2013 Space Apps Mission Report WDO2kX1

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
@SpaceApps
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 Executive Summary
6 Introduction - To Explore
10 Infographic - Space Apps in Numbers
12 Chapter 1 - Mass Collaboration
20 Chapter 2 - Community
30 Chapter 3 - Challenges
40 Chapter 4 - Solutions
44 Chapter 5 - Conclusions
50 Appendix
109 Credits
spaceappschallenge.org
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
The International Space Apps Challenge is a two-day
hackathon where teams of technologists, scientists,
designers, artists, educators, entrepreneurs, develop-
ers, and students collaborate across the globe, using
publicly available data to design innovative solutions for
global challenges in software development, citizen sci-
ence, hardware, and data visualization.
For the 2013 event, more than 9,000 challenges, and an immeasurable
global citizens in 44 countries and amount of enthusiasm and investment
83 cities engaged directly with NASA in exploration was created.
for the largest hackathon in history.
In just 83 total hours they collectively In addition to the event’s significant
developed awe-inspiring software, footprint around the globe, over 2,200
built jaw-dropping hardware, and people participated virtually from
created stunning data visualizations less formal locations. They gathered
that collectively went a long way to at coffee shops, libraries, commu-
improving life on Earth and in space. nity centers, and their own homes to
The results? An unbelievable 770 contribute to the global effort. Both
solutions were submitted, thousands the virtual participants and the par-
of people worked together to address ticipants in physical locations found
@SpaceApps 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
each other through matchmaking functionality around each of the challenges,

forming teams that spanned the globe. People were excited to con-
tribute their skills and ideas, including teams collaborating via
Google Hangout; subject matter experts with no program-
ming ability offering to work with any team to help solve
the challenge; and the challenge sponsors getting ac-
tively involved with all teams working on their chal-
lenge to ensure they got the most from the weekend.
While so much of the excitement of a hackathon
is about physically working with others, 83 of the
770 teams spanned multiple locations and 65 of
those included at least one virtual participant.
The Internation
The International Space Apps Challenge – led by

Challenge represe
NASA and 474 other organizations, including 6
forts in working to
international space agencies, 11 US embassies,
and 6 US federal government agencies – offered
– to enable us all
up massive amounts of data and other resources
to teams of hackers who responded with creative heights & revea
solutions. The participants worked on 58 curated
challenges, submitting at least 2 solutions for each
challenge, with some of the most popular challenges
receiving many more. Over 40 solutions were created
for asteroid-related challenges and 37 solutions for our
Spot the Station challenge. Participants designed CubeSats
for our upcoming Mars mission, integrated wind, solar, and
geothermal energy data, and created data visualizations to improve
the air traffic control system and track satellites and solar electric pro-
pulsion. The first interplanetary weather app was developed using actual Mars
science data and visual imagery, such as highlighting temperature and dust storms.
A low-cost underwater rover using lights, thrusters, and video cams was built in San
Francisco; a team in NYC then manipulated the craft in San Francisco using Skype and
a keyboard.
The community drove the development of youth engagement across

sites, with focused efforts in 7 locations (Toronto, Philadelphia,
Reno, Guayaquil, Managua, Brisbane, and Glasgow). Toronto
led the way with their 150 students aged 7-15, who began
by imagining what exoplanet aliens might look like with the
help of planetary scientists on-hand and created them
with 3S modeling software. They then printed their aliens
on 3D printers to take home. Also at the event, kids
nal Space Apps took photos of their alien creations and themselves in
space attire against a green-screen backdrop for the
ents our latest ef- Wish You Were Here interplanetary vacation post-
cards. For the Listening to the Stars challenge, youth
ogether – with YOU participants provided the soundtrack to the event
by mixing music and space sounds on DJ consoles.
to reach for new For fun visual effect, they also poured cornstarch and
water over horizontal subwoofers, producing writhing
al the unknown. tentacle “oobleck.” Not to leave CubeSats out, kids
made origami CubeSat prototypes.
Ultimately, the International Space Apps Challenge repre-

sents our latest efforts in working together – with YOU – to
enable us all to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown.
The first and second annual events have been an experiment
within government to adapt to the changing external environment,
embrace new technologies, engage with our citizens, and encourage
collaborations and partnerships. This is the result of the government rec-
ognizing that we can be more relevant for our stakeholders and intentionally
create a culture of openness. This is crucial as we attempt to evolve into a twenty-first
century space program for a twenty–first century democracy.
@SpaceApps 5
INTRODUCTION
At NASA, we are committed to pioneering the future. We
have a long history of achieving seemingly impossible
goals, from reaching the Moon to advancing fundamental
knowledge about our home planet. Today we work to un-
derstand the universe’s origins, map its current state, and
analyze its effects on our future. We are inherently passion-
ate about solving the grand challenges of our day. NASA
has a mandate to be bold, take risks, and do what intimi-
dates most others – the things that not only inspire our
nation, but the world. We are just beginning to embark on
an ambitious program of space exploration that will build
on new technologies and expand our reach into the solar
system, including new destinations never before visited by
humans. These grand challenges we are now focused on
cannot be solved alone. NASA needs your help.
INTRODUCTION
TO EXPLORE
Our space program, more than ever, demand for a limited supply of natural
requires the active engagement of the resources, and ecosystems changing
public to co-create our future. The more rapidly than ever before. Of-
grand challenges we collectively face ten, however, the solutions to issues
are monumental and complex. Long both on Earth and in space stem from
voyages through deep space are filled the same ideas – and as technology
with many dangers, yet the challenges advances, new developments are
we face here on Earth are even more born every day that contribute to both
daunting – millions of people with- contexts.
out access to clean water, a growing
@SpaceApps 7
To truly accomplish the immense task NASA has been
given, we are working to develop new ways to enlist
citizens around the globe to contribute their time, tal-
ent, and creativity to help us solve the grand challenges
of our time. This is especially true in times of shrinking
budgets, constrained resources, and increasing de-
mands for a more open and transparent government.
The 2013 International Space Apps Challenge was the

culmination of months of planning, years of experimen-
tation, and tens of thousands of hours of hard work
from people across the planet who share in the excite-
ment of building our collective future. The initiative is
our grand experiment in participatory exploration and
serves as a tangible example that we are in a new era
of exploration – one that has great promise. It marks
a shift in the way the Agency interacts with the pub-
lic and conducts its exploration mission. No longer is
exploration and discovery limited to the governmental
engineer, scientist, or astronaut – we all now have the
power to contribute to a mission greater than ourselves.
WE ARE ALL EXPLORERS.

@SpaceApps 9
I NFOG RAPHIC
SPACE APPS IN NUMBERS
TOP 10 SOLD OUT EVENTS & CHALLENGES

CITIES LOCATIONS FOR STUDENTS
N e w York,
Yor k ,Santiago,
S an tiago, ToronSofia,
to, A delaide,Bangalore,
B a nga lore , Bogota , Toronto, Phila de lphia ,
New Toronto, Adelaide, Bogota, Toronto, Philadelphia, Reno,
S o fia , Jakarta,
Tokyo, To k y o , JLimassol,
ak art, L imas s ol,
Bogota, Gu atemalaCity,
Guatemala City, London,
London, Monte rre y,
Monterrey Re no, GuaManagua,
Guayaquil, ya quil, Brisbane, and
Rome, aLondon
Bogot , R ome, L on don Mexico,
R ecife, Recife,
S an FraSan Francisco,
nc isc Santa
o, Sa nta Cruz, Ma na gua , Brisba ne , a nd
Glasgow
Cruz,
S an taSanta Marta,
M arta, Santiago,
Sa ntia go a ndand
Toronto Gla sgow.
Toronto
M O ST P OPUL AR MOST POPUL AR MOST POPU LAR MOST POPU LAR

HA RDWAR E NASA EXT ERN AL SOFT WARE
Lego Rovers, Spot the Station, Reach for the Stars, Spot the
ArduSat Why We Explore, Renewable Energy Explorer, Station
Database of NEOs Backyard Poultry Farmer
REGISTERED
TOP TEN CITIES BY PROJECTS PRODUCED
218
PA R T I C I PA N T S
33 NEW YORK
347 ME D I A
ART I C LE S
28 SANTIAGO
368
83
26 TORONTO
180
24 SOFIA
142 T E AMS T H AT
C OLLAB ORAT E D
22 TOKYO WI T H AT LE AST
137 ON E P H Y SI C AL
LOC AT I ON
2 2 J A K A R TA
129
65
19 LIMASSOL
125
1 8 B O G O TA
124 VI RT U AL T E AMS
T H AT
17 ROME C OLLAB ORAT E D
206 WI T H AT LE AST
ON E OT H E R
16 LONDON LOC AT I ON
126
2,200 170 spaceappschallenge.org
250,434 VISITORS
VIRTUAL VIRTUAL
PARTICIPANTS PARTICIPANT
SOLUTIONS
SINCE MARCH 3, 2013
PART ICIPANTS SOLUTIONS
18 L O C AT I O N AT
3.9
LARGEST TEAM SIZE
N O R T H E R N M O S T L O C AT I O N H I G H E S T A LT I T U D E
TA M P E R E , F I N L A N D K AT H M A N D U , N E PA L
AVERAGE TEAM SIZE
A N TA R C T I C A
S O U T H E R N M O S T L O C AT I O N
57
CHALLENGES
484
ORGANIZATIONS
83 44
CITIES COUNTRIES
@SpaceApps
9,150 PEOPLE
474 ORGANIZATIONS
83 CITIES
44 COUNTRIES
770 SOLUTIONS
CHAPTER ONE
MASS COLLABORATION
Collaboration on a massive Participation in the collab-
scale is the future of orative process creates in-
government innovation. creased awareness as well
as mutual public-private
stake in the outcome and
Government-led mass implementation.
collaboration increases
efficiency, transparency, and
direct civic participation,
while aligning the agency’s
The International Space
work with private sector
Apps Challenge provided
innovation processes.
a unique opportunity for
NASA to advance technol-
ogy development while
engaging citizens world-
wide in meaningful partici-
patory exploration.
@SpaceApps 13
MASS COLLABORATION
How do you engage thousands of people

around the world in NASA’s mission? This
was the challenge we set out to tackle with
the International Space Apps Challenge.
Admittedly, engaging the masses in this The more government enables people
way has previously been very hard for who fundamentally care about it and
government. Although government has want to contribute to the future of our
always been a platform for collective world, the better chance we will have
action, it’s never really been an efficient to help our governments live up to their
one at connecting people together and true potential and develop solutions to
scaling their participation in a focused the grand challenges of our time.
and useful way. At NASA, we are in the
Here’s the key: it’s not just about individ-
midst of a massive change. The exter-
ual participation; it’s about mass collab-
nal environment of the aeronautics and
oration. Mass collaboration is the delib-
space sector is undergoing a shift in
erate engagement of a broad group of
how business is conducted. The core of
diverse participants in collective action
NASA’s strategy for extending human-
focused on generating innovative and
ity into the solar system recognizes the
relevant solutions to the most pressing
ingenuity of citizens as a rich resource
problems. Mass collaboration represents
to develop more capable and innova-
an inexorable and rapidly advancing
tive technologies and to create a thriving
shift towards a new way for individuals,
commercial space sector.
communities, and institutions to engage
Thanks to technology, connecting with one another across boundaries and
people to what we do inside government barriers around the challenges that we
does not have to be complex. It is not all share.
rocket science. The formula is simple.
Mass collaboration is particularly
possible today because of the Internet
and our place in history.
It is technology that enables the creation Mass collaboration requires the right
and application of ideas at scales previ- combination of incentives and systems to
ously unimaginable, in a focused way. In amplify small time investments by citi-
fact, it is collaboration on a massive scale zens into vast creative contributions with
that will lead us to a new future of gov- concrete results, then focus those results
ernment innovation. towards directly impacting the mission of
their organization.
Using technology, organizations can now
aggregate unlimited contributions – no Fortunately, NASA isn’t exactly known for
matter how small – from a number of thinking small. Instead of resting on past
sources, and focus the results to create achievements, NASA has always been
a solution that will scale and have a big about reaching for the future. We know
impact. Crowdsourcing innovation makes that in order to solve the grand chal-
a lot of sense for organizations who are lenges of our time, we must find groups
interested in navigating the nuances of of people, bring them together around
doing business in the digital age. Howev- an issue or problem that needs to be
er, not all approaches are equal, and we fixed, then step out of the way and let the
have witnessed that competition breeds collective energy of the people involved
very different results than collaboration. solve problems in creative and imagina-
@SpaceAppsPHL
@SpaceApps 15
MASS COLLABORATION
tive ways that we would never have done date, and a real testament to what people
ourselves. Recognizing that NASA didn’t can do together if given the permission,
have a way to engage citizens in such opportunity, and resources.
a scaled and relevant way, we set off to The solutions developed at the event
create one. In 2012, the Open Innovation were so impressive, and the demand to
Program led the first International Space do another event like it so strong, we
Apps Challenge. It was the largest gov- decided to host a second International
ernment-led mass collaboration event to Space Apps Challenge in April 2013.
The event demonstrated that thanks largely to the

