There is still time to sign up for a NASA hackaton

The initiative linked to the development of technologies for space and the effects of the space economy is open to teams and individuals. Here's how to participate

Nasa Space Apps challenge 2020 (image: Porro Gabriele / Wired) The ninth edition of the NasaSpace Apps Challenge will take place simultaneously all over the world, and for the first time completely online. , the largest hackathon in the world dedicated to space and the planet Earth.

Promoted by NASA and organized in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency (Csa), the Center national d'études spatiales (Cnes), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) and the European Space Agency (Esa), the 48-hour international hackaton will involve students, recent graduates, researchers, personalities from the academic world, professionals, entrepreneurs and even simple enthusiasts and curious. All participants will be able to put into play their tech, business, data, design, communication and humanistic skills necessary to face the challenges of space proposed by the hosts of NASA.

The hackathon will begin on Saturday, October 3 at 9 (local time), when teams will be able to start submitting projects and will end on Sunday 4 October at 11:59 pm. Teams can be composed of a maximum of 6 people, but it is also possible to register individually and then be included in a team in the early stages of the competition.

Participating teams will be able to choose one of the 6 themes of challenge proposed by the competition on which to concentrate one's energies and focus one's project.

In the challenge called Observe, participants will be asked to devise tools that make observation data more accessible to scientists, citizens and institutional officials. For the Inform category, however, it will be required to think of new ways to make the dissemination of space agency data more engaging and effective. In the Sustain challenge the teams will have to think about solutions for a sustainable future while the Create category challenge will require both technology and creativity. For the Confront category, participants will have to imagine high-tech solutions to problems related to natural disasters, social and economic inequality. Finally, the challenges of the Connect category will ask to examine the methods for connecting the people who contribute to the missions of the space agencies on Earth and in Space.

During the phases of the hackaton the various teams will have to solve the proposed challenge within the end of the competition without forgetting to present the proposed project in a precise and accurate manner. the winning team will have the opportunity to develop their project with the full support of NASA and the other space agencies that coordinate the competition.

Since the event will be an entirely virtual hackathon, there will be plenary sessions, dedicated hours planning with your team or consulting. During the competition, NASA will make its database available to the participants, to be used and implemented freely in their projects that will have to face the proposed challenges.