This coming October 2-4, It's another news from the United States space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as they invite coders, entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, artists, and technologists to come together in a global, virtual hackathon. During a period of 48 hours, participants from around the world will come together to create virtual teams and solve challenges using NASA’s open-source data.

Designed for those interested in space science and exploration, this hackathon allows the next generation of scientists, technologists, designers and engineers to showcase their creativity and problem-solving skills through inspired collaboration and critical thinking.

As part of Space Apps, everyone belongs to a global hackathon community which embraces collaboration across borders, sectors, and cultures to bring about paradigm-shifting innovation.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the interest of the global community’s health and safety, this year’s hackathon will be an all-virtual event. In other words, all events shall be moved online. In this unprecedented time, the Space Apps community exists as a reminder that everyone has the tools and talents to tackle the challenges facing the planet, as well as the ability to unite across boundaries and borders of all kinds.

The theme for this year -- "Take Action" -- is a critical reminder that anyone can make a difference, even from the comfort and safety of home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7RBlB9iYyQ

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) of France, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will be partnering again with NASA for this hackathon.

Since Space Apps is brought to the Philippines by developer and technology community leader Tzar C. Umang from Pangasinan last 2016, the country witnessed on how the community grew from a group of volunteers to forging partnerships with collaborators and stakeholders. The Philippines produced global winners like the dengue hotspot predictor Project AEDES and information portal G.I.D.E.O.N. measuring COVID-19 impact, both developed by CirroLytix. The country also has global finalists like Celestial Snails from De La Salle University addressing social isolation and Sentinellium, an epidemic predictor using population density data, both addressing problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.


Space Apps throughout the years in the Philippines.

While recognition and honor was given to the Philippines by NASA and partner agencies, lead organizer Michael Lance M. Domagas hopes that the country would soon realize the importance and value of giving support and assistance in the development of these winning projects, so that fellow Filipinos would benefit from these technologies coming from outer space in times of emergencies like COVID-19 and dengue epidemic. "Space Apps is a perfect venue which can arouse curiosity and interest of Filipinos to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), including space and Earth sciences. Our own country's support should have been a way to inspire more Filipinos and further develop winning projects," he said. Space Apps can be a program in developing "space education and promote public awareness" stated in Section 8 of Republic Act 11363 otherwise known as the "Philippine Space Act."

"The Global Organizing Team is inspired by the journey the Philippines has with the Space Apps program. In particular, we appreciate the development of STEM in the Philippines and elsewhere, because one goal of Space Apps is to foster interest and learning in these fields worldwide," according to Matt Scott, the Global Community Director and Storyteller.

Register now on these sites:

• Central Luzon: https://2020.spaceappschallenge.org/locations/pampanga
• Northern Luzon: https://2020.spaceappschallenge.org/locations/mapandan-pangasinan
• Manila and the rest of the Philippines: https://2020.spaceappschallenge.org/locations/manila

Space Apps is a NASA-led initiative organized in collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton, Mindgrub, SecondMuse, and the NASA Open Innovation Applied Sciences Program.

Here's one interesting news that we can try to share with other people who might want to share their talents in creating a solution for our current situation. So, Read on the story and see if you can be one of the people who might shed light in one of our darkest hours.

The U.S. space agency National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are inviting coders, entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, artists, and technologists to participate in a virtual hackathon May 30-31 dedicated to putting open data to work in developing solutions to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the global Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge, participants from around the world will create virtual teams that – during a 48-hour period – will use Earth observation data to propose solutions to COVID-19-related challenges ranging from studying the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and its spread to the impact the disease is having on the Earth system. Registration for this challenge opens in mid-May.

"There’s a tremendous need for our collective ingenuity right now," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. "I can’t imagine a more worthy focus than COVID-19 on which to direct the energy and enthusiasm from around the world with the Space Apps Challenge that always generates such amazing solutions."

The unique capabilities of NASA and its partner space agencies in the areas of science and technology enable them to lend a hand during this global crisis. Since the start of the global outbreak, Earth science specialists from each agency have been exploring ways to use unique Earth observation data to aid understanding of the interplay of the Earth system – on global to local scales – with aspects of the COVID-19 outbreak, including, potentially, our ability to combat it. The hackathon will also examine the human and economic response to the virus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_quOKBRJKs

ESA will contribute data from the Sentinel missions (Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and Sentinel-5P) in the context of the European Copernicus program, led by the European Commission, along with data from Third Party contributing Missions, with a focus on assessing the impact on climate change and greenhouse gases, as well as impacts on the economic sector. ESA also is contributing Earth observation experts for the selection of the competition winners and the artificial-intelligence-powered EuroDataCube.

"EuroDatacube will enable the best ideas to be scaled up to a global level," said Josef Aschbacher, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at ESA. "The pandemic crisis has a worldwide impact, therefore international cooperation and sharing of data and expertise with partners like NASA and JAXA seem the most suitable approach."

JAXA is making Earth-observing data available from its satellite missions, including ALOS-2, GOSAT, GOSAT-2, GCOM-C, GCOM-W, and GPM/DPR. "JAXA welcomes the opportunity to be part of the hackathon," said JAXA Vice President Terada Koji. "I believe the trilateral cooperation among ESA, NASA, and JAXA is important to demonstrate how Earth observation can support global efforts in combating this unprecedented challenge."

Space Apps is an international hackathon that takes place in cities around the world. Since 2012, teams have engaged with NASA's free and open data to address real-world problems on Earth and in space. The COVID-19 Challenge will be the program’s first global virtual hackathon. Space Apps 2019 included more than 29,000 participants at 225 events in 71 countries, developing more than 2,000 hackathon solutions over the course of one weekend.

Pinoy developers used NASA's free and open data to solve real-world problems on Earth and space.

Many Filipinos participated in this annual hackathon since 2016. Recently, a dengue mapping forecasting system was developed by data scientists from CirroLytix using satellite and climate data with the goal of addressing the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. This web application, called Project AEDES won globally for the best use of data. "Earth observation data has the potential to be used in fighting epidemics and outbreaks threatening humanity nowadays, as well as to analyze its socio-economic impact," according to software developer Michael Lance M. Domagas, who led the Philippine hackathon in collaboration with De La Salle University, PLDT, Department of Science and Technology, United Nations Development Programme, and the U.S. embassy. The very first Philippine winner used citizen science and environmental data to develop a smartphone application informing fishermen the right time to catch fish. ISDApp is currently being incubated at Animo Labs.

Space Apps is a NASA-led initiative organized globally in collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton, Mindgrub, and SecondMuse. The next annual Space Apps Challenge is scheduled for October 2-4. Registration opens May 12. https://covid19.spaceappschallenge.org/

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