Internet, the kind of creativity and innovation that
It demonstrated in proving that the creativity
usedandto take place primarily
innovation that used behind closed
to take placedoors
within large institutions
primarily is increasingly
behind closed taking
doors within place
large
institutions is increasingly
by people takingonline.
simply connected place by
people connected together online.
In planning the 2013 International Space most worth solving, build a platform to
Apps Challenge, we dreamed big and engage a large, diverse group of partici-
set many goals. We wanted to “liberate” pants around the challenge, incentivize
government data to fuel entrepreneur- them through collaboration to develop a
ship, improve transparency, create op- solution, and then let the best ideas rise
portunities, fuel economic growth, and to the top naturally. It was an experiment
improve the lives of citizens from around in new ways of harnessing the potential
the world in very tangible ways. Our ap- of mass collaboration in order to con-
proach was to prioritize the challenges nect you to space. The purpose was not
only to develop new technology, or even solve tough problems, but to fundamentally
improve government – to make it more open and participatory. In the end, the Interna-
tional Space Apps Challenge proved to be a unique opportunity for NASA to advance
technology development while engaging citizens worldwide in meaningful,
participatory exploration.
@SpaceApps 17
MASS COLLABORATION
WORDS FROM
THE COLLABORATORS
In the end, no money exchanged hands, no job offers were on the
table and no thank-yous were expected by any of these people, yet
they were all willing to give almost three days of their lives to make
something that might help others or help humanity as a whole.
gary nolan, space apps cleveland
I learned a lot about local and global teamwork; fantastic how that
works, and what an enthusiastic people working around the clock.
erik kuulkers, space apps rome
Space Apps shows that there is great potential in our country.
maria zaghi, space apps guatemala city
Weekends are for movies, treks, or visits not for serious works. But
all of us were more than happy to spend the two days in a unique
manner, learning, sharing, enjoying, working, and networking.
rinu maharjan, space apps kathmandu
@SpaceApps 19
CHAPTER TWO
COMMUNITY
The community is a The community’s
platform for innovation involvement in Space
and collaboration. Apps and participation in
exploration challenges ex-
tends far beyond just the
Technology enables the weekend event.
community to grow virtually
around ideas and shared
opportunities, rather than
just via physical proximity.
Mass collaborations
allow agencies a new level
of access into incredible
pockets of innovation
worldwide.
@SpaceApps 21
COMMUNITY
Collaboration is the key to addressing the

most important challenges of our time – and
community is the platform that makes collab-
oration possible. Community grows, first and
foremost, by working together to accomplish
a goal.
It is the global community that holds a a bottom-up community creation model

diversity of perspective and approach to that empowered all of the participants
those grand challenges, and their wealth to connect with each other around the
of cultural, professional, and practical challenges and projects they worked on.
experience adds a value achievable
only through the crowd. Not only are the The most enthusiastic members of the
best, brightest, and most passionate Space Apps community have an op-
global leaders bringing their own exper- portunity to deepen their investment in
tise, they have volunteered to build and Space Apps: they can focus on commu-
bring their communities to contribute to nity development and engagement by
this effort. becoming local leads. The core global
team invests in and mentors local leads,
The unique model of a centrally led who in turn engage and support their lo-
global effort composed of independently cal participants, a regional management
led local events is an extremely flexible approach enabling the event to scale on
one, giving participants a contextual- low resources without losing its vision.
ized personal experience that can also
be networked across nations, cultures, More than 60% of the the local leads
and disciplines. Space Apps prioritized who led a local event at the 2012 Inter-
Toronto engaged 150 students at once
with a parallel youth-focused challenge.
national Space Apps Challenge returned servants directed Space Apps KSC – the
to lead again, and more than 60% of the first NASA-led local event.
new leads at the 2013 had participated
in the 2012 event. The local leads were Each approached their event with a
a particularly diverse group: Space Apps different perspective, giving it a flavor
Syracuse was led by senior students at unique to their culture and experience,
Syracuse University’s iSchool. The Met and it is these individuals who truly foster
Office UK, the UK’s national weather and cultivate the community. Santiago,
agency, led Space Apps Exeter, and Chile was the largest site; 50% of New
Google Lunar X Prize team Indus led York City’s participants were female; in
Space Apps New Delhi. The Paris loca- Port-au-Prince, Haiti high school stu-
tion was led by a previously unconnected dents built simulators to explore and ex-
group of volunteers. perience sustainable living. Space Apps
Jakarta held satellite events in outlying
Space Apps Rome was led by the Eu- villages where they judged projects over
ropean Space Agency in partnership the phone. Tokyo celebrated with sushi in
with the US Embassy in Rome, and the the shape of the Space Shuttle. Toronto
Pretoria location by the World Bank’s engaged 150 students at once with a par-
mLab South Africa. A team of NASA civil allel youth-focused challenge.
@SpaceApps
@SpaceApps 23
COMMUNITY
Enabling the community to grow virtually exchange of ideas, as well as allowing lo-
by providing the right technology to do cations to engage other locations during
so is essential. It’s the Internet that truly the event. More than one-third of submit-
enables collaboration without the limits ted projects had at least one virtual team
of proximity, and virtual tools permitted member.
communication, data-sharing, and the
True participatory exploration doesn’t produce

events, though, or even products – it cultivates
It demonstrated
explorers, creative in proving
thinkers, that and the creativity
makers.
and innovation that used to take place
primarily behind closed doors within large
Community must continue to thrive and carry projects forward into other hack-
institutions is increasingly
grow outside of one weekend a year, of
taking place by
athons, apply for internships, and create
course. One people connected
of the standards of success together
other space-themed online.
events together – all
will be what the community does on its based on what that original community
own time and of its own accord to carry developed in the context of collabora-
forward the values of the International tion. One group of participants in Eastern
Space Apps Challenge: to engage the Europe sent a completely packaged app
experience and enthusiasm of a diverse back to NASA with this note: “We keep
global community to address critical on working and developing our concept
challenges for life on Earth and in space. because we are serious about contribut-
We continue to receive stories, particu- ing the impact that we are talking about
larly via social media, about teams who [and seeing it] become reality.”
The conclusions from the 2012 Challenge final report remain
true: “All of the solutions have applicability on Earth and in
space, but we continue to emphasize that the community
that was built around Space Apps was the largest success
of this undertaking. We hope that the community remains
engaged as NASA continues to move forward in space explo-
ration, collect more data about the unknown, and open up
more data from the missions of the past, present, and future.”
@SpaceApps 25
COMMUNITY
SPACE APPS
PHILADELPHIA
“For 6 months in 1876, Philadelphia hosted the US Centennial Exhibition, attracting over
10 million visitors from around the world. Officially known as the “International Exhibition
of Arts, Manufactures, and products of the Soil and Mine,” it showcased international
collaboration and friendly competition around the latest scientific, technological, and ar-
tistic advancements. Over 137 years later, Philadelphia once again captured the world’s
attention for 48 hours in April 2013 as the Global MainStage host of another international
collaborative and competitive event centering on science, technology, and the arts: the
International Space Apps Challenge.
From local astronomer Derrick Pitts’ insistence that Philadelphia is more of a science
city than many think, to our over 50 participants grabbing a traditional Philly lunch from
a streetside food truck, to our iconic t-shirts featuring “Rocky” in a space suit, Space
Apps Philadelphia was filled with local flavor. This was many participants’ first hackathon
– cross-promotion with PhillyTechWeek and the Philadelphia Science Festival helped
draw in newcomers. At 14-years-old, Philly’s youngest participant helped craft the win-
ning team’s International Space Station tracking device with an Arduino microcontroller
and locally manufactured K’NEX building kits. Even civic hacking veterans, including
those from lead organizer Azavea, were excited – in particular by the arrival of NASA
astronaut Leland Melvin and the Space Apps global team. Our location host, Youngmoo
Kim of Drexel University’s STEAM-focused ExCITe Center, joined in on the “Listening
to the Stars” challenge by playing the sounds of stars through the electromagnetically-
enabled piano strings of a specially modified Magnetic Resonator Piano.
Philadelphia teams collaborated locally, as well as with sites in Georgia and Florida. This
year’s Global MainStage in the “Workshop of the World” was locally-tied, globally-mind-
ed, and widely celebrated by Philadelphia’s diverse and growing science and technology
community.”
andrew thompson
space apps philadelphia lead
@SpaceApps 27
COMMUNITY
SPACE APPS
KATHMANDU
“Namaste! Kathmandu reporting...
Cheers and applause becomes louder than before when Mr. Basanta Shrestha, regional
coordinator of NASA SERVIR-Himalaya program, says Kathmandu sits highest among
cities that are hosting this hackathon episode. He further says he plans to host the next
episode even
higher, and cheers get even more louder.
Everybody is proud, enthused, and excited to complete their projects. Bonds are deep-
ening among participants and smiles are getting wider. Today is the second day of the
two, and organizers have gone braver and are playing heavy metals. Participants are on
the mood.
The mass inside this closed hall looks like an army of innovators; with full ammo of
Arduino, software, hardware, and passion. Yesterday, I surprised myself by being able
to work a whole day and enjoy it. I was working on building a 3D animation of our Sano
Curiosity (Sano = small in Nepali). Immense satisfaction followed as soon as I finished
the animation in a day.
We feel like we are getting more by giving to the world. Experience, idea, and friends.
Thank you NASA.”
kshitiz khanai
sano-curiosity project (curiosity at home)
@SpaceApps 29
57 CHALLENGES
GLOBAL COLLABORATION
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY
GLOBAL INNOVATION
CHAPTER THREE
CHALLENGES
Contributing to solutions Inviting other agencies
for challenges that matter is and organizations to share
the core motivation for most like-minded challenges
participants in mass also builds interagency
collaborations. collaboration, and a foun-
dation for future data-
sharing.
Diversity of type, scope,
subject, and methodology
is key to developing a good
slate of global challenges.
@SpaceApps 31
CHALLENGES
The ability to contribute work toward solving

meaningful challenges is the most important
motivator for most participants in mass col-
laboration. At the International Space Apps
Challenge, NASA and its partners carefully
crafted and refined 57 challenge statements
and directed the energy of global innovators
to them.
The ability to contribute work toward of ideas and datasets was then further
solving meaningful challenges is the developed by a group of technologists
most important motivator for most and local leads to thoroughly define
participants in mass collaboration. At requirements and gauge interest in the
the International Space Apps Challenge, various efforts. Each challenge had the
NASA and its partners carefully crafted same goal: provide innovators with all of
and refined 57 challenge statements and the information they need to learn about
directed the energy of global innovators a topic, understand the challenge state-
to them. ment, and craft a solution in less than
two days.
Curation of challenges is an extensive,
multi-phase process. The team began Each challenge sought to leverage NA-
by reaching out to stakeholders across SA’s massive datasets and open source
NASA’s mission directorates and organi- software technology. Just browsing the
zations to help figure out what challeng- challenges, one can quickly see that an
es they faced that could be addressed overarching goal of the event was to in-
via mass collaboration. The initial pool crease awareness and interest in space
The global collaboration of Space Apps
can be fertile ground for strongly defined
challenges that have very specific
needs in mind.
exploration and aeronautics by opening volume of solutions, but the teams that
up the Agency’s extraordinary data. do commit are often highly invested in
the subject matter and goals at hand.
Challenges included software applica- An example this kind of challenge is Soil
tions, hardware projects, data visualiza- Testing Kit, which laid out the develop-
tion, and citizen science platforms. A ment requirements for an app that could
concerted effort was made to include harness crowdsourcing to measure and
ideas with well defined requirements and test soil samples using mobile technol-
specific deliverables, as well as more ogy.
open-ended, creative projects. Diversity
of subject matter, required expertise, and Open-ended challenges are just as
output are all necessary for a robust set important. They allow creativity and in-
of challenges that can resonate with as novation to flourish without boundaries.
many participants as possible. This is a This exploration can sometimes result
global initiative and the diversity in the in frustration, but just as often results in
challenges must reflect the diversity of new learning and greater impact than
the innovators that participate. anyone could have hoped for. This in-
cludes Reach for the Stars, an open-
These challenges may not garner a high ended challenge to create an app that
@SpaceApps 33
@SpaceApps
CHALLENGES
inspires youth participation in space Earth-bound objects. Every one of the

