Washington, DC, US

NASA's Space Apps Challenge is an international hackathon for coders, scientists, engineers, storytellers, technologists, and students.

The World Needs Your Ideas

Innovators in cities around the world compete over the course of a weekend to engage with NASA’s open data to address real-world problems on Earth and in space to create change for social impact. International Finalists are selected from over thousands of participants in over 200 events in 75 countries globally.

Space Apps introduces problem-solvers worldwide to NASA’s free and open data. NASA missions to Earth, our Sun and solar system, and out into the universe – all gather data in pursuit of new knowledge, to expand our understanding through new scientific discoveries, and to help us to improve life on Earth. By using NASA data to solve each year’s challenges, Space Apps teams learn about NASA’s data, and share in the creation and application of the knowledge that results.

Space Apps inspires collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking, fosters interest in Earth and space science and exploration, and encourages the growth and diversity of the next generation of scientists, technologists, designers and engineers. Space Apps is managed by the Earth Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.

Action Required

1) Sign up/log in to your official Space Apps portal

• First, all participants must sign up on the official Space Apps portal.
• Next, register to participate at the Washington, DC location event page.

This portal will allow for teams to create team pages and upload projects. (All participants who have registered on Eventbrite must also follow these steps.)

2) Review the challengesThe official 2019 challenge categories have been announced! This year's Space Apps features six challenge categories  (including 25 challenges): 

1. Earth's Oceans
2. Our Moon
3. Planets Near And Far
4. To The Stars
5. Living In Our World
6. Invent Your Own Challenge

3) Form a team by joining the Space Apps DC Slack channel

• Space Apps DC is kicking off with a Data Bootcamp on Friday, October 18th. Join the official Space Apps DC Slack channel in advance to find a team and to stay up to date with the latest information.

Friday, Oct 18 Day 1: Data Bootcamp

Location: GWU Marvin Center Amphitheater

800 21st St NW, Floor 3 Washington, DC 20052

• 5:00 pm Opening remarks Fionnghuala O’Reilly, MUI
• 5:15 pm Kickoff Speaker Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA
• 5:45 pm Project Initiation & Challenges Fionnghuala O’Reilly, MUI
• 6:00 pm Agenda, rules & regulations
• 6:10 pm Introduce judges Christine Nolan, Hubble Financial
• 6:20 pm Judging criteria Jacquay Henderson, Square Peg Technologies
• 6:30 BREAK and Photocall: Speakers and Presenters
• 6:40 pm Open data exploration, tools dissemination Fionnghuala O’Reilly, MUI
• 6:55 pm Ben Noble: Hacking the Challenge
• 7:20 pm Christine Nolan: Humanizing Big Data
• 7:45 pm Meet and Great/Team Formation
• 8:00 pm End

Saturday, Oct 19 Day 2: Hackathon Commences, Keynote, Panels

Location: iStrategy Labs 8 am to 9 pm

641 S St NW Fl 1, Washington, DC 20001

• 8:00 am Breakfast
• 9: 00 am Kickoff
  • 9:00 am Neisan Massarat, Space Apps Global Organizing Team
  • 9:05 am Shobhana Gupta, Space Apps Global Organizing Team
  • 9:15 am Fionnghuala O’Reilly, NASA Datanaut & MUI
• 9:30 am Keynote: David Meza, NASA
• 10:00 am Sponsors/Collaborators:
  • 10:00 am Jacquay Henderson, Square Peg Technologies
  • 10:05 am Brittany Mason, Miss Universe Ireland Organisation
• 10:15 am Women in Tech Panel 1: Technology for Social Impact (emcee: GWU Society of Women Engineers) 10 am
  • Pooja Mistry, IBM Watson
  • Cindy Chin, NASA Datanaut & CLC Advisors
• 11:00am Women in Tech Panel 2: Moving the Conversation on from Gender Diversity (emcee: Sharnikya Howard)
  • Rakia Finley, Copper and Vine
  • Rachel Koretsky, Upace & DC Startup Week
  • Kelly Knight,George Mason University Forensic Science Program
• 11:45 am Photocall: Speakers and Presenters
• 12:00 pm Breakout Technical Workshops
  • Pooja Mistry, Node-RED Rapid Prototyping
  • Introduction to Neo4j
• 1:00pm
  • Dr. Maham Aftab, Making Mirrors for the World’s Largest Telescopes
  • Intro to Tableau
• 6:00 pm Dinner
• 10:00 pm Closing

Sunday, Oct 20 Day 3: Pitches and Awards

Location: iStrategy Labs 8 am to 5 pm

641 S St NW Fl 1, Washington, DC 20001

• 8:00 am Breakfast
• 8:00 am Pitch Practice
• 1:30 pm Project submission
• 2:00 pm Pitches
• 4:00 pm Judging & Awards
  • Neisan Massarat, Space Apps Global Organizing Team
  • Shobhana Gupta, Space Apps Global Organizing Team
  • Fionnghuala O’Reilly, NASA Datanaut & MUI
• 4:30 pm Photocall: Winners, Judges, and Speakers
• 4:45 pm Closing remarks
• 5:00 pm End

Sign up as a volunteer.

* Participants under 18 (must at least be 15 years old) are required to have adult permission and code of conduct form signed.