As we make our way into Spring 2020, we would like to take a few moments to reflect on 2019’s NASA International Space Apps Challenge (ISAC). ISAC is an international hackathon led and organized each year by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). 2019 was the 6th year of this event, and included over 29,000 participants at 225 events in 71 countries; in all, over two thousand projects were submitted! Binnovative has been hosting the event in Boston (ISAC Boston) for several years now.
This year, we teamed up with our friends at Brooklyn Boulders (BKB) in Somerville, MA to host a two day event with over fifty participants! Over the weekend of October 19-20 our talented hackers formed thirteen teams to take on various problems proposed by NASA. At the conclusion of two days of hard work, the teams formed presentations to demonstrate the results of their hard work to our panel of judges comprised of entrepreneurs and subject matter experts from the local community. These judges were given the unenviable task of choosing just two winners, from all of the excellent projects our teams brought to the table, to proceed onto global judging by NASA.
Ultimately, the judges made their decision, and we offer our heartfelt congratulations to our winners: teams SpaceTeam6 and Remember Me! SpaceTeam6 tackled the challenge “Build a Planet” with an educational virtual reality (VR) experience aimed at providing an immersive demonstration of the habitable zone and other features of our solar system which make life possible. Team Remember Me took on the challenge “The Memory-Maker” with a physical memory system inspired by punch card and videocassette recorder technology (and yes, we do remember those) which could be used to store data in harsh extraterrestrial environments, such as those found on Venus, where traditional electromagnetic recording mediums would not work. Their concept would ultimately bring them all the way to the Global Finals! This is quite an achievement, as out of over two thousand projects worldwide, only the top 30 projects are accepted as “Global Finalists” and given the opportunity presented as candidates for one of six global awards. There are approximately five projects nominated for each global award, though NASA reserves the right to change the total number of finalists per category.
This was our 6th consecutive year hosting the International Space Apps Challenge here in Boston, and it may have been our best year yet! Our teams produced some excellent projects and even a Global Finalist! We even had a visit from local radio station WBZ NewsRadio 1030, who helped to spread our message of collaborative innovation to the local community. This event would not have been the resounding success it was without the generous support of our sponsors. On behalf of the organizers, participants, and the program coordinators at NASA, we thank you and your organization for your kindness and and generosity in supporting this endeavor, and we hope that you will support us again in the years to come! Thanks as well to our judges, volunteers, and of course, our participants! We hope to see you all again soon!
NASA International Space Apps Challenge Boston 2019 projects
https://2015.spaceappschallenge.org/location/cambridge-ma/#projects
Space Apps Boston official website
Team “Remember me”, received Global Finalist award
Thank you to our judges, and everyone who participated in #SpaceApps 2019 here at Brooklyn Boulders. This year we had some truly exceptional projects from our talented participants, and we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did! #Binnovative pic.twitter.com/PjQ5DlBVMU
— Space Apps Boston (@SpaceAppsBoston) October 21, 2019