exploration, and Why We Explore, which 57 challenges was unique and contrib-
asked participants to share the “why” of uted to this impressive diversity. A great
space exploration through the creation example of an open-ended project with a
of compelling narratives and visualiza- clear topic focus is NASA’s Database of
tions. The European Space Agency’s 3D Near Earth Objects, a challenge to create
Printing Contest solicited designs of ESA a platform to enables citizen astronomers
space hardware that can be generated to register, submit findings, and help rank
by a 3D printer. Listening to the Stars the findings of other citizen astronomers.
sought to recreate sounds of space using
Contributing challenges
It demonstrated to a mass
in proving collaboration
that the creativity
and innovation
also gives governmentthat used to
agencies or take
otherplace
technical
primarily behind
organizations closed
an entry point doors within largeto
into a community
institutions is increasingly taking place by
help test the water for an idea or larger initiative.
people connected together online.
The US Department of Agriculture, the thering similar efforts in their own spheres
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, of influence. Agencies like the European
the Peace Corps, and the Environmental Space Agency, Sally Ride Science, and
Protection Agency were just a few of the i.am.angel Foundation were also invited
US government agencies who partnered to offer challenges as an investment in
with Space Apps this year for project mutual collaboration, particularly around
development, but also to experience the shared goals and datasets of shared
event from the inside in the hopes of fur- interest.
This type of initiative can be a vital tool for agencies working
in a severely limited budgetary and political environment. The
International Space Apps Challenge harnessed the entrepre-
neurial spirit of innovation that accurately represents what
the future of space exploration is all about – expanding our
knowledge of the solar system and our relationship to it so
that we can make life better here on Earth.
@SpaceApps 35
CHALLENGES
THE LEGO ROVERS
CHALLENGE
“I submitted a challenge based on a STEM activity I had been running in schools in
the North West of the UK: Design a remote operation system to control a Lego Robot
through a computer or smartphone.
I was overwhelmed by the response to the challenge. Over thirty project teams world-
wide took it on, producing everything from more easily installable versions of the original
system; to versions of the system that ran on arduinos or raspberry pis; to new program-
ming languages for distributed autonomous programming of multiple robots! I spent
several days before the challenge answering a wide range of probing questions on the
challenge web page.
During the challenge itself I worked with a team in Exeter re-engineering the exist-
ing system so that it could be operated via a web server with a mobile device friendly
interface. I had a great time working with a range of talented people who brought a great
diversity of skills to the problem.
Going forward, I’m looking into applying for some funds here in the UK to get some
more equipment for the Lego rovers, particularly the NXT2Wifi system used by the team
in Paris. I’m also planning to try out several of the systems produced from the hack-
athon. I particularly have my eye on NXTSpaceApps from Paris, Lego Rovers Singapore,
and DisCoS from Abu Dhabi.”
dr louise dennis
centre for autonomous systems technology
@SpaceApps 37
CHALLENGES
THE “OFF THE GRID”
CHALLENGE
Many challenges provided a variety of resources and guidance while ultimately being
open-ended in nature. This sparked some incredible insight and innovation beyond what
the challenge definers could have ever hoped for!
Off the Grid challenged participants to discover and promote sustainable living, using
technologies and data from Earth and space. Josh Pruden, Joel Gamache, Scott McKay
and Greg Linton from Winnipeg, Canada chose to tackle the Off the Grid challenge from
the perspective of Life On Mars and targeted at high school teachers. Dario Schor, the
organizer of the Winnipeg event, shares their story with us:
“We believe students can solve any problem we give them. So we’re making an online
course designed to promote sustainable development and living off the grid by guid-
ing the students to plan a human habitat on mars. Specifically we’re creating an online
Moodle resource that teachers can use for their classes.
“Just because the colonization of Mars is a big challenge doesn’t mean students
shouldn’t get involved. Few things spark the imagination of young people like planetary
and space exploration. The colonization of Mars has the potential to inspire the imagina-
tion of students, motivating them to pursue the topic. If we give them a direction and a
good foundation we can harness and organize that imagination. Mars settlement is an
abstraction of Earth settlement and development. If we can solve a problem on Mars,
we can solve it back on Earth.
“For example, one activity starts with the students being given information on how to
build a solar cell. From there they can chose to build their own cell or find other means
of generating power on Mars. Next, the students have to find an effective way to ap-
ply the means of generating power to a Mars setting. By creating an online resource for
teachers, we can help them develop the next generation of scientists, engineers, and
innovators through the idea of sustainable problem solving.”
@SpaceApps 37
48 HOURS
7 X MORE SOLUTIONS THAN 2012
4.5 X MORE PARTICIPANTS THAN 2012
4 X MORE PARTNERS THAN 2012
CHAPTER FOUR
SOLUTIONS
Well-developed, innovative Solutions span the
solutions are a product of spectrum from concept
effective collaboration. ideation to prototypes
and working demos to
advanced, ready-to-use
A high level of challenge applications.
curation, along with well-
structured supporting data,
increases the likelihood of
receiving sustainable solu-
tions.
@SpaceApps 39
SOLUTIONS
“In these times of financial constraint, the

challenge is to be innovative about how we
innovate.” NASA hears these words frequent-
ly, and yes, they conjure recursive thoughts
of nested “do-while” loops and an Inception
movie trailer, but the words are no less
correct for doing so.
The challenge has always been how to participants by more than 4, this year’s
remain innovative despite a highly scruti- Challenge received more than 7 times
nized budget and conflicting mission pri- the number of solutions.
orities. The more clearly put challenge is
this: NASA needs to be innovative in the The diversity of the 770 submitted solu-
way we do business, in order to allow for tions is breathtaking. Mission concepts
superior technological innovation. The were submitted for deployable green-
solutions are found in the process as houses, including one that actually grew
much as in the individual products. beans as a proof of concept. Hardware
prototypes were built for Lego rovers,
The focal point of the Space Apps Chal- CubeSats, Arduino-directed robots, and
lenge is the work done by the partici- electronic weather sensors. Advanced
pants - the projects that are created over international strategies were deployed
the 83 hours of the global event to ad- for weather sensing and soil testing.
dress the offered challenges. The team- 6 projects integrated the brand-new
building and working process certainly LeapMotion gestural interface.ne team
became more efficient this year: while built a Martian weather API that fueled a
the team scaled the number of loca- number of weather apps.
tions by more than 3 and the number of
Citizen science platforms were
developed for microbial detection, NEO
observation, and STEM interventions.
Several projects were videos or animations.
At least 4 software applications have already the planet whose weather they wish to view.
been released on app stores. The breadth of The Sol team also built the MAAS API, used
these projects, and how well developed they to fuel several of the Mars weather applica-
were in only 48 hours, is a sign of the effec- tions produced at the Space Apps Challenge.
tive collaboration that took place throughout Developed by a team in Kansas City, Missouri
Space Apps. and licensed under the MIT license.
Six solutions were awarded Best in Class for Best Use of Hardware: The solution that
the 2013 International Space Apps Challenge exemplifies the most innovative use of hard-
by our panel of global judges: ware.
Best Use of Data: The solution that best ISS Base Station (Space Apps Philadelphia)
makes space data accessible or leverages it ISS Base Station is a hardware-software co-
to a unique purpose or application. design project both expanding the Spot The
Station web app and allowing for a physical
Sol (Space Apps Kansas City) manifestation of its data. The software side
Sol is the world’s first interplanetary weather of the project consists of a simple, Santa
application. Rather than viewing the weather Tracker-style web app which tracks the posi-
by inputting a user’s zip code, they provide tion of the ISS in real time over a map of the
@SpaceApps 41
@SpaceApps
SOLUTIONS
world, and connects to an augmented-reality NASA Greener Cities Project (Space Apps
iOS app which allows the user to track the Gothenburg)
station in the sky. The hardware side consists The NASA Greener Cities Project seeks to
of a physical device which receives data from complement NASA satellite climate data with
the app and points at the current location of crowd-sourced microclimate data; in ef-
the space station, and lights up when the sta- fect, providing higher resolution information
tion is within a user-defined area. Developed for monitoring the environment. The design
by a team in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and includes a low-cost garden monitoring sen-
licensed under Apache. sor, aggregation and normalization of local
environmental data, and scaling a global
Best Mission Concept: The solution that de- educational initiative for kids to encourage in-
veloped the most promising mission concept. terest in programming and their environment.
Popeye on Mars (Space Apps Athens) Developed by a team in Gothenburg, Sweden
It demonstrated in proving
Popeye on Mars is a deployable, reusable thatunderthe
and licensed creativity
Creative Commons.
spinach greenhouse for Mars. Internally, a
andaeroponic
fully equipped innovation
system operatesthat
for used to take
Most Inspiring: place
The solution that captured
primarily behind closed

~45 days, having all the needed resources,
sensors and electronic systems to stabilize
doors within large
our hearts and attention.
institutions
the internal is the
environment and help increasingly
spinach taking
T-10 (Space place by
Apps London)
growth. Also, there are systems for harvest- T-10 is a prototype mobile application for
ing producedpeople
oxygen during connected
the process and together
use online.
on the International Space Station.
the plants at the end of it. Externally, photo- Astronauts can program in specific points of
voltaic panels provide power, while several interest they wish to photograph, and T-10
cover layers protect the system against Mars will alert them shortly before the Station is set
extreme conditions. Developed by a team in to fly over that location, if the current weather
Athens, Greece and licensed under Creative permits photography. The app can also alert
Commons. astronauts to interesting weather phenom-
enon and potential upload photos directly to
Galactic Impact: The solution that has the Twitter. Developed by a team in London, UK
most potential to significantly improve life on and licensed under MIT.
Earth or in the universe.
People’s Choice: The solution that received the for government.
highest number of public votes.
Name/description of winner The solutions demonstrate what is possible when
we see the world without borders, and put aside our
ChicksBook (Space Apps Sofia) differences in order to come together to collabo-
ChicksBook is a functional web, Android and iOS rate, dream big and imagine endless possibilities
application which can help you learn how to raise that have lasting impacts on the world. Space Apps
chickens and manage the data for your own back- proves the vitality of allowing others to engage in our
yard farm. Developed by a team in Sofia, Bulgaria collective bigger story – one that has led us to the
and licensed under GNU general public license. moon, to great observatories, and to humans living
In the spirit of open innovation, all solutions are sub- and working in space. It is a tangible example of
mitted under an open source license and available how a government agency can think differently and
online for public access. These contributions are build bridges across borders in order to help make
built with open data and are intended to be offered lives better in tangible, concrete ways.
freely back to the world for use in different commu-
nities and contexts. Some solutions will be adopted At NASA, we are rethinking what this means for how
as is, some will be encouraged forward into ongo- we manage our innovation process. We are embrac-
ing development, some will be “forked” for different ing openness as a catalyst to innovation and provid-
applications. All will add value to the open source ing unprecedented access to our raw data, software,
community and continue to inspire participation in and technology to a wide base of potential contribu-
human exploration. tors. We are building better platforms and systems
to aggregate and focus the collective contribution
This is where an innovative way of doing business to our unique challenges. We are also shifting away
becomes so critical: traditionally, government pro- from purely competitive approaches and embracing
cures work via contracting, a complicated system new paradigm-shifting collaboration. Because of this
that prescribes the result and often requires a long shift, we are enabling breakthroughs to break faster
timeline. Mass collaboration facilitates agile iteration, than was possible before. It’s an exciting time to be
vital innovation, and rapid prototyping – with all pro- working at NASA.
cesses and products openly available. It is a radical
shift of mindset and an unprecedented opportunity
@SpaceApps 43
FUTURE PLANS
9,150 PEOPLE
Based on the contributions of over 9,000 people around
the world on Earth Day 2013, NASA’s data is more acces-
sible; renewable energy is contextualized and shared with
the people who need it; NEOs can be more easily ob-
served, tracked, and visualized; underwater vehicles can

484 ORGANIZATIONS
be remotely operated over the Internet; auroras can be
aligned to crew stellar imagery; citizens used modeling to

83 CITIES
predict water contamination; teams gathered global stories
of why we explore and advanced concepts for deploy-
able greenhouses. We’ve visualized intracranial pressure

44 COUNTRIES
data for astronauts, planetary water resources from space,
NASA’s impact on the economy – and much more. The
results already have global impact and significance. We
are extremely proud of the trailblazing accomplishments of
everyone who participated over the 83 hours at the 2013

OVER 750 SOLUTIONS
International Space Apps Challenge, and we are now
setting our sights on even more distant horizons.
CHAPTER FIVE
FUTURE PLANS
The International Space Apps Challenge is a model for
innovation that any government agency or institution
can use for their own challenges, in their own context.
The solutions themselves may be technologies, develop new capabili-

spectacular, but the end result is ties, and increase the knowledge and
much more than just the amazing understanding of the fragile world on
technology created. It’s the inspiration which we live.
someone discovers when he con-
nects with dust storms on Mars us- What took place at the 2013 Inter-
ing an app like Sol, or when the Feel national Space Apps Challenge will
the Moon Kinect app users sense the send huge ripples through our space
moon’s gravity themselves. We will be program. NASA’s role has historically
applauding these successes far into been crucial in seeding the technol-
the future. ogy and innovations that brought our
nation’s capabilities to the cutting-
It is clearer than ever that the land- edge, made America the world’s
scape of public engagement is now leader in space exploration, and have
radically different, and technology has made a difference in our lives every
enabled the distribution of ideas, pro- day. This weekend demonstrated the
cesses, and responsibilities in a way true potential of participatory explo-
that facilitates unprecedented innova- ration and what can happen when a
tion. The future will be defined by you. government agency like NASA takes
You are the one who will create new a chance on engaging the untapped,
@SpaceApps 45
FUTURE PLANS
unexpected, and uncharted know- Finally, a note to all those who par-
how of thousands of passionate ticipated in the International Space
citizens around the world. The event Apps Challenge. We have achieved
was not just about inspiring the next so much together, and that would not
generation of explorers, but about have been possible without your hard
inspiring today’s scientists and en- work, creativity, and expertise. We
gineers – all those brilliant rocket hope your experience not only ex-
scientists who temporarily put their panded your knowledge of the cos-
dream to work for the space program mos, but that it inspired you to think
on hold for whatever reason, and bigger. If you discovered or re-ignited
are ready and willing to contribute if a passion during the event, please
someone would just ask them. do something with it it – even if it’s
simply inspiring others around you to
Investments in innovative approach- get involved in their space program.
es to doing business differently, like Don’t wait for NASA or your space
those modeled at the 2013 Interna- agency to create an opportunity for
tional Space Apps Challenge, are re- you. The future is for innovators, and
quired to maintain the agency’s lead- we want to see what you will create!
ership position on the cutting-edge,
while stimulating our economy and Going forward, we are commit-
global competitiveness and inspiring ted to truly catalyzing participatory
future generations. If we are to truly exploration and to engage every
achieve our highest potential, create person on Earth. This event directly
new opportunities, and enlarge our impacted the lives of 9,147 of you.
understanding of our planet and our That’s 0.00000131163% of the world
universe, we need to take a risk and population…which is a great start.
think differently. But we believe our greatest work is
still ahead of us, and we look forward
to continuing our work to reach that
other 99.99999869%!
OUR FUTURE IS
BRIGHT AND WE ARE
MORE READY THAN
EVER TO TACKLE THE
GRAND CHALLENGES
OF TOMORROW.
@SpaceApps
47
The appendices highlight the locations, the
challenges and some great examples of
solutions developed at Space Apps 2013.
A .......................................................... List of locations

