Johns Hopkins APL Hosts Baltimore-Washington D.C. Space Apps Challenge

Tech-savvy creative teams from across the Baltimore-Washington region will gather at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, on April 29-30 at the Kossiakoff Center to take part in the International Space Apps Challenge.

Participants will use publicly released open data to create hardware, software, mobile applications, data visualizations and platform solutions to solve Earth, Outer Space, Humans and Robotics themed challenges. The Space Apps Challenge is a NASA incubator innovation program hosted locally in the Baltimore-Washington corridor at APL.

Led by NASA, space agencies and organizations across the globe will provide support and guidance for the competition. Last year, there were over 15,000 participants worldwide, in 161 cities from 61 countries around the world, which produced over 1,300 solutions. The theme for this year’s challenges is Earth, with the categories including The Earth and Us, Planetary Blues, Warning! Danger Ahead!, Our Ecological Neighborhood, and Ideate and Create!.

“This year’s Space Apps Challenges are exciting opportunities for creative teams to really showcase their creativity, talents and abilities,” said APL’s Wes Jenkins, a ground systems engineer in the Space Exploration Sector and co-organizer of the event. “APL is providing a stimulating and exciting space to mold ideas and to offer everything required to develop challenge responses comfortably, effectively and inspirationally.”

Who: APL, in partnership with NASA, will host teams for the challenge, open to anyone age 13 or over; those under age 18 must bring a parent or guardian. Spectators are welcome.

What: A global, two-day technology development marathon event that draws on the talents and initiative of bright-minded volunteers — developers, engineers, technologists, designers and anyone with a passion and desire to make an immediate impact on the world.

When: Saturday, April 29, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday, April 30, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: APL’s Kossiakoff Center, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland 20723