The International 48 hour hackathon NASA Space Apps Challenge comes to Grodno!

Save the dates: October 19-21, 2018

Coders, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, technologists, and everyone enthusiastic about space can take part in the NASA Space Apps.

You will get a chance to use NASA resources to build innovative solutions to challenges we face on Earth and in space! It’s not just about smart phone applications! During the International Space Apps Challenge teams will utilize publicly available data to design all kinds of innovative solutions. Remember that you can create a solution that has the potential to impact real challenges and make big change!

You aren’t a coder, but have an idea or found solution to the proposed by NASA challenges – find the people interested – build your own team – and welcome aboard! Remember: Bringing together very diverse skills and talents is often a key to breakthrough innovation!

There are no special requirements for the participants. The participation is free of charge. You know that you can visit Belarus within 30 days without visa! The only thing you need is a desire to change our world for better and spend your weekend solving global challenges.

HERE WE GO!

REGISTRATION

First, you create a profile here (at Grodno location page on spaceappschallenge.org) and then register.

Every participant have to register as an individual not a team (you will not be able to add your team members to your project page if they have not registered). Participants will form project teams and teams submit their projects by creating a project page.

Teams submitting projects can be identified by their team when the project is submitted. Participants and their teams must be registered to their team’s site on spaceappschallenge.org in order to be eligible for global awards.

In addition to official registration at Space Apps Challenge, we kindly ask you to register at our LOCAL REGISTRATION too, so that we were able to deal with organizational issues and prepare everything for your convenience during the hackathon (your workplaces, space cookies and water, chairs, whiteboards, etc.)

TEAMS

You are welcome to form your team in advance and come to the event together. You can join a team on the day of the event based on your interest in a particular challenge or a match of skills.

The best way to compete is to participate as a team of 4-6 people with diverse skills and competences. You can participate as an individual or a smaller number team, but 4-6 member teams are most successful.

CHALLENGES

This year NASA suggests the following six challenge categories to solve:

1. CAN YOU BUILD A...
2. HELP OTHERS DISCOVER THE EARTH
3. VOLCANOES, ICEBERGS, AND ASTEROIDS (OH MY)
4. WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS...
5. AN ICY GLARE
6. A UNIVERSE OF BEAUTY AND WONDER

SOLUTIONS

In order for a project to receive an award or be eligible for global judging, every team should create a project page on spaceappschallenge.org to describe their work, focused on solving a specific, issued challenge. The page is a form that teams will use to input project information. Any project including at least one participant makes that project eligible for awards at that participant's location.

Additionally, projects must include links to the original resources, such as a source code repository or hardware schematic. Solutions will only be accepted for judging if they are licensed under an Open Source License as determined by the Open Source Initiative.

JUDGING

Judges will consider:

• Impact: How much impact (quality and quantity) can this project have? Does it solve a big problem or a little problem? Will it inspire or help many, or a few?
• Creativity: How creative/innovative is the approach? Is the project novel and something that hasn’t been attempted before, or is it an incremental improvement on something that already exists?
• Validity: Is the solution scientifically valid? Will it do what it sets out to do? Can it work in the real world?
• Relevance: Is this project responsive to the challenge for which it was submitted? Is it a complete solution or does it have a long way to go? Is it technically feasible? How usable or user friendly is the solution?
• Presentation: How well did the team communicate their project? Were they effective in telling the story of the project: the challenge, the solution, and why it is important?

AWARDS

Space Apps offers local and global awards.

Our local judges will nominate two teams / solutions for consideration in the global judging process. The global judging process will be managed by experts from NASA. Global awards will be announced two to three weeks after the event.

Extra award is given in the nomination People's Choice Awards.

We are preparing some local awards as well :)

So…

Think about Your project as a whole concept:

plan it: what kind of needs it satisfies or what kind of solution it gives - describe what You want to achieve and write a scope for the hackaton and future iterations,

design it: create mockups of usage, user stories, get close to it's insights - design user paths, interfaces, public communication or anything that regards Your solution,

develop concept: create prototype, example of usage around real data - it involves coding, building, and calculating in most of the cases, a lot of writing and researching + simulating the usage,

describe the insight: prepare presentation around story of Your solution, pitch to Jury Your solution

...and WIN

We will keep you updated via facebook