The NASA Space Apps Challenge Thrissur 2023, organised by Unique World Robotics in association with the Kerala Start-up Mission (KSUM), has emerged as a big event in the extensive global hackathon by the U.S. space agency.
As many as 4,126 participants from 448 teams converged at the Thrissur event, making it the biggest among the 402 such events held across 165 countries. With ‘Let’s Explore Open Science Together’ as the theme, the event featuring 30 challenges was held at Jyothi Engineering College in Cheruthuruthy.
Three teams won the global nomination: ‘Cassini’ from CKMNSS Senior Secondary School, Chalakudy, ‘Maxq’ from Jyothi Engineering College and ‘Red Spot’ from St. Albert’s College, Ernakulam. An evaluation committee under the guidelines provided by the NASA Space Apps selected the global nominees, which met the challenges by prescribing solutions by using NASA’s open-source data..
The global nominees will be evaluated by a panel of judges from NASA and the global winners will be announced in January 2024. They will be eligible for special training besides an opportunity to participate in a set of NASA training programmes at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
The Thrissur leg also hosted competitions for the best projects in junior (school) and senior (college) categories.
In the first category, ‘Cassini’ from CKM NSS, Chalakudy, emerged topper and bagged ₹50,000. The first runner-up was ‘Martian Warriors’ from Mar Thoma Central School, Kaviyoor (₹30,000), followed by ‘Nirmalamatha 2k23’ from Nirmala Matha Central School, Thrissur (₹20,000).
Among the seniors, ‘Maxq’ and ‘Red Spot’ occupied the first and second slots with cash prizes of ₹50,000 and ₹30,000 respectively, while ‘Stellar Crew’ from Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Kanjirappally, in Kottayam district (₹20,000) came third.
The NASA Space Apps Challenge forged a “significant partnership” with the U.S. organisation besides 13 international space agencies, including the ISRO. To organisers, this signified an “extraordinary commitment” to open science and collaborative exploration. The achievement showcased the power of innovation and collaboration, positioning NASA Space Apps Challenge, Thrissur, as a catalyst for future innovators and problem-solvers in the field of space technology and exploration, they added.
The KSUM is Kerala government’s nodal agency established in 2006 for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the State.
