Silesian University of Technology at NASA Space Apps Challenge 2024 

On October 5 and 6, the second edition of the NASA Space Apps Challenge was held – a global space hackathon organized by NASA. Silesian University of Technology was a partner of the Polish edition, which took place in Stalowa Wola.

Last weekend in Stalowa Wola, space enthusiasts met. All those interested in space technologies took part in an international hackathon organized by NASA.

The competition took place in many places around the world, and the one in Stalowa Wola was one of the largest in Europe, gathering over one hundred teams from all over Poland.

Our university was represented by two teams, composed mainly of computer science students. One of the mentors who helped the participants in the implementation of the tasks was Dr Hab. Eng. Paweł Kasprowski, prof. of Silesian University of Technology

- I supported the teams, pointing out possible solutions in the field of data analysis, the use of artificial intelligence, application design. The projects were interdisciplinary, knowledge from many disciplines was needed to implement them, the ability to present their solution in a short and interesting way was also very important - explained Prof. Kasprowski.

Tasks included problems connected with graphics, IT, and even various branches of art. The technological and artistic sense was supposed to help the participants, among others, in creating a simple game or application.

In total, the NASA Space Apps Challenge 2024 event was attended by over eleven thousand teams from all over the world (from over 150 countries), including almost two hundred teams from Poland (over five hundred people). Participants had one of the twenty available tasks to complete. The tasks belonged to one of two categories: Technological or artistic.