Bahrain’s space agency wins NASA’s praise
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
The National Space Science Agency (NSSA) of Bahrain has received the praise of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its successful organisation of the Space Apps Challenge 2022.
NSSA was applauded for being the first in the world to promptly meet NASA's requirements, compared to over 300 other regulatory local leads and space agencies participating in the challenge.
The NASA International Space Apps Challenge (Space Apps) is an international hackathon for coders, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, technologists, and others in cities around the world, where teams engage the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) free and open data to address real-world problems on Earth and in space.
The challenge witnessed an impressive global participation rate of 273.2%, which is the highest in the history of the hackathon since its inception in 2012. According to Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim Al Aseeri, the CEO of NSSA, the Spac Apps Challenge provided an excellent opportunity for participants to utilize fundamental, technical, and engineering sciences while refining their 21st-century skills.
The hackathon was held in collaboration with 11 space agencies worldwide, with Bahrain being the sole Arab participant. The competition welcomed over 31,500 registrants, across 162 countries and territories.
Using open data from NASA and 11 partner space agencies, tackled 22 challenges and produced 3,094 projects. Collaborating with NASA on the project were Australian Space Agency, Brazilian Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, European Space Agency, Indian Space Research Organisation, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Mexican Space Agency, National Space Activities Commission of Argentina, National Space Science Agency of Bahrain, Paraguayan Space Agency, and South African National Space Agency.
Bahrain Polytechnic and Bahrain Society of Engineers conducted the Space Apps Challenge 2022 in the Kingdom as academic partners.
Challenge 2023
The upcoming Space Apps Challenge 2023 is scheduled for October 7-8, and NSSA has called upon students and interested individuals to prepare for participation. The registration date will be announced soon.
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