B ........................................................List of challenges
C .............................................. List of top 36 solutions
D .......................................................... List of partners
A
LIST OF LOCATIONS
L O C AT I O N VENUE
Abu Dhabi ADWEA Complex
Adelaide Hackerspace Adelaide/ANZ Innovyz START
Allen Park TechShop Detroit
Amsterdam TMG Online Media
Athens Hackerspace.gr
Atlanta Big Nerd Ranch
Auckland AUT University
Augusta theClubhou.se
Azua de Compostela City Council Azua de Compostela
Bangalore Centre for Internet and Society
Barcelona Strawberry SDK
Bilbao IDEATECA
Bogotá Edificio Murillo Toro MinTIC
Brisbane The Cube: QUT
Canberra Australian National University Advanced
Instrumentation and Technology Centre
Cleveland Advanced Technology Training Center
Contonou EtriLabs
Cuilacán Techsoft
Exeter Met Office
Glasgow University of Strathclyde
Gothenburg Lindholmen Science Park
Guadalajara ITESM Campus GDA
Guatemala City CampusTec
Guayaquil Universidad Santa María
Ho Chi Minh City mLab East Asia
Houston Rice University
Ifrane @SpaceApps
Al Akhawayn University
LIST OF LOCATIONS
Istanbul Base Istanbul Hackerspace
Jakarta Freeware
Kampala Outbox Hub
Kansas City Ingenology
Kathmandu Direction Exhibition & Convention Center
Kennedy Space Center Center for Space Education at
The Astronauts Memorial Foundation
Krakow Google for Entrepreneurs Krakow
La Paz Universidad La Salle
Lausanne EPFL - Swiss Institute of Technology
Leicester LCB Depot
Limassol Cyprus University of Technology
London Google London
Louisville Jefferson Community and Technical College
Madrid Madrid International Lab
Managua Universidad Americana
Manila Dungeon Innovations
Melbourne Victorian Space Science Education Centre
Mexico City Sociedad Astronómica de México
Monterey IOS Offices
Nairobi iHub
New Delhi New Delhi
New York AlleyNYC
Norman University of Oklahoma
Panamá FIEC Universidad de Panamá
Paris La Cantine
Philadelphia The ExCITe Center at Drexel University
Port-au-Prince Ecole Supérieure d’Infotronique d’Haïti
Pretoria mLab Southern Africa
Puunene MauiMakers
Recife Porto Digital


A
Reno Reno Collective
Rochester RIT Simone Center for Student
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Rome La Sapienza, Department of Engineering
Round Rock TechShop
Saint-Louis Ndar Numérique
Salisbury hotDesks.org
San Francisco Lemnos Labs
Santa Cruz Centro Boliviano Americano
Santa Marta CETEP
Santiago Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María
Santo Domingo INTEC
Singapore Microsoft
Skopje Seavus
Sofia Telerik Academy
Syracuse Syracuse University School of Information
Tallahassee Making Awesome
Tampere New Factory
Tokyo University of Tokyo Center
Toronto Royal Ontario Museum
Toulouse La Cantine Toulouse
Valencia Universidad de Carabobo
Virtual Virtual Participation
Winnipeg University of Manitoba
York The University of York
@SpaceApps
B
LIST OF CHALLENGES
“No Delays” Air Current air traffic operations include about 50,000
Tr a ff i c M a n a g e m e n t operations per day, but most people aren’t aware of the
#nodelays problems that plague the current system. Let’s give the
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / public a better understanding of those inefficiencies
c h a l l e n g e / n o - d e l a y s - a i r- t r a ff i c - m a n a g e - and bottlenecks, and help NASA’s Airspace Systems
ment Program increase the capacity and efficiency of air
traffic operations while reducing costs. Create a gaming
and technology crowd-sourced development platform
to evolve the best ideas for future air traffic manage-
ment. Key functions include but are not limited to flight
planning, scheduling, airport surface movement, rerout-
ing airborne aircraft based on weather and winds, and
efficient arrival/departure planning from gate to gate.
This platform could be used by high school and college
students, new companies, business schools, and of
course NASA.
“ C a t c h a M e t e o r ” Tr a c k e r The meteor crash seen ‘round the world in February
#catchameteor 2013 over Chelyabinsk produced meteorites with a
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg mass of over 1 kg, and re-awakened a worldwide cu-
/ c h a l l e n g e / c a t c h - a - m e t e o r- t r a c k e r riosity in Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). Create a meteor-
tracking app, game, or data visualization to educate
people about the science of NEOs, the likelihood of
encounters with objects of various sizes, and the dis-
coveries that are made by studying these rocky visitors
to our planet.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
Somewhere between the Millenium Falcon
model and the Legos in your toybox, you
knew you wanted to build your own space-
craft. Thanks to the magic of 3D printing,
now you can! The potential for collaboration
3D Printing Contest in 3D modeling of space hardware is an ex-
#3dprinting citing new frontier. Create an open hardware
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / design for the European Space Agency
challenge/esa-3d-printing-contest (ESA) that can be generated by a 3D printer.
All of the open hardware designs will go into
a public domain library of designs, and ESA
will pick the best one to emerge from the
2013 International Space Apps Challenge.
Among the many brow-raising questions at
SXSW Interactive this year was, “Have you
ever woken up and wondered, ‘What’s Voy-
ager up to today?’” (Shoutout to the Product
Design Research Studio at the University of
A d o p t - a - S p a c e c r a f t : Vo y a g e r 1 Dundee, Scotland.) Launched 35 years ago,
#adoptvoyager Voyager is the farthest human-made object
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / from people and the first object to cross the
challenge/adopt-a-spacecraft-voyager heliopause, or leave the solar system and
enter uncharted interstellar space. How can
we connect people to it and tell the story of
the Voyager mission? You decide. Create a
data visualization, tool, interactive graphic,
or even a physical object that explores and
humanizes the Voyager mission.
B
Aligning the Stars Do you love jigsaw puzzles? Do we have a puzzle for
#alignthestars you! Align thousands of frames of time lapse pho-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / tography that the ISS crew have taken of aurora and
challenge/aligning-the-stars/ other features with star fields visible in the background.
Identifying the star fields will enable creative displays of
the imagery and also “fit” it into the puzzle of the aurora
ring. Scientists can then use that imagery for studying
the aurora and its impact on Earth. Create an app to
match and align the stars in the aurora imagery taken
from the ISS. Using the stars, the nadir point (spot over
the Earth), and the altitude of the ISS when the image(s)
was taken, overlay and display the aurora in context
with the NOAA aurora oval for that day and time.
A rd u S a t Don’t tell us you haven’t always wanted your own
# a rd u s a t satellite. ArduSat is the world’s first open Space
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / network, offering you the chance to control a satellite.
c h a l l e n g e / a rd u s a t It’s equipped with 15 sensors on board, including a
camera, spectrometer and Geiger counter. It also has
a few Arduino Microprocessors onboard. Run ex-
periments, games, applications, or whatever else you
dream up. With all this functionality, we need people to
push the envelope. Grab the onboard camera, comput-
ing power, and data culled from NASA satellites and the
100 million+ iPhones and Android phones in the world
to showcase the influence of the Sun’s turbulent storms
on Earth’s transportation network, power grids, and
people. The potential for creativity and innovation here
is quite literally out of this world.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
A s t e ro i d H u n t e r Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid that caused
# a s t e ro i d h u n t e r a brief period of concern in December
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / 2004, because initial observations indicated
c h a l l e n g e / a s t e ro i d h u n t e r a probability of up to 2.7% that it would
strike the Earth in 2029. Apophis broke the
record for the highest level on the Torino
Scale for asteroid impact hazard, being, for
only a short time, at level 4, before it was
lowered. On average, an asteroid the size of
Apophis can be expected to impact Earth
about every 80,000 years. Using more recent
observations and calculations, the threat
of impact from Apophis in the years 2029
and 2036 has been eliminated. However,
astronomers and mission planners continue
to monitor the asteroid to calculate potential
future close encounters. Develop a mission
concept to explore Apophis to better predict
its orbital dynamics and to instrument the
object with a radio transponder prior to the
2029 close approach.
B a c k y a rd P o u l t r y F a r m e r People everywhere are raising poultry in
# b a c k y a rd f a r m their backyard. Some raise birds to have a
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / steady supply of fresh eggs, some as part
c h a l l e n g e / b a c k y a rd - p o u l t r y - f a r m e r of their commitment to eating locally, some
to sell eggs to their friends and neighbors
at the local farmers market. For the past six
years, the Animal and Plant Health Inspec-
tion Service’s (APHIS) Biosecurity For Birds

B
campaign has been reaching out to new—as well as
seasoned—backyard poultry owners to provide tips
and advice on how to prevent diseases, like different
strains of avian influenza, from reaching their birds.
Create a Backyard Poultry Farmer app with the objec-
tive of getting individuals and households back into
local agriculture.
Bootstrapping of On any given clear night, people have the opportunity
Space Industry to look up at the Moon and wonder. How hard would it
#moonville be to establish some presence on the Moon? Could we
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / do it? Why should we? What resources does the Moon
c h a l l e n g e / a ff o rd a b l e - r a p i d - have that could support an industry? Develop a simula-
bootstrapping-of-space-industry tion of a lunar industry through a series of “bootstrap-
ping” stages until it becomes self-sustaining. Strategize
which machines to build first and how many of them,
using resources launched from Earth and available from
the Moon. A major part of this challenge is learning
what the purpose and value of a lunar industry could be
and incorporating it into the game.
Comparing Earth Landscapes Part of sending a robotic or manned mission to another
#earthlandscapes planet is finding ideal places to land. To do that, scien-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / tists compare different landscapes on Earth with those
challenge/comparing-earth- of other planets and their moons, or other bodies, like
landscapes-with-planets-and-moons asteroids. Finding close matches can benefit scientists
and astronauts in preparing to send a probe or even
manned missions by first practicing here on Earth. Help
them by creating an application that allows the user to
compare Earth landscapes with planetary surfaces, like

@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
the moon, Mars, Mercury, Ceres, or Vesta.
C u b e S a t s f o r A s t e ro i d E x p l o r a t i o n CubeSats are tiny, approximately 4”x4”

#cubesats satellites that can conduct space research
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / using readily available, off the shelf hardware
c h a l l e n g e / c u b e s a t s - f o r- a s t e ro i d - e x p l o r a t i o n plus one of a variety of propulsion devices.
So far CubeSats can only reach low-Earth
orbit (LEO), but the potential to reach other
celestial bodies is there. Imagine if a small
student group could send an experiment to
Saturn. Or a private company could use one
to explore an asteroid for minerals. Or an
amateur space exploration club could take
the first images of a newly discovered com-
et. Help them get there. Develop a website
that publicizes potential interplanetary desti-
nations for CubeSat missions and available
launch opportunities. Or come up with new
ways to use CubeSats, such as developing a
cubesat-based sensor package that can be
used to impact an asteroid and send back
information about the minerals inside.
Curiosity at Home If you haven’t seen the “7 minutes of ter-

#curiosityathome ror” video by now, stop what you’re doing
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / and watch it: http://www.youtube.com/
challenge/curiosity-at-home watch?v=Ki_Af_o9Q9s. Curiosity is one of
the most connected missions in history:
more than 3.2 million people watched the
nail-biting descent of the Curiosity Rover live

