NASA International Hackathon 2024 Will Be Dedicated to The Sun

2024 NASA Space Apps Challenge – the largest annual global hackathon – will be held on 5-6 October. This year’s theme is “The Sun Touches Everything”.

NASA’s Annual Hackathon Kicks Off

NASA International Space Apps Challenge is a hackathon for coders, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, technologists, and innovators. Since 2012, this two-day event has been providing an opportunity for participants to utilize NASA’s free and open data and its Space Agency Partners’ space-based data to address real-world problems on Earth and in space. It is an international event, so enthusiasts from all over the world have an opportunity to get involved in the exploration of our Solar System.

During the event, NASA Space Apps Challenge participants at hundreds of in-person and virtual Local Events to address challenges submitted by NASA Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). These challenges are divided into topics and range in complexity, tasking participants with everything: from creating artistic visualizations of NASA data to developing informational apps and software programs.

This year, the NASA Space Apps Challenge welcomes 15 international space agency partners, including European Space Agency (ESA).

The Heliophysics Big Year

The NASA heliophysics department has declared the period from October 2023 to December 2024 to be the “Heliophysics Big Year” – a global celebration of the Sun’s influence on Earth and the entire solar system. NASA representatives encourage us to participate in as many Sun-related activities as we can. So, no wonder that this year’s NASA hackathon’s theme is dedicated to the Sun – it’s the celebration of “Helio Big Year”.

Hackathon participants will focus on the influence of the Sun on Earth, our solar system and space science.

After the hackathon, project submissions are judged by space agency experts. Winners are selected for one of 10 global awards and invited to an in-person celebration with NASA leadership and experts – as stated in the NASA official announcement.

In 2023, 57.999 participants were registered and 5.556 projects were submitted. 

The registration for this year’s NASA Space Apps Challenge opened on 18 July. To register follow this link.