Nicaragua to participate in NASA Space Apps Challenge

Published by The Nicaragua Dispatch

Mar. 31, 2013 - Latin America’s first academic observatory, the Neil Armstrong observatory, was inaugurated on February 22nd at the Pierre and Marie Curie School in Managua, Nicaragua. Later this month, Nicaraguans will be stargazing during the Hackathon II “International Space Apps Challenge 2013,” which will be held April 20-21 at the Universidad Americana (UAM) in Managua. 

Some of the 50 challenges include: “Bootstrapping of the Space Industry” (Develop a game to virtually build a lunar industry through a series of “bootstrapping” stages until it becomes self-sustaining); “Catch a Meteor Tracker” (Create an app that would allow observers of a meteor shower to trace the location, color and size of the shooting star); “Dark Side of the Moon” (Explore the far side of the moon using available images and data by creating web applications and 3D-printed objects); among others.

The International Space Apps Challenge is a global effort led by NASA. It will take place in 52 countries, and 75 cities, including Managua. More than 50 challenges have already been posted online by NASA, and new ones are being added—all with the goal of creating a “unified international effort” for improving life on earth and in space.

“The International Space Apps Challenge is an international mass collaboration focused on space exploration,” NASA says on its website. “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.”

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