B
onto the Red Planet, and 1.2 million people regularly
follow Curiosity’s adventures via Twitter. We’re all hun-
gry for Curiosity updates. How can we connect people
at home to what’s happening with the rover? Foster
a connection between citizens and the rover through
software, visualizations, or a remote or app-controlled
“home rover” that connects people to Mars and the
Mars Rover, educating them and encouraging Mars
enthusiasm.
Dark Side of the Moon NASA’s first manned mission to the moon was in the
#darksideofthemoon summer of 1969, so you’d think we’d have every detail
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / mapped out. But did you know the first video of the far
challenge/democratization-of- side of the moon was beamed back to Earth as recently
the-dark-side-of-the-moon as January 2012? If you didn’t, you’re not alone. Use
3D vector data and raise awareness of and encour-
age interest in the far side of the moon using available
images and data via web applications and 3D-printed
objects.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
Database of Near Earth Objects Some of the best near-Earth object (NEO)
#NEOdatabase discoveries have come from citizen astrono-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / mers with off-the-shelf telescopes. NASA
challenge/citizen-generated- and the great space research community
d a t a b a s e - n e a r- e a r t h - o b j e c t s receive reports of new objects every day.
By leveraging the citizen astronomy com-
munity to centrally report and help vet these
observations, scientists would be able to
more effectively research and track Near
Earth Objects. Create an app or web-based
platform that enables citizen astronomers
to register, submit findings, and help rank
the findings of other citizen astronomers.
Findings that receive many positive rankings
will be listed on a “potential candidates” list
for new discoveries. Wherever possible, the
tool should integrate with existing resources,
such as the Minor Planet Center, which of-
fers tracking of potential candidates.
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D e p l o y a b l e G re e n h o u s e For prolonged manned missions to the Moon or Mars,
# d e p l o y g re e n freeze dried foods get old really quickly. That’s why
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / scientists are researching regenerative life support sys-
c h a l l e n g e / d e p l o y a b l e - g re e n h o u s e tems, such as greenhouses, that produce food on the
planet’s surface. The trick is, these structures must be
able to be delivered, deployed, operated, and main-
tained in extreme environments. Develop a conceptual
design of a deployable greenhouse that could be used
for pre-deployment on a space mission to the Moon or
Mars.
Earth Day Challenge The International Space Apps Challenge is planned
#earthday close to Earth Day for a reason: from the beginning of
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / e a r t h - d a y - humans collecting it, space data has helped us here on
challenge Earth. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, many pollution
problems have vastly improved, such as water pollution
in the Great Lakes and air pollution in Los Angeles. But
others have significantly worsened, like CO2 emissions
and ozone depletion. We need better visuals of pollution
as we continue to face its major challenges. Help us vi-
sualize it! This visualization can take a number of forms:
a poster, a map animation, an interactive data visual-
ization for the web or mobile phones, or anything else
you can imagine. Ideally it will span from 1970 to the
present. You can also be creative with your visualization
and the data you use. Just remember this theme: “What
can you do to help celebrate Earth Day and show how
space data and other data can help save the planet?”
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
E a r t h F ro m S p a c e ISS (International Space Station) Earth-
# e a r t h f ro m s p a c e KAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / school students) is an educational outreach
c h a l l e n g e / e a r t h - f ro m - s p a c e program sponsored by NASA that allows
middle school students from around the
world to capture images of Earth from a
digital camera on board the International
Space Station. What we need is an easy
way for people to interact with these images.
Create an educational application that allows
users to overlay EarthKAM images on a 3D
model of earth, annotate and comment on
the images, and share their work via social
media. This application can be web-based
or designed as a mobile application for an
Android device.
EarthTiles Mapquest’s open aerial tiles have proven
#earthtiles extremely popular with web developers for
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / exposing satellite imagery of Earth in Leaflet,
challenge/earthtiles OpenLayers, and other mapping libraries.
Tiles are a popular way to distribute a large
amount of geo imagery that can be put in
to a standard map. For instance, the front
page of spaceappschallenge.org is a Leaflet
map! Take global imagery data from Land-
sat, EOS, Terra, and other missions and
turn them into tiles that can be used in an
open source street map. This would en-
able incredible amounts of visualization and
contextual data narration, especially if such

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tiles were able to be updated on a regular basis as new
data is released.
E x p l o r i n g A s t e ro i d s : P l a n e t Small-Body Database at the Jet Propulsion Labora-
Hopper #planethopper tory provides information on a number of small objects
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / (like asteroids) in the solar system. However, actually
c h a l l e n g e / e x p l o r i n g - a s t e ro i d s - p l a n e t - contextualizing and understanding this data for non-sci-
h o p p e r- 2 0 entists is difficult. Improve the “Planet Hopper” project
from Space Apps 2012, and adapt it for use with small
body space objects.
F o r t h e R e c o rd NASA’s office of Education is looking for a new way to
# f o r t h e re c o rd collect and analyze data on its programs. Capturing
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / and understanding feedback and response to educa-
c h a l l e n g e / f o r- t h e - re c o rd tional activities, materials, and engagement helps with
program development, analysis and evaluation cycles/
efforts. Current methods for determining participant
responses include, surveys, focus groups, exit inter-
views and informal discussions. But these methods are
costly, biased, deemed burdensome, and challenging to
implement. In order for NASA to have a more active (as
opposed to reactive) response regarding our invest-
ments we must receive unbiased and timely feedback.
Develop web-based or mobile platform through which
users can provide NASA Education feedback on their
experience. The initial audience here is for interns at the
NASA Education program.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
and challenging to implement. In order for
NASA to have a more active (as opposed
to reactive) response regarding our invest-
ments we must receive unbiased and timely
feedback. Develop web-based or mobile
platform through which users can provide
NASA Education feedback on their experi-
ence. The initial audience here is for interns
at the NASA Education program.
Hitch a Ride to Mars What can CubeSats do? More like what
#ridetomars can’t they do. They have proven to be a
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / very cost-effective and useful platform for
challenge/hitch-a-ride-to-mars low-cost and simple experiments in Earth
orbit, and do so in a non-interference basis
to the primary payload. NASA has success-
fully launched and utilized CubeSats in the
past, including the historic December 2012
deployment from the International Space
Station. But there are so many more more
ways we could use them (Mars exploration,
for starters). Create a CubeSat design and
develop a mission that operates in the Mars
environment and furthers our knowledge of
Mars. The result could take many forms: a
simple mission concept document, software
for CubeSat hardware and sensors, a de-
tailed CubeSat design, a full mission plan, or
prototype CubeSat hardware for example.
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In the Sky with Diamonds The Atlantic calls it the stuff of James Bond movies:
#diamondplanet approximately 40 light years from Earth in the Constel-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / lation of Cancer orbits the extrasolar planet 55 Cancri
challenge/in-the-sky-with-diamonds/ e around the Sun-like star 55 Cancri A. The planet’s
mass is about 7.8 Earth masses and its diameter is
about twice that of Earth’s, thus classifying it as the first
Super Earth discovered around a main sequence star.
We’ve known about this planet since 2004, but recently
scientists discovered 55 Cancri e is mostly diamond!
So, there’s a Super Earth out there that is basically a
giant diamond. To help spread the word, design a piece
of jewelry or wearable art that celebrates this planet’s
unique qualities. Could be analog or digital jewelry,
perhaps with an Arduino or GIS feature.
There is a lot of data that is openly available to aid in
consumer decision-making, including many energy-
saving smartphone apps. However, the majority of
Incentives Tied to Utility Rates those apps provide information on available incentives,
#utilityincentives tax credits and rebates. While this data and research
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / is good for experts in the field who understand how to
challenge/mobile-incentives-tied-to-utili- navigate valuable resources, the data is not readily ac-
ty-rates cessible to most consumers, particularly as reliance on
smartphones increases for informing on-the-spot deci-
sions. Inform consumer’s decisions by providing them
via mobile interface actionable information about energy
efficiency methods, available incentives, applicable
policies. This way, a homeowner in Florida could spend
a few minutes at Home Depot reviewing home energy
efficiency recommendations and rebates that would
reduce the cost of a dishwasher.

@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
International Print Station A 3D space printer, or “International Print
#ISSprints Station,” makes it possible to print, manu-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / facturer, farm, maintain and repair a wide
challenge/hitch-a-ride-to-mars array of constructs, big and small--from
space. What could you do? Create an appli-
cation that can be used to print or manu-
facture constructs inside a geostationary 3D
print station.
Kennedy Space Center 2040 Though the Space Shuttle program ended
#KSC2040 in 2011, Kennedy Space Center’s 140,000
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / acres are still of immeasurable use for
challenge/envision-kennedy- decades to come. Design a concept of
s p a c e - c e n t e r- s p a c e p o r t - 2 0 4 0 / the Kennedy Space Center Spaceport in
2040, using the spaceport’s current state
as a starting point. Show government and
commercial facilities for: orbital launch,
suborbital launch and processing. Include
the required community planning of research
parks, tourism, and supporting infrastructure
(transportation, hotels, etc.).
Lego Rovers As part of its Science, Technology, Engineer-
# l e g o ro v e r s ing and Mathematics (STEM) Ambassador
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / program, Computer Science at the Univer-
c h a l l e n g e / l e g o - ro v e r s sity of Liverpool has developed a simple
application on a Lego Robot which can be
taken to school science clubs and similar
events and driven from a laptop. Experience
taking the Lego Rover into schools suggests
students are particularly engaged by the

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ability to easily experiment with changes to the robot’s
behaviour without the need to program something
up from scratch (as is necessary with an off-the-shelf
Lego Mindstorms system). They are engaged enough
with the robot that they will spontaneously devise their
own questions and “experiments” about the system
behaviour they hope to test. Design a remote operation
system to control a Lego Robot through a computer or
smartphone. The goal of this system is to help make the
Lego Robot more entertaining, educational, and acces-
sible to students and teachers, all while serving the Lego
Robot’s goal in demonstrating the unique challenges
facing the remote operation of planetary rovers and how
increased robot autonomy can help address such chal-
lenges.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
Listening to the Stars Most of us can’t see or ‘touch’ space - but
#listentostars we often can hear it, and the speed of sound
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / means we are often hearing events that
challenge/listening-to-the-stars happened long ago and far away. You can
witness the orbits of Sputnik, the landing
on the moon or even the Big Bang... where
space is “leaking in” to the pipes and taps
of our more ordinary world. Listen to some
of the space sound clips provided in the
Resources section of this challenge, then try
to create those sounds by using real world
objects. Or, using electronics, create real
world objects that playback some of those
sounds.
M o re E a r t h O b s e r v a t i o n For various reasons ranging from security
# m o re E a r t h p l s issues to cloud cover, there are still many

h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / places on Earth for which we don’t have
c h a l l e n g e / m o re - e a r t h - o b s e r v a t i o n satellite images or for which there is an
untapped demand for more satellite-based
information. Knowing where these gaps are
would help with seamless coverage of the
Earth. The Satellite Applications Catapult
challenge is to find a solution to promote
and help worldwide users to spot world lo-
cations not covered by satellite images and
to formulate requests for satellite images
and related information on certain locations.
You can develop a crowd-sourced preferen-
tial pointing of satellites, based on demand,
or help to fill gaps in Earth Observation and

spaceappschallenge.org image databases.
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My Space Cal We have a wealth of astronomical satellites from various
#MySpaceCal organisations circling around the Earth staring at numer-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / ous astronomical targets. But at any given time, where
challenge/my-space-cal exactly are they looking? Each satellite project has its
own devoted time schedule retrievable from the web,
giving information about observations done in the past,
observations foreseen in the near-future (i.e., short-term),
and observations foreseen in the far future (i.e., long-
term). All have different ways and styles to retrieve and
display the schedules. This makes it extremely cumber-
some to see what a satellite is observing or did observe
at a given time or will observe in the future; compar-
ing schedules from different satellites is even harder.
Combine the past and future time schedules of satellites
into a common calendar and make the information easily
accessible. This can be done as an app or a website.
My Virtual Mentor NASA GIRLS (Giving Initiative and Relevance to Learning
#virtualmentor Science) is a virtual mentoring program using commer-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / cially available video chat programs to pair mentors at
challenge/my-virtual-mentor NASA with middle school girls across the United States.
The program gives young girls the opportunity to interact
and learn from real engineers, astronauts, scientists, and
technologists and inspires them to contribute to science,
technology, engineering, and math. They work together
for five weeks in the summer on pre-defined, web-based
projects. We want to expand the NASA GIRLS program’s
online presence to mobile or tablet platforms, or both, so
every girl can access the program from wherever she is.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
technology, engineering, and math. They
work together for five weeks in the summer
on pre-defined, web-based projects. We
want to expand the NASA GIRLS program’s
online presence to mobile or tablet plat-
forms, or both, so every girl can access the
program from wherever she is.
N A S A W i n d Tu n n e l V i s u a l i z a t i o n Are you a spreadsheet whiz? Do you eat
#windtunnels charts and infographics for breakfast? Then
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / NASA’s Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) has
challenge/nasa-wind-tunnel-visualization a challenge for you. ATP runs 12 wind tunnel
test facilities and is charged with creating
a “super graphic” to visualization utilization
data and trends for each facility. They’re
looking for a fresh visualization to replace
their current Microsoft Excel sand chart.
Create one or more visualizations of ATP
facility usage data using a supplied spread-
sheet.
N A S A’s I m p a c t o n t h e E c o n o m y NASA tackles the big stuff, but everyone

