National College of Ireland had a star-studded weekend over the 5th and 6th of October, as once again our campus hosted the NASA Space Apps Challenge. Our Mayor Square campus was brimming with innovative, creative, collaborative energy as participants of all ages, skill levels, and professional backgrounds took part in this fantastic hackathon. This year’s global theme, “The Sun Touches Everything,” invited participants to tackle one of 21 Challenges using space data and information. These challenges covered a wide range of topics, from astrobiology to space music, and the design of games for astronauts. It was lots of fun, and it is always brilliant to see different ideas coming to life.
The NASA Space Apps Challenge launched at NCI on Friday evening. Dublin Local Lead of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge, Paola Vercesi kicked off the event with a wonderful collaboration call across the pond. Guests who attended our launch had the opportunity to hear co-founders of the NASA Space Apps Challenge, Ali Llewellyn, Manager for Formulation at NASA Johnson Space Center, and Nick Skytland, Chief Technologist at NASA Johnson Space Center, speak about why this hackathon is such an impressive event.
It was quite special to hear their enthusiasm and excitement about the future of space exploration, however a standout element of their presentation was that they continuously highlighted that collaboration is the key to the hackathon’s success. Ali and Nick spent time encouraging everyone in the room to enjoy themselves over the weekend and to get involved no matter what their skillset is because the best projects they have seen have come from various people with all kinds of different skills and talents coming together to create something brilliant.
“We are living in a highly innovative time in the realm of space exploration. As a result of the NASA Space Apps Challenge, we have seen a community of people with different ideas and backgrounds, who have the same dreams about space exploration come together and share those ideas about how to make those dreams a reality.” ~ Ali Llewellyn, Manager for Formulation at NASA Johnson Space Center
At National College of Ireland, we want to congratulate this year’s #SpaceAppsDublin Community Choice Award winner. Congratulations and well done to team “RUNTIME TERROR.” This talented team created a visually appealing digital orrery to display near-Earth objects. You Can View the Digit Orrery at EarthObjects.co.
Congratulations to this peer-selected winning team and well done to the eight teams that presented their projects. The ingeniousness and quality level of the solutions proposed, the creativity and the broad range of media used will make it very difficult for our Judging Panel to choose the Global Nominee that will progress to the final stages of the selection that will decide the Global Winners of the #NASAInternationalSpaceAppsChallenge2024.
Kudos to all teams participating and submitting their projects:
ALPHA CENTAURI
LES INTOUCHABLES
STARCHASERS
SUNLIT
THE CELTIC COMMUNITY CARTOGRAPHERS
UNCLEBAOFANS
Best of luck to each and every one of our participants!
To Learn More, Visit the NASA Space Apps Dublin webpage.
#ChangingLivesThroughEducation