Running annually since 2012, NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge brings coders, designers, entrepreneurs and makers together from across the globe to take on a series of challenges developed by NASA.

Last year, over 31,000 people developed and submitted more than 2000 projects on hackathon weekend at 225 events in 71 countries. During the intense 48-hour hackathon, teams form and produce solutions that leverage NASA’s extensive spacecraft, celestial, and science dataset. Since 2018, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) took part as well, providing specific CSA challenges for teams to take on. This year, the challenge was held entirely virtually across the globe.

Space Apps draws people of all ages and skill levels to tackle challenges using data collected by NASA and the CSA related to living on Earth and in space. Over 48 hours, individuals will form teams from a common interest in a specific challenge, work towards a solution to that challenge, and present their idea to a panel, all while being mentored by experts.