#NASAeconomy should know the answer to one of the basic
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / questions: “what’s in it for me?” Everyone
challenge/how-does-nasa-impact-the-economy should easily be able to find how a NASA
action impacts their communities. NASA
has publicly accessible data that provides
information on jobs, dollars spent, and likely
many other data points that would help in
communicating the economic impact that

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NASA is making across the United States (possibly the
world). The problem is that all these data are located
in different places and are not easily accessible. Help
communicate NASA’s economic impact through an app,
visualization, or other interactive media.
O ff T h e G r i d Sustainability is achieved by balancing the need for
# o ff t h e g r i d economic vitality, environmental stewardship, and social
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / responsibility to ensure that we have enough resources
c h a l l e n g e / o ff - t h e - g r i d to meet our needs today and in the future. Too many
people aren’t living sustainably enough to maintain an
environment future generations can inhabit. “Getting
off the grid” refers to living in a self-sufficient manner
without reliance on any public utilities. But how do you
get off the grid? Create a website, app, or visualization
to help people learn about and share resources for off-
the-grid living.
OpenROV OpenROV is a DIY telerobotics community centered
#openROV around underwater exploration and education. The
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is a low-cost telerobotic
c h a l l e n g e / o p e n - ro v submarine that can be built with mostly off-the-shelf
parts. This way, anyone can explore and study under-
water environments. The OpenROV community is also
laying the foundation for globally-connected citizen
scientists to share their data and findings. Design and
test an interface that allows control of an OpenROV from
distance of more than 50 miles away.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
share their data and findings. Design and
test an interface that allows control of an
OpenROV from distance of more than 50
miles away.
Peace Corps Orbital Perspective The Peace Corps traces its roots and mis-
#peacecorps sion to 1960, when then Senator John F.
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / Kennedy challenged students at the Univer-
challenge/peace-corps-orbital-perspective sity of Michigan to serve their country in the
cause of peace by living and working in de-
veloping countries. Since then, over 210,000
volunteers have served in 139 host countries
to work on issues ranging from AIDS educa-
tion to information technology and environ-
mental preservation. Today’s Peace Corps
is more vital than ever, working in emerging
and essential areas such as information
technology and business development, and
contributing to the President’s Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief. Create a visualization
of the global reach of Peace Corps projects
and volunteers using any form: a poster, a
map animation, an interactive data visu-
alization for the web or mobile phones, or
anything else you can imagine.
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P re d i c t i n g Wa t e r mWater has created a mobile app and global database
Contamination of water sources. The app makes it easy to add new
# m Wa t e r water sources, record the results from inexpensive water
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / quality tests, and perform surveys. We also recently
c h a l l e n g e / p re d i c t i n g - w a t e r- created a similar app/database of sewage flows into the
contamination/ environment called mSewage, which is now a finalist
for the Sanitation App Challenge. We would like to add
capabilities to the mWater app to display data from re-
mote sensing products. Possibilities include: boundaries
of water bodies, population density, and digital eleva-
tion models. These could be combined with water body
boundaries to generate maps of areas that are vulner-
able to fecal contamination because the are downstream
from pollution sources tracked using the mSewage
database.
Reach For the Stars On August 28, 2012, a song was beamed back to Earth
# re a c h f o r t h e s t a r s from another planet for the first time in history. Stu-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / dents, scientists, and officials at NASA’s Jet Propulsion
c h a l l e n g e / re a c h - s t a r s Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California gathered for the
premiere of will.i.am’s latest track “Reach for the Stars”
after it was transmitted from Mars by the Curiosity rover.
The song is part of a larger initiative through his i.am.an-
gel Foundation to inspire young people to cultivate their
interests in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Math). How do we get more kids interested in sci-
ence and space exploration? will.i.am and his i.am.angel
Foundation challenge you to create an app for kids, to
inspire more youth participation in space exploration,
and to encourage the development of STEM skills.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
share their data and findings. Design and
test an interface that allows control of an
OpenROV from distance of more than 50
miles away.
Peace Corps Orbital Perspective The Peace Corps traces its roots and mis-
#peacecorps sion to 1960, when then Senator John F.
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / Kennedy challenged students at the Univer-
challenge/peace-corps-orbital-perspective sity of Michigan to serve their country in the
cause of peace by living and working in de-
veloping countries. Since then, over 210,000
volunteers have served in 139 host countries
to work on issues ranging from AIDS educa-
tion to information technology and environ-
mental preservation. Today’s Peace Corps
is more vital than ever, working in emerging
and essential areas such as information
technology and business development, and
contributing to the President’s Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief. Create a visualization
of the global reach of Peace Corps projects
and volunteers using any form: a poster, a
map animation, an interactive data visu-
alization for the web or mobile phones, or
anything else you can imagine.
B
P re d i c t i n g Wa t e r mWater has created a mobile app and global database
Contamination of water sources. The app makes it easy to add new
# m Wa t e r water sources, record the results from inexpensive water
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / quality tests, and perform surveys. We also recently
c h a l l e n g e / p re d i c t i n g - w a t e r- created a similar app/database of sewage flows into the
contamination/ environment called mSewage, which is now a finalist
for the Sanitation App Challenge. We would like to add
capabilities to the mWater app to display data from re-
mote sensing products. Possibilities include: boundaries
of water bodies, population density, and digital eleva-
tion models. These could be combined with water body
boundaries to generate maps of areas that are vulner-
able to fecal contamination because the are downstream
from pollution sources tracked using the mSewage
database.
Reach For the Stars On August 28, 2012, a song was beamed back to Earth
# re a c h f o r t h e s t a r s from another planet for the first time in history. Stu-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / dents, scientists, and officials at NASA’s Jet Propulsion
c h a l l e n g e / re a c h - s t a r s Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California gathered for the
premiere of will.i.am’s latest track “Reach for the Stars”
after it was transmitted from Mars by the Curiosity rover.
The song is part of a larger initiative through his i.am.an-
gel Foundation to inspire young people to cultivate their
interests in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Math). How do we get more kids interested in sci-
ence and space exploration? will.i.am and his i.am.angel
Foundation challenge you to create an app for kids, to
inspire more youth participation in space exploration,
and to encourage the development of STEM skills.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
we get more kids interested in science and
space exploration? will.i.am and his i.am.
angel Foundation challenge you to create an
app for kids, to inspire more youth participa-
tion in space exploration, and to encourage
the development of STEM skills.
Reading by Starlight Almost everyone loves to watch the stars.
# re a d b y s t a r l i g h t What if you could read or watch the rest of
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / your life by the stars? Regardless of weather
c h a l l e n g e / re a d i n g - b y - s t a r l i g h t or location, if you go high up enough, you
can always see stars. Let’s let the data
shape what we can see by them. Create a
virtual tour of the star maps produced by
the Kepler telescope. You may also create
something different that generally promotes
engagement with the Kepler telescope.
Reel Inspiration We believe in the power of stories that can
# re e l i n s p i r a t i o n inspire girls everywhere to reach for the stars
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / and explore the myriad opportunities avail-

c h a l l e n g e / re e l - i n s p i r a t i o n able to them by pursuing careers in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Create videos of young women and girls
around the world sharing their own stories
related to science, technology, engineer-
ing and math. Explore ways in which these
videos could be shared with the world.
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R e n e w a b l e E n e r g y E x p l o re r For people to make good decisions about renewable en-
# e n e r g y e x p l o re r ergy, they need convenient access to information about
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / the resource potential in their area. And it’s not that
c h a l l e n g e / re n e w a b l e - e n e rg y - e x p l o re r people aren’t curious: the data is available from various
government websites, but it’s often highly technical, not
user friendly, or both. Create a simple web application
or visualization, or smartphone app that spatially and
temporally integrates wind, solar, and geothermal energy
data and allows users to see where, on average, wind,
solar, or geothermal potential are greatest.
Revitalize the PDS The Planetary Data System is an incredible resource to
#PDS scientists around the world - but much of the data inside
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / of it is difficult to use for non-subject matter experts.
c h a l l e n g e / re v i t a l i z e - n a s a s - p l a n e t a r y - In 2012, the PDS Challenge created some of the most
data-system compelling solutions from the global event, including
the widely acclaimed vicar2png software that revital-
ized imagery from previous NASA missions. The PDS
contains data from dozens of NASA missions. Can you
find interesting data sets and build tools to display,
visualize, or translate them in new ways? Can the data
be re-presented through flexible APIs, fed on to social
networks, or turned in to interactive experiences? As
part of this challenge, we ask you - the citizen scientists
and developers of the world - what do you want out of
the PDS?
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
SciStarter Citizen Science A few citizen science projects are getting us
# S p a c e M i c ro b e s excited: 1) We’re going to swab surfaces in-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / side the International Space Station (ISS) to
c h a l l e n g e / s c i s t a r t e r- c i t i z e n - s c i e n c e investigate patterns in microbial communi-
ties. 2) We’ll swab surfaces in buildings and
all kinds of public events, including sporting
events and space meetups, and compare
those microbial communities to the ones in
space. 3) We’ll take impressive samples from
Earth and send to space for the microbial
playoffs…in SPAAAAACE! Help us with
these projects by constructing software in
three main areas: sample collection, prog-
ress tracking, visualization and analysis.
Seeing in Space NASA has known for some time that
#spacevision astronauts on long duration flights experi-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / ence visual impairments due to intracranial
challenge/seeing-in-space pressure, some short-lived after flight, and
some persistent. But study of this syndrome
is relatively new, and we don’t fully under-
stand the causes. Create a visualization or
model to help better understand intracranial
pressure and its contributing factors. The
solution should graphically represent the
Visual Impairment/Intracranial Pressure (VIIP)
data by creating a visualization color coded
like a gene array.
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S e e i n g Wa t e r F ro m S p a c e Water management and climate change are broad
# w a t e r f ro m s p a c e regional issues in South America with important implica-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / tions for industrial activities, indigenous communities, as
c h a l l e n g e / s e e i n g - w a t e r- f ro m - s p a c e well as flora and fauna. This challenge seeks to enable
macroscopic, or large scale, analysis of water resource
conditions throughout the altiplano of Chile. Create a
web map of Chile water resources, showing how they
have changed over time and how their changes over
time relate to changes in climate.
Seven Minutes of Science While landing on Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory
#7minutesofscience (MSL) system ejected approximately 300 kg of inert
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / mass to offset its center of gravity before atmospheric
challenge/seven-minutes-of-science entry and then rebalance its center of gravity after
atmospheric entry. This 300 kg might be used on future
missions for Mars-related science and technology ap-
plications. Develop ideas for how NASA can turn extra
available mass on a Mars mission into a scientific or
technological payload. If you had 150 kg of ejectable
mass prior to entry and another 150 kg during the entry
and landing phase of a Mars mission, what would you
do with it? You can take your solution further by devel-
oping a prototype to demonstrate its functionality. Past
successful uses by NASA to apply the concept of using
dead weight to accomplish scientific objectives include:
Get Away Specials on Shuttle, EarthKam on ISS, and
CubeSats on unmanned vehicles.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
Skymorph Imagery API SkyMorph provides access to optical images
#skymorph and catalogs generated by the Near Earth
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program. You can
challenge/skymorph-imagery-api find images by time and position or search
by specific asteroid or other moving object.
The time dimension, unique to SkyMorph, al-
lows users to discover changes in the inten-
sities of stars like supernovae, or to discover
moving objects like comets. To help with
this, you could develop an API that could
enable developers and citizen scientists to
programmatically access SkyMorph imagery
using a RESTful interface. This would enable
bulk querying as well as a variety of interest-
ing possibilities around improving access to
data. Or develop a Google Earth/Sky KML
that would enable individuals to access
SkyMorph imagery using the visual interface
of Google Sky, providing a lower barrier of
access to the data.
Smart Cities, Smart Climate The Birmingham Urban Climate Laboratory
#smartcities (BUCL) in the City of Birmingham, UK has
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / recently created a network of over 200 air
c h a l l e n g e / s e e i n g - w a t e r- f ro m - s p a c e sensors across the city to explore the im-
pacts of urban heat on health, infrastructure,
and society. Due to the air sensors’ low-cost
and their ability to connect to existing net-
works, they can be easily set up in other cit-
ies across the world for global comparisons.
Use existing data to explore and visualize

