) should be reflected in the item list. You also have the option to add-on ADDITIONAL items if you wish to do so.
Step 3: If you are receiving physical goods, you will be asked for your shipping information. Input your address and click “next.” In the confirmation page, review all of your information and hit “confirm.”
73,
Blaze Sanders
Chief Designer @ DSiS
May the 4th be with you (4 free items & 6 more events)
about 5 years ago
– Sat, May 04, 2019 at 12:53:47 PM
Hello World,
It has been a crazy 22 days since the launch on April 12 (Yuri's Night), but I wanted to again thank everyone for the awesome dad jokes, comments about space debris (see FAQs), and campaign sharing Tweets. We are now at the Final Frontier (I know don't cross the streams) and I wanted to give a quick update on the plans for the FINAL TWO DAYS of campaign (all times are USA PDT / UTC -7):
Photos with San Francisco tourist: May 4th 9 am to 1 pm
More FREE SF Tesla test drives / rides: May 4th 1 pm to 3 pm
Retweet THIS TWEET storm to Star Wars cast members at 3:30 pm
