Opportunities for Ukrainians · 2026-11-06
NASA Space Apps Challenge hackathon at KAI: 48 hours to build a space project
On November 14–15, the Kyiv Aviation Institute will host a free international NASA hackathon where participants build projects using real NASA data, even without programming experience.
What this event is
On November 14–15, the Kyiv Aviation Institute (KAI) will host the international NASA Space Apps Challenge hackathon. Participants have 48 hours to create their own project based on real NASA data. Participation is free. You can join in person or remotely.
Organizers invite not only programmers but also designers, analysts, engineers, scientists, managers, and anyone interested in space and technology. You don't need programming skills to take part.
Which challenges you can choose
NASA, together with partner space agencies, has prepared 14 challenges. Participants choose one. Examples include:
A game where you manage a base on the Moon or Mars: providing astronauts with food and energy, protecting them from radiation, and keeping the mission from failing.
A program that helps astronauts track their own health during long space flights, where radiation, weightlessness, and isolation affect the body and mind.
An app for choosing a landing site on the Moon, taking into account lighting and communication with Earth.
Turning scientific data about Earth into sound so information can be heard as well as seen.
How to take part
A team can have up to six people. If you don't have a team, you can register on your own, and organizers will help you find other participants. The best projects advance to the international evaluation stage and compete with teams from other countries.
Registration is on the local event page for Kyiv. The list of NASA challenges is available on the competition website.
Why this matters for Ukrainians
Last year, the Kyiv team NVS-knot won this competition. They built a tool that helps farmers analyze weather conditions and crop risks using NASA data. Their project was among the winners out of nearly 1,000 entries evaluated by the space agency.
Useful from the source
- Registration for NASA Space Apps Challenge in Kyiv — The local event page for Kyiv, where you can register for the hackathon.
- List of 14 NASA Space Apps Challenge challenges — The website with the challenges prepared by NASA, from which teams choose.
- KAI announcement on Telegram — A post from the National Aviation University about the hackathon.
Sources: 🔗 DOU/dev.ua🔗 DOU