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connections between environmental measurements and
other local datasets, such as health or traffic accidents.
S o i l Te s t i n g K i t Crowdsourcing is increasingly being used to collect data
#soiltestkit for scientific research. Examples relevant to soils include
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / the Tea Bag Index, for collecting information on the de-
challenge/soil-testing-kit cay rates of carbon in soils (http://www.decolab.org/tbi/
concept.html), the UK Natural History Museum’s website
for earthworm and soil surveys through the OPAL project
led by Imperial College (http://www.opalexplorenature.
org/soilsurvey), and the British Geological Survey’s
mySoil mobile app (http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mysoil/) for
collecting basic soil properties in the UK. The Met Of-
fice Weather Observations Website (WOW) also crowd-
sources weather station data (http://wow.metoffice.gov.
uk/). This crowd sourcing challenge involves designing
user friendly and accessible guidelines for testing key
soil parameters; experimenting with practical soil testing
approaches and developing a simple means for users
to feedback their soil measurements using web/ phone
technology.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
S o l a r F l a re Episodic solar activity has a number of
# s o l a r f l a re fascinating effects. A radiation dose from en-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / ergetic particles is an occasional hazard for
c h a l l e n g e / s o l a r- f l a re astronauts and for electronics on satellites.
Geomagnetic field disturbances may dam-
age power systems, disrupt communica-
tions, degrade high-tech navigation systems,
or create the spectacular aurora (Northern
and Southern lights). Space weather can
disrupt satellite operations, navigation,
electric power, radio communications, geo-
physical exploration and much more. Create
a physical or virtual representation of these
invisible (to the human eye) phenomena that
can affect so many vital terrestrial activities
Space Station Benefits to Humanity Studies have shown that sharing information
#ISSforhumanity about NASA technologies and the com-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / mercial products that have resulted from
challenge/space-station-benefits-to-humanity those technologies increases the public’s
appreciation for space exploration. We call
these technologies “spinoffs” and NASA
has a publication of the same name aimed
at sharing information about the benefits of
NASA technologies (http://spinoff.nasa.gov/
spinhist.html). A few years ago, the NASA
City and Home application was launched to
deliver a visually appealing and interactive
way for the public to navigate a city or home
to see where NASA benefits their daily lives,
but it could use an update. This information

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is now available for the International Space Station (ISS),
too (http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/626862main_ISS_Ben-
efit_for_Humanity.pdf). Develop a tool to improve the un-
derstanding of the incredible benefits that International
Space Station is delivering back to Earth.
Spot the Station NASA launched the Spot the Station website (http://
#spotthestation spotthestation.nasa.gov) on November 2 and was im-
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / mediately a hit with 100,000 viewing the site in just five
challenge/soil-testing-kit days and 250,000 in a few weeks. The site allows you to
spot the space station and sign up for alerts when it flies
overhead. Extend the functionality of the Spot the Sta-
tion site by building an app that allows you to share your
sightings with others. Create a visualization with Spot
the Station data.
S y n c i n g N A S A O p e n S o u rc e Currently, NASA’s Open Source projects live in a variety
P ro j e c t s of formats across the internet, such as repositories
#NASAoss on GitHub or Sourceforge or tarballs stored on NASA
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / servers. NASA’s GitHub presence is designed to be a
c h a l l e n g e / s y n c i n g - n a s a - o p e n - s o u rc e - central place for members of the public to access these
p ro j e c t s projects. We would like, however, to keep many proj-
ects in their original homes and mirror them to github.
com/nasa. Create an application that runs on a server
or PaaS like Heroku and watches git or svn repositories
as well as static files for changes, then mirrors those
changes to http://github.com/nasa. This has a variety of
uses, including open source mirrors for archival purpos-
es, synchronizing multiple disparate assets, and so on.
@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
on a server or PaaS like Heroku and watches
git or svn repositories as well as static files
for changes, then mirrors those changes to
http://github.com/nasa. This has a variety
of uses, including open source mirrors for
archival purposes, synchronizing multiple
disparate assets, and so on.
The Blue Marble Probably the most famous photo taken of
#bluemarble Earth from space is the iconic Blue Marble,
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew
challenge/the-blue-marble of the Apollo 17 spacecraft, at a distance
of about 45,000 kilometres (28,000 mi).
But many people don’t know it wasn’t the
first—that one was taken on October 24,
1946, from an altitude of 65 miles above
the surface of New Mexico, captured by a
35-millimeter motion picture camera as that
camera was propelled skyward on a Ger-
man V-2 missile. Since spaceflight began,
millions of photos have been taken of Earth
from space, many of these images are never
seen by a wider audience. Create an app,
platform or website that consolidates a col-
lection of space imagery and makes it more
Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory
(GRAIL) is NASA’s first planetary mission
with instruments fully dedicated to education
and public outreach. While the twin GRAIL
satellites orbited the Moon to learn more
about its gravity and interior composition,

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To u r o f t h e M o o n MoonKAM (Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school
#tourthemoon students) gave students a unique opportunity to snap
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / their own images of the Moon’s surface using cameras
c h a l l e n g e / t o u r- o f - t h e - m o o n on board the spacecraft. It is led by Sally Ride Sci-
ence—the science education company founded by Dr.
Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space—in collabo-
ration with undergraduate students at the University of
California, San Diego. Create an application for the Web
and/or an Android mobile device (or other open-source
mobile platform) that will allow anyone to take an inter-
active tour of the Moon. Overlay MoonKAM images onto
3D-generated lunar topography using available informa-
tion. Once the image is displayed on the Moon model,
identify the lunar features in the image, such as craters,
lunar landing sites, and other unique locations.
We L o v e D a t a There is a certain thrill that you feel when you know that
#welovedata you are connected to something. From our earliest use
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / of technology to synchronise and connect our communi-
challenge/we-love-data/ ties we have used simple interactions to inform people.
A bell from a place of worship to call people to prayer, or
a siren to warn of danger, a phone ringing or a doorbell
chiming - these indicators all provide connections to
something bigger than us. Something that is about to
happen. Something that we connect to. What if we had
the same kind of thing to tell us that the International
Space Station is overhead, a solar storm has exceeded
a threshold, or that in space it is very very cold? Can we
use simple physical interactions to connect us to data?
Can we wear data? Or build jewellery that connects data
to our skin? Can we adorn and decorate our lives with

@SpaceApps
LIST OF CHALLENGES
data from space? The possibilities are end-
less. Show us one way to encourage people
to interact with space data in new and
meaningful ways, in effect promoting space
enthusiasm, education, and a stronger hu-
man community.
W h y We E x p l o re You hear a lot about the how and what of
# w h y w e e x p l o re NASA operations, but very rarely do you
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / hear about the the “why” in an easily ac-
c h a l l e n g e / w h y - w e - e x p l o re cessible, compelling visual. Tell the “why”
of space exploration through the creation
of compelling narratives and visualizations
of the stories and data from NASA’s history.
The best entries will go on the Why Explore
Space page.
W i s h Yo u We re H e re One of the first things anyone does be-
# w i s h y o u w e re h e re fore traveling is check the weather. Space
h t t p : / / s p a c e a p p s c h a l l e n g e . o rg / explorers need the same thing! Develop an
c h a l l e n g e / w i s h - y o u - w e re - h e re engaging representation of weather on Mars.
The idea is to translate scientific weather
data into a graphical representation for the
layperson, similar to the way earth weather
apps do the same. This can take multiple
forms: an app, a physical object, or a visu-
alization.
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57 TOTAL CHALLENGES
The full list of challenges with data can be found at
spaceappschallenge.org/challenges
@SpaceApps
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LIST OF SOLUTIONS
Best Use of Data Sol
The solution that best makes space Sol is the world’s first interplanetary weather applica-
data accessible or leverages it to a tion. Rather than viewing the weather by inputting a zip
unique purpose / application. code, users can select a planet and view the weather
there. The Sol team also built the MAAS API, used to
fuel several of the Mars weather applications produced
at the Space Apps Challenge. Developed by a team
in Kansas City, Missouri and licensed under the MIT
license.
Space Cal NYC

SpaceCalNYC plots space-based telescope obser-
vations against a beautiful image of our galaxy, lets
visitors click targets to get additional details, and links
to images when available. It provides a calendar-style
listing of observations; the data can be filtered by date,
observed object, or observing telescope. The database
is updated daily. Finally, if text files are your thing it lets
you export observations as plain text. Developed by a
team in New York City, New York and licensed under
the MIT license.
E a r t h K A M E x p l o re r
EarthKAM Explorer provides web-based 3D visual
exploration of satellite images taken by middle school
students through the ISS EarthKAM program. Earth-
KAM Explorer supports the Leap Motion controller for
hand-gesture input. It is written in JavaScript using

@SpaceApps
Cesium, an open-source WebGL virtual globe and map,
so it runs in a browser without a plugin. Developed by a
team in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and licensed under
Apache.
OpenTiles
OpenTiles is a service for web developers that allows
for a variety of NASA imagery to be embedded in a
Google Maps-like interface powered by OpenLayers or
Leaflet. Additionally, the tiles support a variety of for-
mats, enabling layering of different datasets, expanded
mapping, and GIS functionality on top of existing NASA
earth science data. Developed by a team in Tallahas-
see, Florida and licensed under MIT.
SpaceHub
SpaceHub is a hosted source management service
that simplifies the management of projects. Project
administrators can mirror projects stored in various ver-
sion control systems into one central GitHub account
without having to migrate the projects from their original
locations. Runs on OpenShift Express. Developed by
a team in Rochester, New York and licensed under the
GNU general public license.
Big Marble
The Big Marble takes NASA’s amazing Earth imagery
and creates a simple programming interface that any
developer can use. It’s a RESTful API supporting JSON
and XML that’s self-documenting. It’s available now
with multiple client-facing devices, including a website,

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a twitter account, and a GIF creator. Developed by a
team in Cleveland, Ohio and licensed under the GNU
general public license.
Sync
Sync concentrates various open source projects stored
in different ways into one location, creating an intuitive
project directory. Sync downloads the remote reposi-
tory, compares for changes, and pushes to GitHub.
Developed by a team in Guatemala City, Guatemala
and licensed under Apache.
A u ro r a L o c a l i z a t i o n
Aurora Localization via Starfields provides a method for
localizing aurora in images taken from the ISS to a loca-
tion over the earth. The project first uses K-means im-
age segmentation to extract the sky, aurora, and Earth.
It follows calculating the lengths of star trails from the
brightest stars to get star velocities and extrapolate the
angle of the camera using least-squares over expected
star velocities. With the angle of the camera and the
segmented aurora, we can project the approximate
aurora location onto a map. Developed by a team in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada and licensed under the GNU
general public license.
@SpaceApps
B e s t U s e o f H a rd w a re A rd u H a c k
The solution that exemplifies the ArduHack extends the functionality of the ArduSat to
m o s t i n n o v a t i v e u s e o f h a rd w a re . use a camera and send images of the Earth to mobile
phones. It uses OpenCV to track the Earth with the
camera and adjust the camera angle to center the Earth
in the picture frame. The project also used Raspberry
Pi & Arduino to greatly improve the future processing
power of the ArduSat Satellite. The two communicate
by UART/serial, taking care to add a two-thirds volt-
age divider in between. For the science challenge we
mounted a webcam to two servos, driven by the Uno.
Using an algorithm, the camera will track an object
to keep it in frame & then update the position of the
servos to track objects in real time, to be implemented
on the satellite. Developed by a team in Exeter, UK, and
licensed under the MIT license.
Personal Cosmos
Personal Cosmos is a system that projects data from
the earth and from other planets onto a sphere. The
system is built with off-the-shelf items by developing
an image conversion program. Developed by a team in
Tokyo, Japan and licensed under Apache.
Inbound
Inbound displays, in an abstract manner, the frequency
with which Earth is bombarded by coronal mass ejec-
tions (CMEs). Minimalist and modern, Inbound mounts
to any wall to remind people that solar activity has a
constant and tangible impact on our planet. Inbound
shows colored sections at either end of a board, one
red (the Sun) and one blue (Earth). When a CME is

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detected by the STEREO or LASCO satellites, we deter-
mine its travel time and light the white LEDs on the
board to show the CME as it rolls closer to Earth. De-
veloped by a virtual team and licensed under Apache.
ISS Base Station

ISS Base Station is a hardware-software co-design
project both expanding the Spot The Station web app
and allowing for a physical manifestation of its data.
The software side of the project consists of a simple,
Santa Tracker-style web app which tracks the position
of the ISS in real time over a map of the world, and con-
nects to an augmented-reality iOS app which allows
the user to track the station in the sky. The hardware
side consists of a physical device which receives data
from the app and points at the current location of the
space station, and lights up when the station is within a
user-defined area. Developed by a team in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania and licensed under Apache.
A rd u i n o s o n t h e R a s p b e r r y P i
Arduinos on the Raspberry Pi solves the Ardusat hard-
ware level 3 challenge by using a Raspberry Pi running
ChibiOS (a Real Time Operating System for embedded
systems). Inside ChibiOS threads runs Arduino code
with help of a library that mimics the Arduino platform.
The RTOS can be configured to map pins and devices
between the Raspberry Pi and the virtual Arduinos,
allowing the maximum use of the sensors in Ardustat.
The code and configuration running on the Raspberry pi
can be uploaded via serial console for remote manage-
ment. Developed by a team in Mexico City, Mexico and

@SpaceApps
licensed under the BSD-2 clause license.
Tiny Sea Bots

Tiny Sea Bots allows an OpenROV to be internet acces-
sible, enabling anyone in the world to view a robot’s live
underwater video stream and control the robot itself,
as well as to control an OpenROV from their desktop
with finger accuracy via the LeapMotion controller.
Developed by a team in New York City, New York and
licensed under MIT.
We b R o v e r 1
Webrover1 built a demonstration system which mim-
icked a tele-operated interplanetary rover complete with
a remote control interface, the possibility to add delays,
and the ability to construct and deploy autonomous
rules onto the robot. A mobile-compatible HTML inter-
face mimics a tele-operated planetary rover complete
with remote control, command delays, and the ability to
create autonomous rules for the robot. Developed by a
team in Exeter, UK and licensed under the LGPL.
Most Inspiring Karkhana Rover

