In 2007, a small group of people began an intentional, collaborative experiment in open, transparent, and direct communication about your space program. Our goal was to enable your direct participation in exploring and contributing to NASA’s mission.

Many of us have since begun new adventures. This site will remain as an archive of the accomplishments of the openNASA experiment.

Ali Llewellyn

The results from 2013 International Space Apps Challenge are incredible. More than 9,000 hackers, designers, and explorers in 83 cities and from all corners of the world made this the largest hackathon in history. An unbelievable 770 solutions were submitted, and thousands of people worked together to address challenges and create immeasurable amount of enthusiasm and investment in exploration.

Of those solutions, 134 were nominated for global recognition. Over the past few weeks we have reviewed each and every one of them, a truly inspirational process. A panel of judges consisting of representatives from NASA and other governmental and non-governmental organizations evaluated the top solutions, and today we are announcing the six best in class winners.

Best Use of Data

The award for Best Use of Data goes to the solution that best makes space data accessible or leverages it to a unique purpose or application. Congratulations to Sol: the world’s first interplanetary weather application built on MAAS, the first interplanetary weather data API. Space Apps Kansas City team members include Ryan Schneider, Dustin Walruff, Ben Suh, Jessica Meurer, Jon Smajda, Brian Cody, Doug Niccum, and Mike Wilson.

Honorable Mentions for Best Use of Data:
Space Cal NYC (NYC)
EarthKAM Explorer (Philadelphia)
OpenTiles (Tallahassee)
SpaceHub (Rochester)
Big Marble (Cleveland)
Sync (Guatemala City)
Aurora Localization (Toronto)

Best Use of Hardware

The award for Best Use of Hardware goes to the solution that exemplifies the most innovative use of hardware. Congratulations to ISS Base Station: a hardware-software co-design project that both expands the Spot The Station web app and allows for a physical manifestation of its data. Space Apps Philadelphia team members include Dan Giovannelli, TK Rodgers, Daniel Ge, Matt Thomas, Sameer Pandya, David Mally, Ryan Dungee, Ivan Serikov, Alain Hernandez, Andrew Kondrath, Nina Sun, Himavath Jois, Patrick Hammons, and Kai Ninomiya.

Honorable Mentions for Best Use of Hardware:
Inbound (Virtual)
Personal Cosmos (Tokyo)
Arduinos on the Raspberry Pi (Mexico City)
ArduHack (Exeter)
WebRover1 (Exeter)

Best Mission Concept

The award for Best Mission Concept goes to the solution that developed the most promising mission concept. Congratulations to Popeye on Mars: a deployable, reusable spinach greenhouse for Mars. Space Apps Athens team members include Vangelis Chliaras, Panagiotis Bairamis, Mathos Papamatthaiou, Themistoklis Karafasoulis, Lydia Polyzou, Xaris-Kleiw Koraka, Sotirios Panagiotou, Agisilaos Zisimatos, and Alfredos-Panagiotis Damkalis.

Honorable Mention for Best Mission Concept:
TerraFarming (Guadalajara)
GHoST (Sofia)
DiSCoS (Abu Dhabi)
ASTEX (Barcelona)
W.AFATE to MARS (Paris)

Galactic Impact

The award for Galactic Impact goes to the solution that has the most potential to significantly improve life on Earth or in the universe. Congratulations to the NASA Greener Cities project: an app developed to complement NASA satellite climate data with crowd-sourced microclimate data, in effect providing higher resolution information for monitoring the environment. Space Apps Gothenburg team members include Allen Smith, James Omoya, Patrik Bäckström, Nico Boh, and Marcus Hedenström.

Honorable Mention for Galactic Impact:
People of the Soil (London)
Cloudless Spots (Tokyo)
Stellar Stuff (Kansas City)
Skylog+ NEOws (San Francisco)
World Energy Xplorer (Ifrane)
Catch a Meteor (Melbourne)

Most Inspiring

The award for Most Inspiring goes to the solution that captured our hearts and attention…  Congratulations to T-10: a prototype mobile application for use on the International Space Station and on the ground to connect with the crew. Space Apps London team members include Kate Arkless Gray, Dario Lofish, Ketan Majmudar, and Joao Neves.

Honorable Mention for Most Inspiring:

Karkhana Rovers (Kathmandu)
Museum of Intergalactic Species (Toronto)
I Spot It (Managua)
Launchpad: Moon (Tallahassee)
Star Hopper (Gothenburg)
SCH Academy 1S Red Giant Concert (Virtual)

People’s Choice

The award for People’s Choice goes to the solution that received the highest number of public votes. Congratulations to ChicksBook: an app that can help you learn how to raise chickens and manage the data for your own backyard farm. Space Apps Sofia team members include Pavel Kolev, Ivan Zhekov, Stoyan Ivanov, Kiril Nikolov, and Atanas Keranov.

Congratulations to all these amazing teams. 

Interested to see more videos or read about the other globally nominated projects? See the full list here.