Global NASA event touches down in York
Posted on 26 March 2014
The Space Apps Challenge is an annual global challenge created by NASA, its supporting agencies and collaborating companies, which takes place simultaneously over 48 hours in cities across the world.
The aim is for teams to work together at the 83 host locations to develop solutions to address some of NASA’s real-life challenges. This year’s challenges cover five themes – technology in space; human space flight; asteroids; Earth watch; and robotics.
Between 60 and 80 people are expected to take part in the two-day codeathon-style event at York from 12 to 13 April, with additional input from virtual participants from across the UK and beyond.
York's event is organised and run by PhD students from the Department of Computer Science, and will also include involvement from industrial partners. It is sponsored by the Department of Computer Science, Google, the Met Office, The Test People and ETAS. Several of the sponsors will host stands at the event, act as judges and provide local prizes.
Pedro Ribeiro, a PhD student in York’s Department of Computer Science, is one of the organisers. He said: “We are really excited about hosting Space Apps in York. The event has been made possible by the generous support from both our academic and industrial partners. Anyone who has an interest in space or Earth-related sciences can get involved and work with others to develop their skills and make a difference to human space travel and exploration.
“It is a unique opportunity to compete with people from all over the world and to showcase your skills, not just to industry at a local level, but to NASA and its supporting agencies and collaborating companies from all over the world.”
Participants are encouraged to form teams, with members either physically co-located or collaborating remotely from other locations. Local winners will be nominated to compete at a global level, with winning UK projects going on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Global winners will be invited to a NASA launch event, as well as receiving special attention from NASA to further develop their app.
Over 9,000 people participated simultaneously in last year’s event from over 50 locations across the globe, including York.
The NASA Space Apps Challenge will take place from 9.30am on Saturday, 12 April until 6.30pm on Sunday, 13 April. Teams will present their solutions to a panel of judges and their peers attending the event. The challenge is free and open to anyone interested in helping humankind explore space. To join the challenge at York visit https://2014.spaceappschallenge.org/location/york/
Find out more about the challenges involved at https://2014.spaceappschallenge.org/challenge/ Follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SpaceAppsYork or Twitter www.twitter.com/SpaceAppsYork
Notes to editors:
- To find out more about the Space Apps Challenge visit https://2014.spaceappschallenge.org/
- More information on the University of York’s Department of Computer Science at www.cs.york.ac.uk/
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