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This April, hackers and geeks will descend in droves on the Adler Planetarium. Why? It's the International Space Apps Challenge, a time to think about dark matter, wind-powered turbines, and education for the next generation of little scientists.
With the support of local tech companies like Dev Bootcamp, Inventables, and Monkey Bars, we’re bringing Space Apps to Chicago this April 12th and 13th. The event, a partnership with Science Hack Day Chicago, will see space hackers gathering in small teams to combine their skills as designers, coders, and data analysts. During the 36 hours that follow, participants will be designing innovative solutions to problems faced by space explorers and discovering how to make large sets of space data do something new. This weekend, someone might invent anything from a greenhouse capable of growing food on Mars to a new approach to visualizing changes across millions of photos of Earth as it spins. Most of these Chicagoans would go to space if they could. But for now, they are exploring the edges of scientific progress and, hopefully, building something that will make a difference for the rest of us Earthlings.
A few game-changing apps and prototypes will be submitted to compete with their international counterparts developed at the 96 other Space Apps Challenge locations worldwide. In May, NASA will announce their picks for Best Use of Data, Best Use of Hardware, Best Mission Concept, Galactic Impact, Most Inspiring, and People’s Choice. (Check out last year’s winners at 2013.spaceappschallenge.org).
We hope the Built In Chicago community will join us at the Adler Planetarium this April 12th and 13th! Check out 2014.spaceappschallenge.org to register for the event and take a look at this year’s challenges.
The International Space Apps Challenge is a NASA Incubator Innovation Program that aims to tackle challenges related to space exploration and improving life on Earth.
Science Hack Day is an innovation event that facilitates the collaboration of individuals of diverse backgrounds to make science more accessible, educational, and enjoyable.
Please contact Nicole McCabe at [email protected] regarding sponsorship or media inquiries.
