The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is growing, and the 2022 global event was the largest it has been since its inception in 2012.
The challenge held Oct. 1 and 2, 2022, brought together a host of participants from different locations, cultures, backgrounds, interests, and skill levels. The 10 global winners were announced during a live broadcast on Dec. 8, 2022.
The theme for the 2022 challenge – Make Space – perfectly describes the primary goals of the event: creating innovative solutions to space-related problems, while also making space for people around the world to participate and engage in a collaborative scientific effort.
“NASA’s Space Apps Challenge really puts students around the world to the test, helping to solve some of our time’s toughest problems,” said Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator. “I’m proud of all those who participated and challenged themselves to think creatively. Their remarkable ingenuity is proof that the Artemis Generation will help lead us into the future.”
The 2022 Space Apps Challenge had more than 31,500 registrants from 162 countries and territories. During the two-day event, participants tackled 22 challenges using open-source data from NASA and its 11 space agency partners.
“The 2022 Space Apps Challenge – which was bigger than it’s ever been – was the perfect precursor to the Year of Open Science, and it underscored the importance and value of NASA’s Open-Source Science Initiative,” said Keith Gaddis, program manager for Biological Diversity and Ecological Program at NASA headquarters. “Open science creates more advanced and inclusive research faster, builds a more just and equitable world, and provides access so that great minds from all walks of life can participate in science. Space Apps epitomizes the need for open-source science.
Space Apps recognizes the power of including the unique perspectives different people and teams bring to their challenge solution. The challenge functions from the premise that empowering ideas through innovation and inclusion broadens participation and increases accessibility to knowledge. This year’s participants came together to form 5,327 teams and submit more than 3,000 projects.
“Every year, the ideas and solutions presented get bigger and better, which is so impressive,” said Karen St. Germain, Earth Science Division director at NASA Headquarters. “The participants fuse ingenuity, creativity, and passion with science, art, and technology, which increases the pace and quality of scientific progress.”
The 10 global winning teams proposed solutions using tools, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, 3D globes and maps, web applications, interactive games, and the infusion of art and music into their projects. The winning teams were:
- Best Use of Science: What’s New? (Taipei, Taiwan)
- Best Use of Data: Starflock (Cleveland, Ohio, USA)
- Best Use of Technology: tAMing particles (Vilnius, Lithuania)
- Galactic Impact: Selene (Jamshedpur, India)
- Best Mission Concept: Mars 3D Home (Mendoza, Argentina)
- Most Inspirational: Team Diamonds (Cumilla, Bangladesh)
- Best Storytelling: MIMBI (Asunción, Paraguay)
- Global Connection: Standard NCTU CS Student (Taoyuan, Taiwan)
- Art & Technology: Earth, Wind & Flare (Boston, Massachusetts, USA)
- Local Impact: Brute Force (Nisocia, Cyprus)
For more information about Space Apps and to learn about NASA’s 2023 Space Apps Challenge (Oct. 7 and 8, 2023), visit https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/
