About NASA ISAC
The International Space Apps Challenge is an international mass collaborative hackathon focused on space exploration that takes place over 48-hours in cities around the world. The event embraces collaborative problem solving with a goal of producing relevant open-source solutions to address global needs applicable to both life on Earth and life in space. NASA is leading this global collaboration along with a number of additional government collaborators and 100+ local partner organizations.
In 2016, Boston returns with this event for round 3 of ground-breaking ideas. In addition to hosting our local teams, Boston will also host several special teams. These ‘mixed’ teams comprise of members from both the Boston and Tokyo ISAC, and satellite locations at U-Tokyo and will collaborate across continents.
What's New in 2016
We are collaborating with Boston Children’s Museum this year.
The winning team’s project will be presented at their 1st annual Boston Mini Maker Faire on July 23, 2016.
Also, our sponsor MarkForged will lend their 3D Printer by MarkForged which can print With Carbon Fiber!!!
Additionally, we will be inviting Yoichiro Nakamura from OPEN Laboratory, Inc. at info session as a guest speaker on ‘Eat to Win’.
Mixed Team
During the hackathon, we bring together select participants to form teams comprising of people from Japan and Boston. These ‘mixed teams’ are exciting collaboration opportunites to allow participants to develop multi-cultural perspective since team-members work collaboratively across the ocean.
Each mixed team consists of about 5-8 participants from Japan and Boston (i.e. 3 from Japan, 3 from Boston) with diverse technical and professional backgrounds. The participants from Japan will join you via communication tools such as Google Hangout and Skype.
If you are interested in innovation and cross-cultural collaboration, this truly one of a kind experience is for you.
KEY DATES
Pre-events
Information Session
Date & Time:
4/2/2016 (Sat) 1:00 PM
Venue: Boston Children’s Museum
______________________________________________________
Agenda
Part 1 (all)
– Introduction of Binnovative
– About NASA Space Apps Challenge
– About Mixed-Team
– Short Panel by Last Year’s Participants
– Q & A
Part 2 (Mixed team)
– Detail logistics about mixed team
– Q & A about mixed team
Part 2 (Boston only)
– Idea pitch, mingle
***Part 1 is for all, part 2 is separate sessions for
mixed team attendees and Boston only attendees.
Ideathon (Mixed team attendees only)
Date & Time:
4/9/2016 (Sat) 19:00~22:00
Venue: Cambridge Innovation Center, 14th floor
_________________________________________________________
Agenda
– Self-Introduction
– Idea pitch (by all Boston and Tokyo participants)
– Project selection vote
– Mixed Team forming
Main Event
Main Event Day 1
Date & Time:
4/23/2016 (Sat)
Venue: Harvard Graduate School of Design,
Galaxy GSD
Click here for directions
_________________________________________________________
Agenda
9:00am Breakfast/sign-in
9:30am Takeoff
12:00pm Lunch
3:00pm Coffee break
8:00pm Dinner and Progress check
Main Event Day 2
Date & Time:
4/24/2016 (Sun)
Venue: Harvard Graduate School of Design,
Galaxy GSD
Click here for directions
_________________________________________________________
Agenda
8:00am Breakfast
12:00pm Landing/stop hacking, lunch time
1:00pm Presentations
2:30pm Results
3:00pm Good bye, get some sleep!
A look at last years competition
Last year, the NASA ISAC 2015 took place on April 11th-12th, lasting 27 hours. More than 60 participants at the Boston event gathered at hack/reduce early in the morning on Saturday. They were joined by hardware and software technologists, local entrepreneurs, data scientists, as well as artists and designers from Tokyo, Tokyo University, and Kumamoto via Google Hangouts.
Seventeen teams were formed, including eight mixed teams. Under Binnovative’s guidance, mixed team members collaborated across geographies, time zones, and cultures to solve NASA’s challenges. After presentations from each team, participants and judges voted to select three winning teams.
Second Prize Winner – AstroM3D
People’s Choice Winner – Asteroid Heroes
ASTROM3D was nominated as global awards finalist in the ‘Best Use of Hardware’ category!!
Of course, caffeine is also provided!
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Galaxy GSD
IBM
Polar
About the organizer
Binnovative is a non-profit organization which strives to provide opportunities to communities in Japan and Boston to foster their entrepreneurial mindset as well as multicultural perspectives. Binnovative organizes and leads the Boston venue of the ISAC for the third time this year.