T h e s o l u t i o n t h a t c a p t u re d o u r Karkhana Rovers uses an Arduino clone to construct a
hearts and attention. simple robot that allows children to explore automation
though the uses of sensor feedback and control of rov-
ers over planetary distances. The solution is designed
to be a cost-effective open source alternative to com-
mercially available robotic platforms. It also demystifies
hardware and electronics by exposing young learners
to them in a raw form. Developed by a team in Kath-

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mandu, Nepal and licensed under Creative Commons.
T- 1 0
T-10 is a prototype mobile application for use on the
International Space Station. Astronauts can program in
specific points of interest they wish to photograph, and
T-10 will alert them shortly before the Station is set to
fly over that location if the current weather permits pho-
tography. The app can also alert astronauts to interest-
ing weather phenomenon and potential upload photos
directly to Twitter. Developed by a team in London, UK
and licensed under MIT.
iSpot It!
iSpot it! focuses on the social aspects of the ISS with
the intention of creating awareness, staying connected,
and making the ISS fun! The iSpot it! iPhone/iPad app
gives you all of the ISS social media links in the palm of
your hand, the ability to track your location and share
it when the ISS has been spotted, a link to watch the
USStream LIVE CAM, and a page to join the mailing
list to receive alerts. Developed by a team in Managua,
Nicaragua and licensed under MIT.
Launchpad: Moon
LaunchPad: Moon is a fun and educational board game
that combines basics of economics and space science
in a competitive race to build sustainable industry on
the moon. Each turn players have the chance to collect
energy, mine for supplies, and make cool stuff. Devel-
oped and prototyped by a team in Tallahassee,
@SpaceApps
Florida and licensed under Creative Commons.
Museum of Intergalactic Species

The Museum of Intergalactic Species (http://discover-
voyager.com/) is a fun and easy way to learn about Voy-
ager 1’s journey through an interactive online storyline.
The goal was to captivate the interests of a broader au-
dience and to entice them to learn more about NASA’s
missions. Developed by a team in Toronto, Ontario,
Canada and licensed under Creative Commons.
Star Hopper
StarHopper created a web application from scratch
using Unity to visualize space in 3D and allow users
to learn about stars, planets, and asteroids as well
as explore the known universe themselves. Using the
HYG database the team potted out over one hundred
thousand stars with relative distances to each other.
They also added planets using the exoplanets data-
base and asteroids using the JPL database. Every star,
planet, and asteroid is clickable and can be navigated
to. Developed by a team in Gothenburg, Sweden and
licensed under LGPL.
Curiosity Rover Blog

Curiosity Rover Blog creates a fictional blog (http://
curiosityrover.mpresence.net) where Curie (Curiosity)
shares his experiences on the Red Planet. The art is
designed to attract young children into the story unfold-
ing outside planet Earth by following the adventures of
Curie. Parents and teachers can download the line art
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and involve interested children in coloring Curie and
submitting their art to the blog. Developed by a team in
Atlanta, Georgia and licensed under Creative
Commons.
Galactic Impact Greener Cities

The solution that has the most The NASA Greener Cities Project seeks to complement
p o t e n t i a l t o s i g n i f i c a n t l y i m p ro v e l i f e NASA satellite climate data with crowd-sourced micro-
on Earth or in the universe. climate data, providing higher resolution information
for monitoring the environment. The design includes a
low-cost garden monitoring sensor, aggregation and
normalization of local environmental data, and scaling a
global educational initiative for kids to encourage inter-
est in programming and the environment. Developed
by a team in Gothenburg, Sweden and licensed under
Creative Commons.
People of the Soil

Project Soil is an inexpensive, easy to use system to
collect and manage soil data on a global scale. The
open system includes a cheap digital soil testing kit
to collect data, a light protocol to send the data using
web, apps, or even SMS and collect it on a centralised
database, an API to disseminate information via SMS
or web, and a light web application that can run on old
and recent phones for data access. Developed by a
team in London, UK and licensed under Eclipse Public
License.
Stellar Stuff
Stellar Stuff is an interactive digital tool that takes data
from NASA’s spinoffs database and turns it into an

@SpaceApps
educational resource for kids. The tablet application
provides an interactive learning experience through
gamification, allowing kids to gain a better understand-
ing of NASA’s impact on their lives, test their knowledge
with a quiz, and earn badges to share on social media
sites. Developed by a team in Kansas City, Missouri
and licensed under MIT.
Skylog+ NEOws
SkyLog+ NeoWs includes an in-app NEO search/sub-
mit/rank system with simplified tools for users, a star-
gazing journal, a stream of community journal entries,
a map with ranked stargazing sites, and more. The app
relies on our NEO Web Service (NeoWs), an open-
source API for accessing official NEO data. Developed
by a team in San Francisco, California and licensed
under Apache.
Cloudless Spots
Cloudless Spots detects areas with less cloud by ana-
lyzing historical satellite data over the 2001-2012 period
via the MODIS Cloud Mask data and by evaluating
expected solar power generation. Spots with the best
sun exposition in the past can then be used to model
return on investment and to guide decisions on where
to put the panels. Developed by a team in Tokyo, Japan
and licensed under Creative Commons.
Catch a Meteor
Catch a Meteor is an Android application allowing users
to visualize a 3D interactive map of the night sky and
note their observations of meteors by simply pointing

their device to the direction they saw it, and tapping the
screen at the exact location. Developed by a team in
Melbourne, Australia and licensed under LGPL.
ChicksBook
ChicksBook is a functional web, Android, and iOS ap-
plication which can help you learn how to raise chick-
ens and manage the data for your own backyard farm.
Developed by a team in Sofia, Bulgaria and licensed
under GNU general public license.
World Energy Xplorer

World Energy Xplorer combines decades of solar en-
ergy, wind energy and geothermal energy data into one
single user friendly map. Developed by a team in Ifrane,
Morocco and licensed under Common Development
and Distribution License.
Best Concept GhOST

The solution that developed the GhOST (Greenhouse Open Source Technology) de-
m o s t p ro m i s i n g m i s s i o n c o n c e p t . signed and built a model greenhouse system, deploy-
able on Mars and Moon. GhOST is Arduino/Android-
based technology featuring RGB LED Lights, wheels,
and real-time Android visualisation. The team planted
beans on a prototype and sealed it hermetically as a
proof of concept. Developed by a team in Sofia, Bul-
garia and licensed under GNU General Public License.
DiSCoS
DisCoS (Distributed Control System) is a control net
@SpaceApps
work framework for any collection of robotic devices. Its
innovation lies in the concept of sending missions rather
than commands. This is possible because of the .bot pro-
gramming language the team created. Using DisCoS, they
created the TNT education and robotics platform, which
allows users to write live code and programs for NXTs.
Developed by a team in Abu Dhabi, UAE and licensed
under GNU General Public License.
TerraFarming
TerraFarming is a design of a self-sustaining greenhouse
on Mars which suggests a specific location on the planet
due to the ease of gathering the majority of resources
that this requires to function. The team considered all the
variables of the planet, such as atmospheric, climatic and
geologic, in order to develop the suitable environment
for life; while trying to reduce the weight and volume for
transport with the use of inflatable structures. Developed
by a team in Guadalajara, Mexico and licensed under
Creative Commons.
Popeye on Mars
Popeye on Mars is a deployable, reusable spinach green-
house for Mars. Internally, a fully equipped aeroponic
system operates for ~45 days, having all the needed
resources, sensors and electronic systems to stabilize
the internal environment and help the spinach growth.
Also, there are systems for harvesting produced oxygen
during the process and the plants at the end of it. Exter-
nally, photovoltaic panels provide power, while several
cover layers protect the system against Mars extreme
conditions. Developed by a team in Athens, Greece and
spaceappschallenge.org licensed under Creative Commons.

ASTEX
ASTEX focuses on better asteroid orbit prediction via
CubeSat. It includes not only orbit prediction and simu-
lation software for the asteroid, but also the CubeSat’s
technological system developed to received data from
the asteroid’s surface to study its trajectory and other
variables. Developed by a team in Barcelona, Spain and
licensed under Creative Commons.
W.AFATE to MARS
W.AFATE to Mars designs a concept to convert recycled
computers into 3D printers and other autonomous ma-
chines that could be used in exploration. Developed by
a team in Paris, France in collaboration with Togo and
licensed under Creative Commons.
MS3P
My Space Plant Pod Project (MS3P) is a readily deploy-
able modular greenhouse. Plants are grown in individual
pods where conditions are controlled remotely, allowing
for experimentation and education. This modular solution
allows for low infrastructure, low building structure and
high efficiency farming. It was designed to create oxygen,
recycle carbon dioxide, and feed astronauts, all while
educating students. Developed by a team in Rochester,
New York and licensed under Common Development and
Distribution License.
A full list of projects can be found at
SPACEAPPSCHALLENGE.ORG/PROJECTS @SpaceApps
D
LIST OF PARTNERS
G L O B A L PA R T N E R S US Department of State
SecondMuse
European Space Agency (ESA)
Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
UK Space Agency
Geeks Without Bounds
Tech Shop
Raspberry Pi
CloudSigma
Tumblr
Leap Motion
C H A L L E N G E PA R T N E R S National Science Foundation (NSF)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Department of Energy (DOE)
General Services Administration (GSA)
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Sally Ride Science
European Space Agency (ESA)
Met Office UK
University of Dundee Product Design Studio (Scotland)
i.am.angel Foundation
World Bank @SpaceApps

J U D G I N G PA R T N E R S Tradeshift
NASTAR Center
A full list of partners, including

local event partners, can be found at
SPACEAPPSCHALLENGE.ORG
/ABOUT/PARTNERS
CREDITS
Program
The design and layout Nick Skytland
was created by The Phuse.
Ali Llewellyn
Sean Herron
The front and back cover design
and layout was created by Azavea. Chris Gerty
Special thanks to Deborah Diaz

With contributions by
and Sasi Pillay in the NASA Office of the
Michael Brennan, SecondMuse
Chief Information Officer and Beth Beck in
the NASA Human Exploration Operation- William Eshagh, Open Innovation Program Alumnus
sMission Directorate for supporting this Wayne Burke, Open Forum Foundation
vision. John Sprague, NASA
Sarah Rigdon, Valador

We would also like to acknowledge the
Ron Garan, NASA / USAID
474 partners organizations, 83 local leads,
and hundreds of volunteers that made this Brenda Velasquez, USRA
event possible. Katy Jeremko
@SpaceApps
www.nasa.gov

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

each other through matchmaking functionality around each of the challenges,

The International Space Apps Challenge – led by

The community drove the development of youth engagement across

Ultimately, the International Space Apps Challenge repre-

At NASA, we are committed to pioneering the future. We

have a long history of achieving seemingly impossible

goals, from reaching the Moon to advancing fundamental

knowledge about our home planet. Today we work to un-

derstand the universe’s origins, map its current state, and

analyze its effects on our future. We are inherently passion-

ate about solving the grand challenges of our day. NASA

has a mandate to be bold, take risks, and do what intimi-

nation, but the world. We are just beginning to embark on

an ambitious program of space exploration that will build

on new technologies and expand our reach into the solar

system, including new destinations never before visited by

humans. These grand challenges we are now focused on

cannot be solved alone. NASA needs your help.

The 2013 International Space Apps Challenge was the

WE ARE ALL EXPLORERS.

SPACE APPS IN NUMBERS

TOP 10 SOLD OUT EVENTS & CHALLENGES

M O ST P OPUL AR MOST POPUL AR MOST POPU LAR MOST POPU LAR

2,200 170 spaceappschallenge.org

SINCE MARCH 3, 2013

PART ICIPANTS SOLUTIONS

How do you engage thousands of people

The event demonstrated that thanks largely to the

Collaboration is the key to addressing the

It is the global community that holds a a bottom-up community creation model

True participatory exploration doesn’t produce

NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

The ability to contribute work toward solving

inspires youth participation in space Earth-bound objects. Every one of the

THE LEGO ROVERS

centre for autonomous systems technology

THE “OFF THE GRID”

7 X MORE SOLUTIONS THAN 2012

4.5 X MORE PARTICIPANTS THAN 2012

4 X MORE PARTNERS THAN 2012

“In these times of financial constraint, the

primarily behind closed

the world on Earth Day 2013, NASA’s data is more acces-

sible; renewable energy is contextualized and shared with

served, tracked, and visualized; underwater vehicles can

be remotely operated over the Internet; auroras can be

aligned to crew stellar imagery; citizens used modeling to

of why we explore and advanced concepts for deploy-

able greenhouses. We’ve visualized intracranial pressure

data for astronauts, planetary water resources from space,

NASA’s impact on the economy – and much more. The

results already have global impact and significance. We

are extremely proud of the trailblazing accomplishments of

everyone who participated over the 83 hours at the 2013

International Space Apps Challenge, and we are now

setting our sights on even more distant horizons.

The solutions themselves may be technologies, develop new capabili-

A .......................................................... List of locations